Songfacts®:

• In our 2012 interview with The Fixx lead singer/lyricist Cy Curnin, he explained the meaning of this song, which deals with malleable politicians. "If you're going to be a liar, you'd better be a damn good liar and remember what you said, or the whole thing's going to get pear shaped," said Curnin. "That was 30 years ago, and look where the system is now. A lot of people stand on ballot boxes and say a lot of things and lie in order to get elected and do nothing. So those songs I'm pretty proud of."
• This is the most famous song by the London-based group The Fixx, with Cy Curnin on vocals, Jamie West-Oram on lead guitar, Adam Woods on percussion, and Alfie Agius on bass, replacing Charlie Barrett, who left after their debut album Shuttered Room in 1982. In turn, Reach the Beach is their most successful album. Like all their early albums, it was produced by Rupert Hine.
• "One Thing Leads to Another" was in heavy rotation on MTV when the network was picking up steam, giving The Fixx a great deal of exposure stateside along with acts like Duran Duran and Eurythmics. The song is well-remembered by early MTV viewers, and the song is included on many 1980s compilation albums and continues to get substantial radio airplay today.
• This song has also played in commercials for LendingTree and in promos for the Fox TV show Lie to Me.
• Speaking of The Fixx and MTV, Cy Curnin reminisces about MTV's impact in the book MTV Ruled the World - The Early Years of Music Video: "First time i watched MTV, it was early morning. It was refreshing to see a video instead of a cheesy infomercial or a Bible-bashing preacher. Kids for once had their own channel to start the day. It was the first 'national' music station, too, so a hit was a hit nationwide at the same time."