Artist · chart history · #274 in alternative artist polls

China Crisis

Band Knowsley United Kingdom Formed 1979

China Crisis formed in 1979 in Knowsley, United Kingdom. China Crisis has 15 chart appearances on 10 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2003. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Arizona Sky”, which appears on 5 lists with a best position of #73. The station that charted China Crisis most often is Live 105 (San Francisco, CA), with 5 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1982.

15appearances

10countdowns

6songs charted

5stations

0#1 finishes

1982–2003years

China Crisis came together in Kirkby, near Liverpool, in 1979 around singer and keyboard player Gary Daly and guitarist and singer Eddie Lundon. They started out as a politically charged post-punk band with Brian Eno's ambient washes in their ears, and 1982's Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain still has that questing edge, with the chilly, gliding "African And White" as its calling card.

Then they went for the heart instead of the head. Working With Fire And Steel (Possible Pop Songs Volume Two), in 1983, was all gentle synths, soft focus and melodies that could melt snow, and "Wishful Thinking" went top 10 in Britain; "Hanna Hanna" and the title track came from the same record, which went gold. Flaunt the Imperfection made the top 10 and went gold too. By What Price Paradise in 1986, with the breezy, wide-open "Arizona Sky", Gazza Johnson on bass and Kevin Wilkinson on drums had filled out the band.

All told they had ten top-50 singles in the UK, a quietly impressive run for a band that never raised its voice.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by China Crisis on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Arizona Sky	132	5	#73	–	1987
2	Wishful Thinking	128	3	#197	–	–
3	Arizona Style	95	1	#95	–	–
4	African And White	87	2	#22	–	1982
5	Working with Fire and Steel	65	2	#491	–	–
6	Hanna Hanna	0	1	#2037	–	–

Albums with charting songs

Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.

Year-end chart timeline

Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.

82 87

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2003	771	Arizona Sky	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1284	Wishful Thinking	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1768	Working with Fire and Steel	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	2037	Hanna Hanna	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2002	95	Arizona Style	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
1999	491	Working with Fire and Steel	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1994	451	Arizona Sky	Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994)
1991	704	Wishful Thinking	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1991	710	African And White	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1991	87	Artist ranking	Live 105 Top 105 Artists of All-Time (1991)
1988	197	Wishful Thinking	Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1988	386	Arizona Sky	Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1987	73	Arizona Sky	91X Top 91 Songs of 1987
1987	90	Arizona Sky	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1987
1982	22	African And White	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982

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