Through the Barricades is the fifth studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 17 November 1986 by CBS Records.

[5] However, before their next single, "Gold", was released there later that year, the band's lead guitarist and songwriter Gary Kemp acknowledged that the softer style of "True" could give people a very limited understanding of their music.

He hoped their upcoming US tour to support the True album would disabuse that part of their audience of the notion that the rest of their songs sounded the same.

[6][a] The band addressed this concern again in 1985 when they toured there with the British-American supergroup The Power Station as a way of, as Billboard described it, "gaining more rock credibility".

Spandau Ballet decided to try co-producing with someone else once they changed labels[11][i] and chose Gary Langan, a recording engineer they met while working with Trevor Horn.

[11][j] Kemp had high praise for Langan's work with his own band, Art of Noise, as well as ABC and Billy Idol.

[18][k] Spandau Ballet decided they would test him out in the role of co-producer of one song for their Parade follow-up to see if they worked well together before committing to an entire album with him in that capacity.

[11][l] They recorded that song, "Fight for Ourselves", in the winter of 1986[19][m] at Musicland Studios[20] in Munich and decided to keep Langan on as co-producer for the entire album.

At the time of its release, he explained to Number One,[15] We've captured a lot of that live feel and raw energy on the new album.

They're not convinced until they see us play live.After the introductory track, the first song on the album is "Cross the Line", which Kemp described as "much more arena rock for Spandau."

In retrospect, however, Kemp felt they should have only performed their hit songs and thought Dagger would agree that choosing to play "Virgin" instead was a mistake.

[18][p] Belfast native Thomas "Kidso" Reilly, who had worked for Spandau Ballet selling merchandise during their 1983 UK tour, became a casualty of The Troubles later that year when he was gunned down by a British soldier.

[22][23] When the band played in Belfast during their 1984 tour, Kemp got a first-hand look at the political climate there and was inspired to write "Through the Barricades", using what he had seen as the backdrop for a love song.

[18][s] At the time of its release Through the Barricades received mixed reviews from the North American trade magazines, some of which still thought the band's focus was on dance music and never acknowledged their transition to rock.

[45] Cashbox only wrote, "Spandau teams with Art of Noise studio wiz Langan for a sonic tour de force of melodic, stimulating dance music.

"[46] Billboard, however, was critical of the change, noting that "problems arise … when band ventures into harder-rockin' territory--a heavier touch from Art of Noise member Langan might have helped pull it off.

Number One's Karen Swayne wrote that both the title song and the album showed that Kemp "still has a way with a catchy chorus and a sure commercial instinct".

"[44] In a review for AllMusic, Dan LeRoy wrote, "Rocking up Spandau Ballet's smooth white-boy soul, Through the Barricades manages to avoid utter disaster via the tuneful creations of songwriter/guitarist Gary Kemp."

[52] While it did chart higher in Ireland, Italy and Spain and on the European Hot 100, its peak positions in other countries were mostly lower than that of the UK.

[t] Lead singer Tony Hadley wrote in his 2004 autobiography To Cut a Long Story Short that the mostly unimpressive numbers "hardly squared with our hopes of global success".

[67][u] It made the top 10 in several other countries[v] and received Silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry on 2 April 2021 for reaching the 200,000 units of shipment threshold.

[w] In the US, Billboard[84] and Cash Box[85] magazines noted in their respective 21 March 1987 reviews of the song for US retailers and radio stations that "How Many Lies" was the first single released there from the Through the Barricades album.