Added: 5 years ago
From: andymcquade
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  • wow this is my first time hearing this song and the band. I really like it.

  • Such an underrated band...

  • Nobody mentions them in the same breath as the stone roses, but their sound is all over that famous debut album, even down to the short delay on the lead vocal. I'm right aren't i?? 1 love x

  • love, love love them!

  • it was autumn in the fall of winter, comes mans last surge of youth.......

    RIP TKL 4.21.51 - 10.24.08

    I love you brother!

  • Like the equally great Bunnymen, they actively CHOSE not to make it.

  • right, first time hearing these guys was like the first time hearing the Boy album, fucking great!

  • what a sound can t believe that haven t heard them before they sound even better than joy division don t get me wrong i love joy division but this is killer sound 80 rules !!!!!

  • yeah me too. I love joy division too but these guys are a different sound. I cant really compare the two lol

  • I don't mean to disrespect Ian Curtis or his memory, but he was a much better poet than a singer. In fact his lazy, melancholy voice made him almost painful to hear.

  • @AvalonIsle I dont know why people talk about Ian Curtis or other groups..if this link is about a song of chameleons.. some people need to comparise, and I think it feels like retard.. nothing personal about you, I talk in abstract..

  • yeah lets not let joy division conflict with ANY other sound and likewise with the chameleons

  • ist das geile mucke

  • Mistakes don't matter....

  • Fantastic band and very, very under rated.

    I love all their songs.

  • Feelin old now havin read other posts.

    Great band from my late teens and waited patiently to see them live again bout eight years ago. Can't beat em.

  • Thanks for posting this - I find it quite amazing that todays bands like Interpol and The Editors try to create the same sound as the Chameleons did more than 20 years ago. I saw them life at the Bremen Schauburg after release of "Script of a Bridge" and still regard it is one of the best concerts ever. Great sound, cool performance.

  • I love them..!

    And Sunday morning I found "what does anything mean? basically" on vinyl.. 10€.. but I would have payed 50€ also...!

  • don't fall and stay golden...

  • Esta rola es grande,suenan tan bien que cualquiera que le guste el post punk deberia oirlos al menos una vez

  • the best group new wave 80's

  • amen

  • The Teardrops with better tunes and MORE drugs...!!!!!

  • One of my fave bands of all time.

  • Ke alucinante tema!

    increible sonido...

  • TURN IT UP!!!!!

  • I live in Middleton, where they come from.

    home is where the heart is : )

    only just got into them, but there F.ing brilliant...

  • I love this band so much !!!

    Thnaks for sharing...

  • INCREDIBLE

    nme, as accurate as always, this IS the best band ever. can't believe they are so underated as compared to other bands like joy division or echo and the bunnymen

  • what a spectacular sound!!

  • gran banda carajo  una de las mejores en el psot punk ojala se reunana y hicieran una gira por sudamerica

  • great video, great song :)

  • Got to meet them on the reunion tour in Bos ton a few years ago. Great guys...very friendly.

    Was amused to hear Reg had been living in a tent in some kind of communistic society. That caught me by surprise in a good way :)

  • God I love this tune! Think the vid here is just a silly side story--don't see the seriousness there. We all need to fight the temptation to "fall."

  • Can't argue with any of that;)

  • @hunnysuckledream

    hunnysuckledream (2 years ago) ""Man, your "Don't Fall" Chams vid was the greatest~~I really miss it ;[

    WMG sucks! ""

    make yer mind up!

  • Great band! Great song! thks for the video

  • There are angels. Thank's to Chameleions.

    We had a tradegy in Darrington, WA.

    I loved this song before I seen the video.

    I will always love this song. Suicied is never

    the answere. You cannot cheat death.

    Instead of stomping the spider, the fly, the flea... take it gently outside.

    This is easy.

    Darin

  • Great work on the video.

  • amazeing.

    Dont faaaaalllll!

  • this was one of my favorite songs in high school but never saw the video until now. thanks!

  • Awesome band, I played this album to death back in the day, at home and on the air at Drexel University's WKDU radio station. What a great band, sounds like a hybrid mix of then Simple Minds and Killing Joke. Slick and yet driving. Awesome.

  • Dead on mate!!! And I only discovered this band today!!!! Something wrong with mainstream radio!! This should be played on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles. We should complain to DJ Steve Jones (of Sex Pistols).

  • CHAMELEONS rock! what a truly cold war 80's video!!!! LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!

  • fucking

    M

    E

    S

    S

  • what kind of world do we live in when we have to be afraid to say the truth and say it alone....what a STUPID comment!

  • That's a quote from the song!

  • LOVE this one...

  • simply the BEST

  • This band should have been huge , forget oasis and the stone roses.

  • Great band, criminally ignored. But the Stone Roses' first album is miles and miles and miles above anything the Chameleons, and most other bands, ever released.

  • They actually didn't want to be famous~~quite content to make kick-ass music!

  • simply great.

  • After listening to this record a million times in the 1980s I was madly in love with the singer just based on his passionate beautiful voice - turns out he was hot too! Ah, the 80s ....

  • Great video work, thanks for this

  • how can you be 14 in 1981 when your profile says you're 14 now and female ???? WTF.

  • Maybe she's 41 and switched the numbers ...

  • My brother took me to see this when I was 14 in 1981 - being tall I just managed to get in! The first "proper" band I ever saw ... amazing ... I hadn't even heard of them until then, but my rock heart set hard that night

  • THE CHAMELEONS are fabulous, simply fabulous...

  • gooooooooood stuff

  • simply the most energetic 80's stuff around even after many odd years - don't fall!!!!

  • who cares about the Psychedelic Furs

  • Wow they sound like Church meets Psychedelic Furs only MUCH MUCH BETTER!!!!:)

  • I first heard them in Canada in /84 Strange Times album. The Sun and The Moon was Burgess's downfall. The band should have worked it out..could've been huge!

  • Downfall??? SATM were one of the best things Mark ever did!

  • this haz got to be the greast talent to come out of manchester.BUT and i mean but didnt get the support or credit they deserved.!!!!!!was privlaged to know all on a personnel level and knew were they were coming from more needed.got some rare footage but cant let it out,!!!!.cheers lafolliemason.xx

  • i only know of them because of an obscure compilation i bought in the used CD bin years ago. the cd was titled "manchester: so much to answer for".

  • I've got that cassette!!!!

    It's a collection of Peel sessions

  • i am so jealous that you knew them, i was in london and about 25 when i got into and saw them i loved them so much and they saved my life,i still listen to all the albums and have great respect and love for them, phil

  • strange to come here and stumble over a band I heard once, at cbgbs in august 1984, I did not know what the band on stage was, (only that billy bragg, i think it was, warmed up). now I am once again struck by that sound. great band!

  • that will always remain an answerless question...maybe it's for the better they didn't become huge...they were great as they were

  • why werent these guys huge?

  • they are just not in the US - loved them since 1984!!!!!

  • saw these guys live in middleton in the 80's fucking awesome!

  • Wow....GREAT.....memories....h­ey, can anyone tell me what album this was on?! Thanks....

  • Script of the Bridge. The greatest album ever recorded:) Think there's a remastered version touted to be released soon...

  • already out mate...had a few years on cd

  • Great stuff. Been travelling and so out of the loop. I'm getting my order in now;)

  • cool stuff...its a great album!

  • Just checked the band's forum, Wishville -it's been delayed until April. You must have thought I meant the original SOTB -I've gone through 3 different lp's and 2 cd's;) -and that's not counting the ones I bought as presents for lucky people!

  • ah ok...i thought that one was a remix...the new one must be a super dooper jive bunny one or something!!...lol

    Tanks for the info.

  • From what I gather it's going to be amazing: fully remastered and with extra bells and whistles;)

  • love'm

  • Thanks Andy for the posting!

    what on earth are you talking about?

  • Top song from Script of the bridge ...Middletons finest ... Dave Fielding once produced some tracks for a band i was once in

  • Awesome song really, olD school thanks :-D

    If you like this u can try search for 'Poesie Noire - Tragedy' also 80's

  • Why our generation that grow with so strong and deep references like this cant create nothink so visceral and pure?

  • I had to hear this song and came upon this shite...why must one impose themselves on others art?

  • what do you mean 'impose themselves on others art'? and where do you get off calling this shite, can you do better??

  • One of the best bands ever and they get almost notning. They are to good I guess.

  • dont falllllll

  • possibly....peerless!!!!!!!!

    enough said.

  • Their sound was relentless - brooding lyrics, guitar themes that swirled like dense currents around the vocals, and concussive drumming.

    But maybe it was a little too rich. It doesn't surprise me that they didn't achieve the popular acclaim you would think they deserved otherwise.

  • @#(*&%^&($*  GREAT song!!!!!

    What a resurrection, what memories forgot about this one, thanks for posting this

  • Yeah great band. Saw them in York on the Knavesmire along with Sisters Of Mercy, Echo & The Bunnymen, Spear Of Destiny. Then bumped in to them at the Roxy nightclub in York..... Long time ago

  • One of the best 80's songs. Absolutely amazing.

  • The great songs, gorgeous guitars, wonderful artwork on their album covers--yes I said albums--they were like a nice little secret for the people in the u.s. who liked them.

  • This band, never got the recognition they deserved, no propaganda, no advertising, but despite all those inconvenients their music and lyrics are more relevant than ever.(And their number of fans still growing).

  • the best band to ever come from the uk

  • bit strong!

  • funny aint it heres an old wicked band from the past that never realy made it big yet today we have to listen to so much crap shoved domn our ears.we need good bands and good drugs back .fuck modern music most bands today cant make music thats anywhere as good as this. chameleons will live on for ever. they made the best three albums that have ever been made. just listen to them .first class.

  • Two thumbs up for The Chameleons!

    BTW, I really like the heading on the newspaper @3:52, "Suicide Virus Worldwide, 100 Million Dead, No Hope for Cure, Say Scientists..." lol a little English humor.

  • Excellent! Thanks for putting this up.

  • soooo geil

  • Great work on the video Andy. Please can you tell me what film/programme the opening lines are from "In his Autumn before winter......."?

  • Hi Figurehead (one of their best songs, btw;))

    I'm afraid no one knows. Even the band can't remember as i think they just randomly recorded the tv one day...The above footage was my girlfriend and I trying to be in an Ealing Film;)

  • Damn and I was hoping you had solved the mystery, didnt realise that was just you and your gf acting on the screen, had me fooled....even greater work!

    Yep The Figurehead, should push come to shove be my fave Cure track!

  • "There are two suggestions as to the source of this quote. Either it's from a film called "Two Sisters From Boston" or possibly from a film called "A Town Called Alice".

  • "Or It's the first lines of "The Winter of Our Discontent" by John Steinbeck." I'll have to check that out. Apparently they were recording random bit's off the radio or television.

  • I followed the Chameleons around all over the place including the Gig they did at their home town of Middleton in the community centre. Don't fall takes me back 20+ years as someone said earlier one of the greatest bands no one really ever heard of. Their album Script of the Bridge is a pure masterpiece - check out pleasure and pain and up the down escalator.

  • I was at that gig as well, someone said they were going to be massive. Went to the gig and agreed, superb night!!

  • q buena banda de post punk alguine me podria recomendar algtun disko de esta banda????

  • Sin duda, éstos dos: "Script of the bridge" y "Strange times", ahí están sus mejores creaciones, con enorme diferencia

  • these were the real thing---if some poncey music school fuck had composed these melodies with these arrangments.and created this sound the nattering classes at the guardian,would have been all over them,,,,,,,,what a beautiful, big , original band ,,maybe the best ever,,,,,,,,viya con dios

  • ok so interpol blatantly ripped these guys off. this is a really great song. strong video.

  • F#cK Interpol. This is the real deal.

  • where the hell was i in or these guys in the 80's. really great stuff. interpol is definitly influenced by these guys.

  • aaaaah, lovely! really really great album, love playing it to friend who never heard of them

  • Oh my god, I fucking love the Chameleons!!

    Mandy (Manchester) x

  • You wouldn't believe this was 1983. First time i heard this song i just couldn't stop listening to it. That guitar riff just kicks arse, and when the beat gets going for a few seconds it sounds like the best song ever recorded. Love it.

  • i agree. since i found this on the tube i keep playing it over and over.

  • Saw 'em in a reunion tour in 2002 in SF at the Great American Music Hall. They were as tight as ever. Incredible show, met Mark and ended up in the live DVD!!!

  • great great band mike

  • Beatsdude, they split in 87 after their manager died ... Mark went in to form The Sun and the Moon, did one album in 88 - well worth a listen. Reg (the short haired guitarist that everyone used to spit at) wasn't even told they'd split, at least thats what he told me when I bought him a pint at Manchester Ritz.. he was skint, pretty sad really, but good that they reformed again years later - alas too late for big fame though.

  • Pure class, few get the vibe but....good tastes are few n far between!

  • Btw, anyone else here notice the startling similarity between the guitar riff in this song and the riff in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? Could it be that Kurt Cobain was influenced by the Chameleons?

  • do u find this song has a bit of a "joy division"/"the smiths" touch to it ? possibly ?

  • joy division? yeah. the smiths? surely you jest.

  • The Smiths? Not remotely.

  • Well Cobain was certainly 'influenced' by Killing Joke who The Chameleons toured with check out the riff from 'Eighties' on YT. There's a long list of this stuff concerning Nirvana

  • I recently discovered The Chameleons. My initial reaction: where have you been all my life?? My jaw literally dropped. I was speechless.

    It's a fucking scandal that these guys weren't bigger back in the day. Does anybody know why they weren't? What went wrong?

  • In spain we say " honey was not made for the pig's mouth", it is quite simple, the masses would not appreciate this band's music because they were ahead of their time.

  • Random chance mate. U2 got the prize instead.

  • simply absolutely great!!!!!!

    the chameleons forever!!!!!!!

  • dp you know that theres another album by the boys they changed ther name its called the sun and the moon its after strange times. also mark burgess did an album called sima junction. i have to say they where the best band ever no band could ever be as good as them

  • Yes, without Reg and Dave though. Mark, John and Andy Whittaker and Andy Clegg were Sun & The Moon -hard not to compare it to the Chameleons, but once I managed that it became one of my favourite albums EVER. In fact, my dream now isn't to see The Chameleons reunited, but The Sun and the Moon...

  • one of the greatest bands ever if not the best. i have seen them live mark burgess and the boys i thank you you saved my life. haileysvomit

  • script of the times: one of many cherished close-out bin finds in '88; though strange times would certainly challenge it robustly. still there was a more headier, displaced meaning hanging on here. "there must be something wrong, boys.."

  • Honestly, that riff is one of the best riffs ever concieved.

  • the second half of strange times is awesome never got to see them live but saw the sun and the moon in manchester

  • The Chameleons "Soul in Isolation" is the best song of all time...

  • These guys are a treasure that many nowdays are oblivious to.

  • Chams... F***** Brilliant Mark when you commin back to edinburgh for a spliff.

  • i love them,many songs are really wonderful,what a passion on them!!!!

  • One of the best band ever. really

  • nah the best one is 'in shreds' :) regardless, these guys freaking rock.

  • I love the begining of this song.

    "In his Autumn before the Winter comes Man's last mad surge of Youth."

    "What on Earth are you talking about?"

    Best song still second skin though.

    Agreed?

  • Second Skin's shift halfway though is amazing, as great song just gets better. listening to it feels like a ceremony.

  • thdsese bands are better than interpol and all hte other new bands.. i love this group and JD from the same area ..

    orgasmic

  • Post-Punk is so artistic. I love this kind of music!

  • What on earth are you talking about? The Chameleons.. the greatest band to have never made it (whatever that means) One of the most underrated bands ever!!!

  • i love the chameleons and i saw thiem in concert 20 years afgo thqt were great ..Only groupebetter is Joy division

  • Thanx much!!

    They sounded great then, and sound great now!

  • Fucking great. Let's see second skin

  • ;) Will take a good while. Am going to use HD cameras and a few friends to help with that one -and if I'm not happy with the end result (let's face it, it's odds on...) then I'll wipe it. However, found me a good animator, so who knows...;)

  • second skin....best song ever probably by ANY band.

  • Great Great Great!

  • This brings me back about 20 years...probably my favourite band back in the day. Thanks for the vid:)

  • BEST BAND EVER =FACT!

  • QFMFT

  • should have been huge around the world.best north manchester band ever

  • I love the chameleons because i find them so sophisticated, modest and mature. Only started listening to these guys last year but I find the echoy effects and 80's sounds stands up now. Impeccable timing, complex tunes, and best of all i get the feeling that these guys are actually cool.

  • this song/album pulled me through summer of 1998...brilliant and beyond,changed everything musically for A bunch of people!

  • Great tune!

  • Yes, Yes, Yes,.. This song just became my summer 2007 theme song... yes.. yes.. yes..

  • Wow I should probably proof read my comments before sending them =P

  • They were still rocking in 2002 when I last

    seen them in Bochum Germany

  • the best band on the planet,,,seen em in holland,,,tore the walls down,,,whats happening now ??nada,,only band worth a look das boychik and there practically recluses

  • Are you kidding me?? There are so many amazing bands out right now! I can name like ten off the top of my head that are hugely influenced by The Chameleons. Check out my website (post-punk . com) if you are looking for good new music in this vein.

  • for the best girl of my life.....

    .....but...

  • First heard them on good old john peel in about 1983 playing 'second skin'. What a band they were!

  • Very deep existential band that rocked the shit out of an album as good as anything out there including U2 (dare i say it - bono edge and boys would likely concur). this song is a "fucking mess.... don't fall!" and ahead of its time.

  • for me this is gothic rock, well done.