Song · The Fixx
“Saved By Zero” by The Fixx
From the album Reach the Beach (1983)
“Saved By Zero” by The Fixx appears on 11 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1983 and 2026. It was first released in 1983 on the album Reach the Beach. Its best result is #44 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #93 alternative song of 1983 and #2,843 alternative song of all time.
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"Saved by Zero" was the Fixx's opening shot from Reach the Beach, their second album, sent out on MCA in 1983 ahead of "One Thing Leads to Another". Rupert Hine produced it and gives the band room to twitch: Jamie West-Oram's guitar picks out a nervy, clipped staccato figure, Alfie Agius shadows it on bass, Adam Woods keeps the pulse tight, and Rupert Greenall's keyboards hang in the air like fog.
Cy Curnin sings it like a ghost drifting through an empty room, and the mood fits the idea. The title nods to the Buddhist notion of emptiness, śūnyatā, and Curnin has described the song as a kind of meditation on the freedom of having nothing left to lose, where experiences count for more than the things you pile up. Decades later it found a second life in the fourth season of Breaking Bad.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 44 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 232 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1992 | 401 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) | 500 |
| 1996 | 349 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 1998 | 371 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 2002 | 823 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1998 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2003 | 720 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2021 | 340 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 344 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2026 | 429 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
Also listed as: Saved by Zero; SAved By Zero.
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