Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the 80s were a decade of mindless music. We’ll admit that there were a few acts that didn’t dig all that deep. But you could also find artists offering sharp insight and profound observations on hot-button topics. In the case of the British band The Fixx, they managed to give audiences plenty of substance. But they also kept things musically lively enough to court the pop charts. Their biggest hit came with the propulsive, profound “One Thing Leads To Another” in 1983.
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You won’t find too many bands with the longevity of The Fixx, who have kept their lineup so stable. Four of the five band members who helped create “One Thing Leads To Another” back in ’83 are still with the group today as they continue an active recording career.
That’s a pretty good result for a band that started out with singer Cy Currin and drummer Adam Woods, London college buddies, putting a classified ad in the local paper to find new members. They originally chose the name Portraits, but they soon changed it to The Fix.
When they were able to scrape together a record deal, however, the label became concerned about their name, worried about its drug connotations. The solution? Add another “x.” Newly rechristened as The Fixx, they released their first album, Shuttered Room, in 1982.
“Another” World
The Fixx stands out as one of those rare British bands that did better in the US than in their native country. None of their singles ever hit the Top 40 in the UK. But “Saved By Zero”, the lead single from their 1983 sophomore album Reach The Beach, climbed to No. 20, setting the table for the follow-up.
Four members of The Fixx share writing credit on “One Thing Leads To Another”, but Currin has always been the guy to write the band’s lyrics. In the case of this song, he was inspired by a political scandal in England around that time. The person in question had been caught in a lie.
Who knows how many listeners caught on to the subtext in Currin’s lyrics? They might have been too busy grooving along to the relentless rhythm. Or perhaps they were distracted by the novel synth touches. In any case, “One Thing Led To Another” soared, reaching No. 4 on the pop charts in the US.
Behind the Lyrics of “One Thing Leads To Another”
Curran sizes up his target in the opening lines. “The deception with tact/Just what are you trying to say?” When this character is called on their deceit, they head for the hills: “You run for cover so discreet.”
Later, the narrator voices his frustration at being played for a chump. “That it’s easy to believe,” he complains. “That somebody’s been lying to me.” Currin’s wordplay is quite inventive as he imagines this official eventually crumbling. “Bigger the harder, he falls,” he sings. “But when the wrong antidote/Is like a bulge in the throat.”
In the chorus, the narrator simplifies his vision for how things should work: “Do what they say/Say what they mean/One thing leads to another.” The Fixx proved on songs like “One Thing Leads To Another” that the cerebral and the catchy could come together quite nicely. And that songs like that could break through, even in the good-time landscape of 80s music.
Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images
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