Song · Simple Minds
“Up on the Catwalk” by Simple Minds
From the album Sparkle in the Rain (1984)
“Up on the Catwalk” by Simple Minds appears on 7 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1984 and 2003. It was first released in 1984 on the album Sparkle in the Rain. Its best result is #74 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #130 alternative song of 1984 and #3,795 alternative song of all time.
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"Up on the Catwalk" strutted out in 1984 as the third single from Sparkle in the Rain, Simple Minds' sixth album, and it's a song about fame with a sneer on its lips. Steve Lillywhite produced it, Howard Gray engineered, and Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes, Michael MacNeil and Mel Gaynor share the writing credit.
It reached 27 in the UK and hung around the chart longer than "Speed Your Love to Me" had, yet the band passed it over for their 1992 hits collection Glittering Prize 81/92. AllMusic's MacKenzie Wilson later singled it out as the strongest thing on the album, and Kerr himself has pointed to it as Simple Minds at their spikiest and most dramatic.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 74 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984 | 106 |
| 1984 | 86 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1984 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 466 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1989 | 341 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1992 | 382 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) | 500 |
| 2002 | 1889 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 891 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
Also listed as: Up On the Catwalk; Up On The Catwalk.
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