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Cover of The Raw & The Cooked by Fine Young Cannibals
Cover: The Raw & The Cooked

Song · Fine Young Cannibals

“Good Thing” by Fine Young Cannibals

From the album The Raw & The Cooked (1988)

“Good Thing” by Fine Young Cannibals appears on 19 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1989 and 2025. It was first released in 1988 on the album The Raw & The Cooked. Its best result is #6 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #13 alternative song of 1989, #1,273 alternative song of all time and #127 of the '80s.

19countdowns
8stations
#6best position
0#1 finishes
2top 10 finishes
1989–2025years charted

Watch

Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (London Records). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Good Thing" had a head start: Fine Young Cannibals first played it on screen in the 1987 film Tin Men, cast as a nightclub band in 1963 Baltimore. It got its proper release on The Raw & the Cooked, their second and final album, and as the follow-up to "She Drives Me Crazy" it gave them a second and last US number one in July 1989, topping the charts in Canada too.

It's pure retro soul, a stomping, tambourine-shaking throwback that fits the movie's period setting like a tailored suit, with Roland Gift's quivering croon out front and Jimmy Chambers, George Chandler and Jimmy Helms on backing vocals. Gift wrote it with David Steele, and the pair produced it with Andy Cox. Jools Holland pounds the piano, and he later counted it among the biggest sellers he ever played on.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1989 6 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989 107
1989 20 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1989 90
1989 9 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1989 105

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1989 242 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1990 163 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) 299
1994 359 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) 500
1999 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 349 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1683 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 1457 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 574 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2021 591 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2023 329 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2025 64 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs 800

Charting alongside it in 1989

Best songs of 1989 →
  1. 1Love SongThe Cure
  2. 2StandR.E.M.
  3. 3Here Comes Your ManThe Pixies
  4. 4She Drives Me CrazyFine Young Cannibals
  5. 5Love ShackThe B-52's
  6. 6Personal JesusDepeche Mode

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