The 1980s File Feature
Are We Ourselves?
The Fixx: "Are We Ourselves?" (1984) The Fixx were a British new wave band who formed in London in 1979 and achieved significant commercial success in the Un…
01 The Story
The Fixx: "Are We Ourselves?" (1984)
The Fixx were a British new wave band who formed in London in 1979 and achieved significant commercial success in the United States during the early-to-mid 1980s, building an audience through a combination of melodically sophisticated pop writing, atmospheric production, and the music video platform that MTV had made central to American pop marketing. The group's classic lineup consisted of vocalist Cy Curnin, guitarist Jamie West-Oram, keyboardist Rupert Greenall, bassist Dan K. Brown, and drummer Adam Woods. Their sound synthesized the atmospheric textures of post-punk with the commercial accessibility of mainstream new wave, positioning them in a crowded field alongside contemporaries such as the Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, and Echo and the Bunnymen.
"Are We Ourselves?" was the lead single from the band's third studio album, Phantoms, released by MCA Records in 1984. The album was produced by Rupert Hine, who had also produced the band's preceding album Reach the Beach (1983), and whose relationship with the group had helped establish their internationally successful sound. Hine's production approach emphasized lush synthesizer textures, carefully layered vocal harmonies, and a controlled sonic grandeur that suited the philosophical and somewhat anxious lyrical content that Curnin consistently brought to the band's writing.
Recording and Production
The recording of Phantoms took place in London, with Rupert Hine's production capturing the expansive sonic qualities that characterized the best British new wave productions of the era. "Are We Ourselves?" features a propulsive rhythm track, prominent synthesizer arrangements, and Cy Curnin's distinctive upper-register vocal style, which had become one of the group's most recognizable sonic signatures. The song's melodic hooks are integrated into a production framework that uses dynamic build and release effectively, creating the sense of cumulative momentum that the band deployed consistently across their best-known work.
The single was released to American radio in the summer of 1984, entering the Billboard Hot 100 on August 18, 1984, debuting at number 60. The song climbed steadily through the autumn of that year, reaching its peak position of number 15 on the chart dated October 20, 1984. It spent a total of 15 weeks on the Hot 100, making it the band's highest-charting single on that chart. The song also performed strongly on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it reached number 3.
Chart Performance and Commercial Success
The peak of number 15 on the Hot 100 was a significant commercial achievement for a British new wave act in 1984, a year when the Second British Invasion was at or near its commercial zenith. The Fixx were competing with acts including Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham!, and Howard Jones for mainstream American radio attention, and a top-15 placement demonstrated that they could hold their own in that highly competitive landscape. MCA Records capitalized on the single's success with strong promotional support, including an MTV-ready music video that received substantial rotation on the channel.
The success of "Are We Ourselves?" helped propel Phantoms to a solid commercial performance, though the album did not reach the commercial heights of Reach the Beach, which had contained the breakthrough hit "One Thing Leads to Another." The new wave market was beginning to fragment by mid-1984, with some audiences migrating toward the emerging sounds of post-new wave and alternative rock, and the commercial momentum that the Fixx had built over the preceding two years was beginning to slow even as "Are We Ourselves?" reached its chart peak.
Place in the Fixx Catalog
"Are We Ourselves?" stands as the culminating commercial moment of the Fixx's first phase, representing the full maturation of the sound they had developed with Rupert Hine across three albums. The song's combination of philosophical lyrical content, memorable melodic construction, and technically accomplished production brought together everything that made the band distinctive within the new wave field. Its success on both the Hot 100 and the rock charts demonstrated the breadth of the band's appeal and their ability to connect with both pop and rock radio audiences simultaneously, a crossover achievement that relatively few of their British contemporaries managed with the same consistency during the same period.
02 Song Meaning
Themes and Legacy of "Are We Ourselves?"
"Are We Ourselves?" is a song about authenticity, identity, and the unsettling possibility that the selves we present to the world have become detached from whatever lies beneath our public performances and social roles. The question posed by the title is not rhetorical; it is a genuine philosophical inquiry into whether modern existence, with its media saturation, social pressures, and constant demands for performance and conformity, leaves any space for authentic selfhood. Cy Curnin's lyrics pursue this question with an intensity that distinguishes the song from much of its new wave contemporaries, most of which engaged with surface-level romantic themes rather than deeper existential territory.
The song's anxious questioning fits naturally within the broader thematic preoccupations of the Fixx's catalog. Across their albums, the band consistently explored themes of social alienation, political anxiety, and the difficulty of maintaining genuine human connection in a world increasingly mediated by technology and commercial imagery. "Are We Ourselves?" distills these concerns into their most personal and direct form, relocating the question from the social realm to the individual psychological interior.
New Wave Existentialism
The song belongs to a tradition within British post-punk and new wave that used the formal accessibility of commercial pop to deliver content of genuine philosophical weight. Bands including Wire, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, and the Psychedelic Furs had explored similar territory from slightly different aesthetic positions, and the Fixx's contribution to this tradition was to package existential anxiety in productions polished enough to reach mainstream American radio. The commercial success of "Are We Ourselves?" at number 15 on the Hot 100 represents one of the most striking examples of existential questioning breaking into the American mainstream during the decade.
The song's production by Rupert Hine served the thematic content effectively. The lush synthesizer textures and carefully controlled dynamic architecture of the track create a sonic environment that feels simultaneously beautiful and unsettling, reflecting the lyrical tension between comfortable surface and disturbing depth. The music does not provide resolution to the questions the lyrics raise; instead, it creates an atmosphere of sustained, productive uncertainty that invites the listener to sit with the question rather than seeking easy answers.
Legacy and Continuing Relevance
The questions "Are We Ourselves?" raises have only grown more pertinent since its 1984 release. The subsequent decades, which have brought social media, algorithmic identity curation, and the constant performance of selfhood in digital public spaces, have made the song's central anxiety about authenticity increasingly difficult to dismiss or resolve. Listeners returning to the song in the twenty-first century frequently note that its concerns feel prophetic, anticipating by decades the philosophical problems that social media platforms would make impossible to ignore.
The Fixx have continued performing and recording, and "Are We Ourselves?" remains their most-played live track, a reliable highlight that connects the band's contemporary performances to their commercial peak. Its place in the canon of 1980s new wave is secure, and its thematic sophistication has contributed to the band's critical reappraisal as one of the more intellectually ambitious acts of the Second British Invasion, artists who used the tools of commercial pop to pursue genuinely serious questions about the human condition.
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