Sax Appeal: The top 10 punk and post punk songs with a sax

In the scheme of things, the saxophone is not an instrument that most people associate with punk rock, and yet there it is dotted throughout the form so much that, after guitar/bass and drums, it’s the next most used instrument. Somehow, it added a dash of colour to the monochromatic and a freedom to the sonic bondage and there are so many great tracks from the period with a sax that we can only hope to create a snapshot of their brilliance.

X Ray Spex ‘Oh Bondage up Yours’
Perhaps the most famous sax-driven punk rock anthem Oh Bondage Up Yours is a slice of delicious perfection from 1977 that combines brilliant incisive lyrics with Lora Logic’s perfect sax hook. It’s a shame she didn’t remain in the band much longer.

The Stranglers ‘Hey! (Rise Of the Robots)’
The Meninblack had already utilised the sax on their debut single Grip but the free-form jazz and skronking hook line on this is provided yet again by Lora Logic and is even more effective.

Blurt ‘The Meccano Giraffe’
Ted Milton picked up the sax at 36 years old and formed a post-punk band. His playing is off the scale, and he makes the sax talk or deliver its own poetry over the perfect groove of his band. Still great to this day!

Lora Logic ‘Aerosol Burns’
Post X Ray Spex Lora Logic put her own band together with two saxs! This is their best-known track, but there are many great deep cuts from the band.

The Cravats ‘Terminus’
The Dada punks from Redditch had many great moments, but the sax hook on this is off the scale, sledgehammer brilliant.

The Damned ‘You Know’

From the underrated second album ‘Music For Pleasure’…when the sax cuts loose over this Stooges style infernal riffola it sounds sensational

Psychedelic Furs ‘Sister Europe’

The exotic princes of darkness, with their addictive drone, which the sax was a key part of.

LiLiPUT – ‘Die Matrosen’
Swiss post punks may have been fringe but their catalogue is worth a deep dive, they rarely used sax but wehn they did like on this cut it sounded great.

Theatre Of Hate ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld’
Kirk Brandon’s gang are still great to this day, and their cinematic songs stand the test of time. This was their biggest hit, and the sparse use of the sax adds a delicious flavour to their overall sound when it breaks in half way through.

Bauhaus ‘In Fear Of Fear’
The art rock of Bauhaus constantly surprises, and when guitar player Daniel Ash dug out his sax, it added a genuine groove to cuts like this.

The Birthday Party ‘Nick the Stripper’
At their genuinely dangerous best, the Birthday Party were falling apart at the seams but still had the discipline to create brooding pieces like this, aided by the surging sax that gives it a spooky swing.

Plastic Bertrand  ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’
‘Ca Plane Pour Moi’ may be a semi-joke song but it’s also a bubble gum punk classic aided by a sax hook

James Chance and the Contortions ‘Contort Yourself’
Embracing Ornette Coleman, James Chance brought a free jazz aesthetic into the New York punk scene, adding a skronk to the no wave freakouts.

Special mentions go to the Sex Pistols who used a sax on the dark ‘Belsen Was Gas’ and Gary Barnacle’s sax interjections on the Clash and the Ruts and also and also Ed Keupper’s marvellous post Saints band the Laughing Clowns and perhaps the sax in my own band the Membranes on ‘Spike Milligan’s Tape Recorder’ played by the late Tim Hyland driving the track into a powerful frenzy – Tim was a great player. RIP.