Bands from the ’60s and early ’70s that can still tour draw big crowds. Bands from the ’80s and ’90s, not so much.
Consider The Fixx. They’re still releasing albums and touring more than 40 years after their early days in London, performing the same synth-pop with politically oriented lyrics that made this song, from their 1983 LP “Reach the Beach,” their biggest hit.
That being the heyday of MTV there was, of course, a video, which didn’t have anything to do with the lyrics. Lead singer Cy Curnin explained years later that it was an indictment of crooked politicians. “Politicians just lie to get elected and then forget what they said. It’s all bullshit. As a band, we like to remind people of that and to not just lie there like sheep and to wake up to their own responsibilities.”
The Fixx just released its 11th studio album, “Every Five Seconds,” and last night kicked off a tour that will bring them to the Keswick Theater outside Philadelphia on Aug. 26. You can listen to the whole album on YouTube.