Artist · chart history · #297 in alternative artist polls

Mighty Lemon Drops

Band Wolverhampton United Kingdom Active 1985–1992

Mighty Lemon Drops formed in 1985 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom and was active until 1992. Mighty Lemon Drops has 20 chart appearances on 19 radio countdowns from 11 stations on RockLists, spanning 1986–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Inside Out”, which appears on 14 lists with a best position of #24. The station that charted Mighty Lemon Drops most often is Live 105 (San Francisco, CA), with 3 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1988.

20appearances

19countdowns

5songs charted

11stations

0#1 finishes

1986–2023years

The Mighty Lemon Drops got together in Wolverhampton, in the Black Country, in spring 1985, a four-piece first known as the Sherbet Monsters. Paul Marsh, Dave Newton and Tony Linehan had played together in Active Restraint back in 1982, and Newton and Linehan wrote most of the songs. Original drummer Martin Gilks soon left, later landing in the Wonder Stuff, and the lineup settled with Marsh singing, Newton on guitar, Linehan on bass and Keith Rowley on drums.

Their sound was post-punk with a head full of psychedelia, led by the ringing chime of Newton's Rickenbacker, and the comparisons to Echo and the Bunnymen came thick and fast. The first single, "Like an Angel", came out in December 1985 on Dreamworld, the label run by Daniel Treacy of Television Personalities; it topped the UK Indie Chart, shifting 14,000 copies, a rush of chiming chords and brooding vocals that also anchored My Best Friends Are Songs.

Out of Hand followed in 1987, and World Without End in 1988 gave them "Inside Out", a propulsive, shimmering single that alternative radio listeners held on to. Laughter, in 1989, brought "Into the Heart of Love", by which time they were on Chrysalis, and the band called it a day in 1992.

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

Songs by Mighty Lemon Drops on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Inside Out	587	14	#24	–	1988
2	Into the Heart of Love	57	1	#47	–	1989
3	My Biggest Thrill	36	1	#546	–	–
4	Like An Angel	34	1	#34	–	1986
5	Out of Hand	1	2	#1987	–	–

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.

86 88 89

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2023	546	My Biggest Thrill	The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2023	702	Inside Out	The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2003	1384	Inside Out	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2002	1210	Inside Out	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2000	1987	Out of Hand	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
1999	768	Inside Out	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	1987	Out of Hand	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	478	Inside Out	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1994	499	Inside Out	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994)
1991	134	Inside Out	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)
1991	706	Inside Out	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1991	96	Artist ranking	Live 105 Top 105 Artists of All-Time (1991)
1989	47	Into the Heart of Love	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989
1989	75	Inside Out	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)
1989	24	Inside Out	WFNX Top 101 Songs of the Decade (December 1989)
1988	77	Inside Out	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988
1988	50	Inside Out	91X Top 91 Songs of 1988
1988	29	Inside Out	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988
1988	473	Inside Out	Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1986	34	Like An Angel	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1986

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