Wayne County - History 2

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 History Part 1 
Signing with Safari, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs released 3 albums and a slew of singles with little mainstream success. Another problem for Wayne was that yes the more obscene songs got the publicity but when he tried to turn more serious no one would touch him with a bargepole. Couple with that the world was not really ready for a transvestite singer then hit singles weren't really on the cards! In fact in July 1979 not long after the release of their third LP it was reported in the music press that he was fired as he had spent more time on beginning a sex change operation than being with the band.

Image - Andrew Douglas

"I see myself as a seductive older woman, like an expensive uptown whore rather than a downtown low-class slut." Sounds 2.6.79

 In an open letter to Sounds July 1979 Wayne complained "Safari records told me that they would pay for the my entire sex change operation. Then only half way held up to the promise. They would not give me rest of the money to finish my operation until I got commercial enough to sell more records...I have been stabbed in the back with no regards to my feelings or artistic opinions."

Wayne throughout his career has been a mixture of confusing possibilities. Man or woman but never wanting to be completely one or the other. Taking hormones but pulling out from the final chop as it were Wayne slowly became more of a woman so much so that in the gossip column of Sounds (16.9.78)  Jock McDonald  (Vortex club DJ) was reported as trying to pull her at Dingwalls as he described her a the prettiest girl in the place.

Wayne throughout his life has made many claims  - from Bowie ripping him off to being an originator of glam before The New York Dolls and being a punk before punk existed. All these things may well be true to varying degrees but Wayne lacked that extra bit of oomph that these turns these traits into legendary possibilities which of course is what artists like Bowie, the Dolls and Pistols incorporated and did.

Singer or vaudeville act? Its a testament to Wayne and The Electric Chairs that a lot of the music he made still stands up to day as quality punk rock.

"I just wanna have a rock'n' roll band really"
 Wayne County  - Ripped & Torn 6 1977

 History Part 1 

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