“Lifeline” by Spandau Ballet

"Lifeline" was the opening shot from True, the third Spandau Ballet album, landing in the autumn of 1982, months before the record itself arrived in 1983. Gary Kemp wrote it, and it's the sound of the band shedding the dance music they'd started out with and going for straight, shiny pop, a turn their previous single "Instinction" had only hinted at.

The catalyst was a new production team, Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, with whom some members found a chemistry they had never had with earlier producers. Critics were split, but the single climbed to number 7 in Britain and gave the band their first taste of the American charts, stopping just short of the Hot 100 on the Bubbling Under list, while MTV gave the video airtime.

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