“Ready Steady Go” by Generation X

"Ready Steady Go" comes charging off Generation X's debut album, which hit British shops on 17 March 1978, and it's Billy Idol and Tony James's song, the pair sharing the words and the music. Idol sings lead, James plays bass, Bob Derwood Andrews plays guitar and Mark Laff drums.

The band had soured on Phil Wainman's work on their earlier singles, too poppy and too polished for them, and wanted a record that sounded like their live shows, so Idol pushed for Martin Rushent, whose recent work with the Stranglers had impressed him. Rushent produced and Alan Winstanley engineered, over a single week at TW Studios in Fulham, West London, late in 1977, with many songs nailed in one take. Andrews later reckoned Winstanley had more to do with the sound than Rushent did.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.