Album · Icicle Works
If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song by Icicle Works
If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song is an album by Icicle Works, released in 1987. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 5 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Understanding Jane”, on 5 lists with a best position of #63.
If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song, the third Icicle Works album, came out on Beggars Banquet in 1987, made by the trio of Ian McNabb, bassist Chris Layhe and drummer Chris Sharrock. Ian Broudie sat in the producer's chair, and McNabb, the band's singer and songwriter who also handled guitar and keyboards, gives the songs a muscular, guitar-heavy swagger, with "Understanding Jane" strutting like a proper rock single.
Coming between The Small Price of a Bicycle and Blind, it got a second life in 2011, when Cherry Red reissued it as a three-disc set: the original album, a disc stuffed with demos, B-sides and remixes, and a complete 1986 concert taped at the Town and Country Club.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Understanding Jane | 5 | #63 | – | 1987–2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.