Artist · chart history · #172 in alternative artist polls
Fine Young Cannibals
Band Birmingham United Kingdom Active 1984–1996
Fine Young Cannibals formed in 1984 in Birmingham, United Kingdom and was active until 1996. Fine Young Cannibals has 100 chart appearances on 59 radio countdowns from 19 stations on RockLists, spanning 1985–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “She Drives Me Crazy”, which appears on 46 lists with a best position of #4. The station that charted Fine Young Cannibals most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 28 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1989.
Fine Young Cannibals came together in Birmingham in 1984 when two refugees from the Beat, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox, teamed up with Roland Gift, a singer who'd been in the Akrylykz. Steele and Cox handled the guitars, bass, keyboards and synths; Gift supplied the voice, a high, trembling, soul-soaked thing that could go from a purr to a yelp in half a bar.
The self-titled debut in 1985 had "Johnny Come Home", a nervy, jazzy shuffle, and a cover of "Suspicious Minds" played as a jittery, desperate plea, and both went top 40 in the UK, Canada, Australia and across Europe. "Ever Fallen in Love" kept them busy in 1986.
Then came The Raw & the Cooked, which topped the album charts in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. It's a slick, sly record that runs vintage soul through drum machines and new wave cool, and it gave them 2 number ones on the Billboard Hot 100: "She Drives Me Crazy", with its snapping, compressed beat and Gift's falsetto hiccup, and the retro-soul romp "Good Thing". "Don't Look Back" came off it as well. In 1990 the Brit Awards named them Best British Group and gave The Raw & the Cooked Best British Album.
By 1996 Fine Young Cannibals were finished.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Fine Young Cannibals on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She Drives Me Crazy | 46 | #4 | – | 1989 | |
| 2 | Good Thing | 19 | #6 | – | 1989 | |
| 3 | Suspicious Minds | 13 | #51 | – | 1986 | |
| 4 | Johnny Come Home | 11 | #68 | – | 1985 | |
| 5 | Don't Look Back | 6 | #62 | – | 1989 | |
| 6 | Ever Fallen in Love | 3 | #28 | – | 1986 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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