History Music / XTC

* XMakesAnythingCool: Andy Partridge chose to spell the band's name this way, adapted from a phrase by Jimmy Durante, is that it looked good in print.

* WeddingDay: "Big Day".

Influences:

-->''If love is an ‘Eros’ like god, he would beg me to kill him, as he hasn't worked for centuries. I'd be doing mankind a good service. Nobody seems to need love anymore. The first one who says it sounds like Sheryl Crow is a goner.''

* CompilationRelease: The Dukes of Stratoshpear E.P. ''25 O'Clock'' and the ''Psonic Psunspot'' album were released on one CD titled ''Chips from the Chocolate Fireball''.

* ''Oranges & Lemons'' (1989) - The drummer's stool was passed to Pat Mastelotto, of Music/KingCrimson and Music/MrMister fame.

Discography:

* CannnotSpitItOut: A recurring theme in Partridge's songs is the inability to tell the object of his affection that he loves her, most notably on "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her" and "Ladybird".

-->"Each drop would make us grow really high, really high, like a really high thing".

+ Syd Barrett

** Lily Fraser, the daughter of the owner of Sawmills Studio, recited "psychedelic nonsense" (Andy's description) in between some songs on ''Psonic Psunspot''. Andy said that their first plan was to ask Derek Guyler to do so, as a tribute to Stanley Unwin's monologues on Music/TheSmallFaces' ''Ogden's Nut Gone Flake'', but Guyler's agent asked for £10.000, which was their entire recording budget. Lily did it instead for "a pat on the head and ice cream money."

The band retired from touring definitively in 1982 after Partridge [[CreatorBreakdown suffered a severe mental breakdown]], forcing their world tour to be cancelled. They remained studio-bound for the rest of their career, making occasional live appearances on radio and television (like a 1989 appearance on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night with David Letterman]]'' where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amx5CK7vdoc Partridge looks absolutely uncomfortable]]). In response to the loss of touring income, Chambers left and moved to Australia. Partridge, Moulding and Gregory didn't bother to replace him, instead recruiting session drummers on an album-per-album basis. These drummers have included: Pete Phipps (Gary Glitter, Music/{{Eurythmics}}), Prairie Prince (The Tubes), Dave Mattacks (Music/FairportConvention), Pat Mastelotto (Music/KingCrimson) and Dave's brother Ian Gregory.

Around the same time, XTC recorded some outright PsychedelicRock [[AffectionateParody Affectionate Parodies]], under their alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear. As The Dukes, the band released an EP, ''25 O'Clock'' (1985), and an album, ''Psionic Psunspot'' (1987), where they were all credited under StageNames (Partridge was Sir John Johns, Moulding was [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Red Curtain]] and Gregory was Lord Cornelius Plum) and did their damnedest to pass the material off as [[{{Retraux}} genuine Sixties psychedelia]]. The EP and album were initially available on vinyl only, but simultaneous with the album the two were compiled as ''Chips from the Chocolate Fireball'' on CD only. It wasn't until 2009 that the original works were released on CD separately, with bonus tracks and credited to XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear. The Dukes were also jokingly thanked in the ''Skylarking'' liner notes for allowing XTC to borrow their instruments.

* TruckDriversGearChange: Occurs in "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty", "Respectable Street", "Rocket from a Bottle", "Towers of London", "Don't Lose Your Temper", "Ball and Chain", "Senses Working Overtime", "Great Fire" (which is itself a rewrite of "Senses"), "Me and the Wind", "The Everyday Story of Smalltown", "You're the Wish You Are I Had", "Bike Ride to the Moon", "Another Satellite", "You're a Good Man Albert Brown", "Pale and Precious", "Easter Theatre".

Benefiting from renewed attention, XTC managed to revive their commercial fortunes with their next two energetic PsychedelicRock albums, ''Oranges and Lemons'' and ''Nonsuch'', gaining three more hit singles from them: "The Mayor of Simpleton" and "King for a Day" from the former and "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" from the latter. However, they became embroiled in a long contractual dispute with their label Virgin Records and went "on strike" until they were released from their contract in 1998.

* They also appeared on their own tribute album ''Testimonial Dinner'' as "Terry and the Lovemen".