Song · The Fixx
“Stand or Fall” by The Fixx
From the album Shuttered Room (1982)
“Stand or Fall” by The Fixx appears on 13 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 1983 and 2026. It was first released in 1982 on the album Shuttered Room. Its best result is #63 on the KSHE 95 U-Man 500 (2026). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #159 alternative song of 1983 and #1,899 alternative song of all time.
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"Stand or Fall" came off the Fixx's 1982 debut, Shuttered Room, and it's new wave with the air-raid sirens just out of earshot: tense, clipped and heavy with dread. Cy Curnin, who sang it and wrote the words, has said it grew out of the argument over Britain's Trident nuclear programme and loose talk of limited nuclear exchanges in Germany. The whole band shares the music credit, and the song hangs on a gloomy figure Curnin found at the piano, with Rupert Greenall's keyboards and Jamie West-Oram's guitar circling it while Charles Barrett and Adam Woods keep the pulse tight and cold. Rupert Hine produced.
It gave the group their first chart hit, reaching 7 on Billboard's Top Rock Tracks and 76 on the Hot 100 and charting in Australia, Canada and the UK, and its Cold War nerves have not dated much since.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 77 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1983 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 95 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1990 | 197 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) | 299 |
| 1992 | 193 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) | 500 |
| 1994 | 186 | Live 105 | Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) | 500 |
| 1996 | 427 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 1998 | 459 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 1999 | 486 | 91X | 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 497 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2002 | 491 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 207 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2023 | 835 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2026 | 63 | KSHE 95 | KSHE 95 U-Man 500 (2026) | 499 |
Also listed as: Stand Or Fall.
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