Artist · chart history
Lone Justice
Band Los Angeles United States Active 1982–1987
Lone Justice formed in 1982 in Los Angeles, United States and was active until 1987. Lone Justice has 5 chart appearances on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1985–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Shelter”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #189. The station that charted Lone Justice most often is The Colorado Sound (Fort Collins–Denver, CO), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1985.
Lone Justice rode out of Los Angeles in 1982, when guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and singer Maria McKee threw in together to play country rock with a young band's urgency. McKee's voice was the weapon, a big, raw, hollering thing that could turn a two-step into a revival meeting, and it made it impossible to file them with the rhinestone crowd.
With Marvin Etzioni and Don Heffington in the band, they made their self-titled debut for Geffen in 1985. "Ways to Be Wicked" and "East of Eden" came from it, twangy and hard-charging, the sound of a barn dance with the amps turned up.
Then the ground shifted. By 1986 Hedgecock, Etzioni and Heffington were gone, and McKee carried on with a new crew of Bruce Brody, Shane Fontayne and Gregg Sutton. A second album, Shelter, followed in 1986, and that was the last word: Lone Justice broke up in 1987, two albums in and burning out as fast as they'd flared up.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Lone Justice on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shelter | 1 | #189 | – | – | |
| 2 | Ways to Be Wicked | 3 | #88 | – | 1985 | |
| 3 | East of Eden | 1 | #105 | – | 1985 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 189 | Shelter | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s |
| 2022 | 435 | Ways to Be Wicked | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time |
| 1989 | 442 | Ways to Be Wicked | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) |
| 1985 | 105 | East of Eden | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985 |
| 1985 | 88 | Ways to Be Wicked | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1985 |
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