Song · Erasure
“It Doesn't Have to Be” by Erasure
From the album The Circus (1987)
“It Doesn't Have to Be” by Erasure appears on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1987 and 1988. It was first released in 1987 on the album The Circus. Its best result is #47 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1987. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #149 alternative song of 1987 and #5,748 alternative song of all time.
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Erasure sent "It Doesn't Have to Be" out on Mute in early 1987, a good six weeks ahead of The Circus, their second album, with Flood producing. Coming hard on the heels of "Sometimes", which had gone all the way to number two in Britain, it gave the synth-pop duo another Top 20 hit at home, peaking at number twelve, and reached number sixteen in West Germany.
Under the synth-pop shine there's a plea against pointless conflict, which some listeners took as a swipe at apartheid in South Africa, though the words never name it. The middle eight switches to Swahili and brings the argument down to two people rather than two peoples. On the flip side, Erasure took on Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt suite.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 47 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1987 | 105 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 308 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
Also listed as: It Doesn't Have To Be.
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