Song of the Day 1/19: Generation X, “Your Generation”

Before Douglas Coupland’s book, before demographers’ appropriation of the term, a bunch of louts from London led by a bloke named William Broad formed a band to take advantage of the burgeoning punk scene. Taking their name from a pop-sociology book of the mid-60s, written about the generation that included the Beatles and the Stones, the band abandoned the politics of punk early on but kept the trappings of the genre, including Broad’s new name, Billy Idol. This was the first song they ever recorded, and a few days afterward they played it on Marc Bolan’s afternoon TV show, “Marc.” This clip is just as notable for Bolan’s introduction. as it is for the band.