Stinky Toys – Plastic Faces

16th February 2023 · 1970s, 1977, Music, Punk

French punk… who knew?! Well, anyone who went to that seminal Punk Festival at the 100 Club back in 1976, where Stinky Toys played alongside the Pistols, Clash, Damned and Buzzcocks – and were attacked onstage by Sid Vicious.

In punk terms, credentials don’t come much better than that. And on the strength of that performance they were signed to Polydor who put them in the studio and released a single called Boozy Creed in April 1977.

But after scathing reviews and virtually no sales – punk was still pretty much underground at the time – plans to release their debut album outside France were shelved and by 1979 they had broken up, following a tragedy when one of their fans was killed by Hell’s Angels at a gig.

Watch this live clip, though, and they certainly had something. Two things in fact: an attractive and effervescent singer in Elli Medeiros, a Uruguayan who made up in energy and excitement what she lacked in vocal ability, and guitarist Jacno, a Bowie lookalike whose admirers included Andy Warhol.

Unfortunately, Stinky Toys blew their chance of fame – and a major record deal – by trying too hard to be cartoon punks, despite being there at that formative moment – and Elli appearing on the cover of Melody Maker.

Invited to join a music press jamboree promoting Kraftwerk’s new album on the actual Trans Europe Express, the band members took full advantage of the free booze opportunities.

When Elli threw up all over the boss of EMI France their chance of a record deal began to recede rapidly. At least that cemented their punk credentials, though it turned out that Jacno (aka Denis Quilliard) came from an aristocratic French family and tended towards the far right.

Not that this deterred Malcolm McLaren, who came across the band in Paris and was drawn to Elli’s creative use of safety pins, earning them an invitation to perform at the 100 Club.

They were formed in 1976 by three schoolmates including Jacno, who had met Elli at a student demonstration a few years earlier, and brought her in as the singer.

In the end, it seems that punk just didn’t translate to France, where singing about anarchy in front of a audience of junkies, socialites and fashionistas on loan from the local gay bars was never going to spark a revolution.

After the break-up Jacno went electro and had a huge European hit with an instrumental called Rectangle in 1979, while Elli enjoyed a couple of massive solo Europop hits – Toi Mon Toi and A Bailar Calypso in the late 80s before concentrating on her acting career and family life.

Here they are on French TV performing a song called Plastic Faces.