Format 7"/12" single Label MCA | Genre New wave | |
B-side "Is It By Instinct" (7" single); "Sinking Island" (Special Extended Dance Mix) (12" single) Released 10 June 1982 (UK)
20 January 1983 (US) Length 3:30 (7" single edit); 4:20 (12" Full Length Version) | ||
"Red Skies" is a song by new wave/rock band the Fixx. Released in 1982, it was the third single from the group's debut album, Shuttered Room. It peaked at number 101 in Billboard in early 1983.
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The song also charted in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It was later re-recorded for the band's 1987 album, React.
Composition and recording
The song appeared on the Fixx's 1982 album Shuttered Room. The lyrics of "Red Skies" warn of an imminent nuclear holocaust.
According to drummer Adam Woods, MCA Records requested that the band re-record the song for their 1987 React album. "Nobody at MCA was really interested in the new things we wanted to do," Woods said. "They told us to re-do 'Red Skies,' and we gave in. We figured, 'All right, we'll give them exactly what they want, and it will bomb.' And sure enough, it did."
Release and reception
"Red Skies" peaked at number 13 on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 44 in the Netherlands and number 57 in the UK. Winda Benedetti of the The Spokesman-Review said it was one "of the more cutting-edge pop [songs] of the time." Mark Spinn of The Orange County Register called it "the best of the band's moodier material." Bill Locey of the Los Angeles Times complimented the song's "memorable chorus". The Fixx performed the song on Saturday Night Live on February 18, 1984.
Track listing
- "Red Skies" — 3:30
- "Is It By Instinct" — 4:10
- "Red Skies" (Full Length [album] Version) — 4:19
- "Sinking Island" (Special Extended Dance Mix) — 4:35