Album · XTC
Skylarking by XTC
Skylarking is an album by XTC, released in 1986. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 35 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Earn Enough For Us”, on 16 lists with a best position of #89.
Skylarking, XTC's eighth album, came out on Virgin on 27 October 1986, and it's a loose song cycle about turning wheels of time, whether that means sunrise to sunset, spring round to winter or cradle to grave. The title plays on the skylark and on Royal Navy slang for fooling around. With Todd Rundgren producing, Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory decamped to his Utopia Sound Studio in Woodstock, New York, with some work at the Tubes' studio in San Francisco and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince behind the kit. Rundgren shaped the sound, programmed drums and wrote orchestral arrangements, and he and Partridge clashed over drum patterns, song choices and more.
The payoff is lush, sun-dappled pop steeped in vintage psychedelia. Britain shrugged, but American college radio seized on "Dear God", a B-side that Geffen then added to a repressed album; it lifted the record up the US chart and drew angry calls to stations and at least one bomb threat.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Skylarking on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Earn Enough For Us | 16 | #89 | – | 1986–2014 | |
| 2 | Season Cycle | 10 | #614 | – | 1999–2025 | |
| 3 | That's Really Super, Supergirl | 7 | #1435 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 4 | Summer's Cauldron | 1 | #431 | – | 2024 | |
| 5 | Grass | 1 | #91 | – | 1987 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.