Artist · chart history
X-Ray Spex
Band London United Kingdom Active 1976–2008
X-Ray Spex formed in 1976 in London, United Kingdom and was active until 2008. X-Ray Spex has 12 chart appearances on 12 radio countdowns from 6 stations on RockLists, spanning 1977–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Oh Bondage Up Yours!”, which appears on 12 lists with a best position of #38. The station that charted X-Ray Spex most often is WOXY 97X (Cincinnati, OH), with 6 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1977.
X-Ray Spex began in London in 1976, when Poly Styrene saw the Sex Pistols play and went off to start a band of her own. What she did was stranger and more exhilarating: a voice that could shriek like a factory whistle, a look that ignored every punk dress code going, a love of reggae alongside the racket, and lyrics that went after consumerism and capitalism.
The other weapon was the saxophone, rare in punk, honking and squealing through the songs courtesy of Lora Logic, with Jak Airport on guitar, Paul Dean on bass and B.P. Hurding on drums. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!", in 1977, is the one everyone remembers, a squalling blast of sax and fury. It still stands as one of punk's great singles, and the 1978 album Germfree Adolescents is held in the same regard.
Their first run lasted until 1979, with five singles and that one album, but the ideas travelled: Styrene's words became a touchstone for the riot grrrl bands of the '90s. X-Ray Spex came back briefly several times in the '90s and 2000s before it ended in 2008.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by X-Ray Spex on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oh Bondage Up Yours! | 12 | #38 | – | 1977 |
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