best john foxx-era ultravox song

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i've never been into the synth-y midge ure era ultravox but those first three albums with john foxx have been rocking my soxx lately. don't think there's a bad song in the bunch, but which one is the best?

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Slow Motion (Systems of Romance 1978)	5
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	4
My Sex (Ultravox! 1977)	3
ROckWrok(Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	2
Saturday Night in the City of the Dead (Ultravox! 1977)	1
Artificial Life (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	1
I Want To Be A Machine (Ultravox! 1977)	1
The Lonely Hunter (Ultravox! 1977)	0
Life at Rainbow's End (For All the Tax Exiles on Main Street) (Ultravox! 1977)	0
I Can't Stay Long (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Someone Else's Clothes ((Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Blue Light (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Some of Them (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Quiet Men (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Dislocation (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Maximum Acceleration (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
When You Walk Through Me (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Just For A Moment (Systems of Romance 1978)	0
Modern Life (bonus Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
Quirks (bonus, Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
The Wild, The Beautiful & The Damned (Ultravox! 1977)	0
Dangerous Rhythm (Ultravox! 1977)	0
Young Savage (single, 1977)	0
Wide Boys (Ultravox! 1977)	0
The Frozen Ones (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
Fear In The Western World (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
Distant Smile (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
The Man Who Dies Every Day (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
While I'm Still Alive (Ha! Ha! Ha! 1977)	0
Slip Away (Ultravox! 1977)	0
Cross Fade (bonus, Systems of Romance 1978)	0

― the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili), Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:45 (four weeks ago)

"young savage" is pretty undeniable, but "quiet men," "slip away," "rockwrock,," "slow motion," "blue light," "wild beautiful and the damned" are all a-one in my book

― the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili), Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:46 (four weeks ago)

"A twisted, alienating vision of a world shortly to come, tensely helmed by pop futurist and "naively perfected entity" John Foxx, this evokes for me nothing so much as the late 1970s it was birthed in - charged with the energies of prog, punk and glam, fearful of the nascent information age, chock full of sci-fi buzzes and gothic drama. It still believes in the power of the twist ending, the musical sock to the chops. It couldn't have been made at any other time. It is one of my favourite songs."

- some bozo describing Artifical Life on some competitive music-rating app at some point in the recent past, whose appearance in such may or may not have inspired this thread ;)

― imago, Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:50 (four weeks ago)

anyway yeah these three albums are everything to me, there's basically no wrong answer even if that's mine

― imago, Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:51 (four weeks ago)

"I Can't Stay Long."

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:56 (four weeks ago)

the energies of prog, punk and glam

Did anyone else jump as quickly from glam to (art-)punk to New Romantic?

I don't think Foxx has the skills as a songwriter to consistently bring his conceits to life, but I've heard all these songs and will listen to my favourites.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 18 June 2026 15:58 (four weeks ago)

ha i was actually in a bit of a foxx vox kick before someone submitted that, but yeah, it definitely did help cement my feelings about these albums

― the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili), Thursday, 18 June 2026 16:00 (four weeks ago)

my sex seems so way ahead of it’s time. ‘77!

― The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 18 June 2026 16:10 (four weeks ago)

and book ending the other end of his career with them “just for a moment” makes me cry

― The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 18 June 2026 16:11 (four weeks ago)

this thread is very coincidental since I just listened to systems of romance two days ago

― The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 18 June 2026 16:11 (four weeks ago)

just for a moment is very beautiful, yeah

― the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili), Thursday, 18 June 2026 21:58 (four weeks ago)

three weeks pass...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Friday, 10 July 2026 00:01 (one week ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Saturday, 11 July 2026 00:01 (six days ago)

oh haha forgot to vote in my own poll. “young savage”

― mobb derp (voodoo chili), Saturday, 11 July 2026 01:22 (six days ago)

aw, disappointing no one voted for “The Man Who Dies Every Day”

― Luigi No...No!!! (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 11 July 2026 01:56 (six days ago)

That would have been my choice for best on Ha! Ha! Ha!, but I forgot to vote as well. Pretty sure you can add 1 to "My Sex".

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 11 July 2026 02:19 (six days ago)

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