Born on this day: outrageous sewer-mouthed American glitter-punk chanteuse, transgender trailblazer, cult icon, filth elder and the Queen Mutha of us all ā Miss Jayne County (13 July 1947)! Auntie Jayneās career is like a defiant one-woman assault on good taste. In the seventies, backed by her band The Electric Chairs, County (then still billed as Wayne) was the undisputed drag queen of choice for hardened punks on both sides of the Atlantic, vomiting up ultra-raunchy diatribes like āFuck Offā and āCream in My Jeansā. After the band split, County relocated to relative obscurity in Berlin before transitioning and re-emerging with a solo career as self-made woman Jayne. In addition to music, County is a charismatic occasional screen presence in underground queer cinema (like Jubilee (1978) by Derek Jarman and City of Lost Souls (1983) by Rosa von Praunheim). All punk fans know āFuck Offā but other Jayne-ified tracks to investigate include āBad in Bedā, āToilet Loveā, āMean Motherfucking Man,ā āIām in Love with Dusty Springfieldā (Countyās valentine to an early hairstyle role model) and the anthemic āEveryoneās an Asshole but Meā. Iād argue Countyās best album is RocknāRoll Resurrection (1980), a live recording of a New Yearās Eve gig at the Edge nightclub in Toronto. And her memoir Man Enough to Be a Woman (co-authored by Rupert Smith) is essential! Further reading: my 1995 interview with County for MAXIMUMROCKNROLL zine. Nice appreciation of County on the Filthy Dreams website here.
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