Artist · chart history · #284 in alternative artist polls

The Chameleons

Band Middleton United Kingdom Active 1981–2003

The Chameleons formed in 1981 in Middleton, United Kingdom and was active until 2003. The Chameleons has 30 chart appearances on 15 radio countdowns from 8 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Swamp Thing”, which appears on 8 lists with a best position of #52. The station that charted The Chameleons most often is Fred (XM 44) (XM Satellite Radio (national)), with 16 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1983.

30appearances

15countdowns

13songs charted

8stations

0#1 finishes

1982–2026years

The Chameleons came out of Middleton, in Greater Manchester, in 1981, and while their neighbors went on to sell records by the truckload, they settled for something rarer: a devoted cult following. Mark Burgess sang and played bass, Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding wove their two guitars into great shimmering sheets of sound, and John Lever drove it all from the drums.

"In Shreds" arrived in 1982, and Script of the Bridge, in 1983, is the post-punk record as cathedral: "Second Skin" and "Up the Down Escalator" chime, echo and ache, with Burgess's voice cutting through the haze. What Does Anything Mean? Basically followed in 1985 and Strange Times, with "Swamp Thing" and "Soul in Isolation", in 1986. Then it fell apart in 1987, torn up by tensions inside the band and the sudden death of their manager.

They came back in 2000 with a new album, Why Call It Anything, and two acoustic records, Strip and This Never Ending Now, the latter home to an unplugged "Tears". Old tensions broke them up again in 2003. Burgess and Lever kept the songs alive as ChameleonsVox, Lever died in 2017, and in 2021 Burgess and Smithies put the Chameleons back together.

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

Songs by The Chameleons on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Swamp Thing	358	8	#52	–	–
2	Tears	329	5	#45	–	1987
3	Up the Down Escalator	185	4	#456	–	–
4	Soul in Isolation	147	2	#502	–	–
5	Second Skin	94	2	#31	–	1983
6	John, I'm Only Dancing	39	1	#1252	–	–
7	Here Today	29	1	#1448	–	–
8	As High as You Can Go	20	1	#1629	–	–
9	In Shreds	18	1	#42	–	1982
10	Mad Jack	15	1	#1738	–	–
11	Pleasure and Pain	11	1	#1829	–	–
12	A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere	3	1	#1991	–	–
13	Childhood	2	1	#2007	–	–

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 83 87

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2026	1014	Swamp Thing	The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound
2020	1770	Swamp Thing	WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time
2003	282	Swamp Thing	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	445	Tears	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	502	Soul in Isolation	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	941	Second Skin	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1203	Up the Down Escalator	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1252	John, I'm Only Dancing	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1448	Here Today	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1629	As High as You Can Go	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1738	Mad Jack	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1829	Pleasure and Pain	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	1991	A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2003	2007	Childhood	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2002	45	Tears	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002	456	Up the Down Escalator	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002	578	Soul in Isolation	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2002	690	Swamp Thing	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2001	932	Up the Down Escalator	WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time
1999	272	Swamp Thing	WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999)
1999	763	Swamp Thing	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1999	876	Up the Down Escalator	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1992	107	Tears	Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992)
1991	66	Tears	Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991)
1991	300	Swamp Thing	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1991	91	Artist ranking	Live 105 Top 105 Artists of All-Time (1991)
1989	52	Swamp Thing	WFNX Top 101 Songs of the Decade (December 1989)
1987	97	Tears	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1987
1983	31	Second Skin	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1983
1982	42	In Shreds	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982

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