Artist · chart history
Mike + The Mechanics
Band Dover United Kingdom Formed 1985
Mike + The Mechanics formed in 1985 in Dover, United Kingdom. Mike + The Mechanics has 5 chart appearances on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 1985–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “The Living Years”, which appears on 3 lists with a best position of #338. The station that charted Mike + The Mechanics most often is WMGK (Philadelphia, PA), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1985.
Mike + The Mechanics began in Dover in 1985 as Mike Rutherford's side project, something for the Genesis guitarist to do while his main band was on a break, and it turned into a hit machine of its own. The early lineup split vocal duties between Paul Carrack and Paul Young, with Adrian Lee on keyboards and Peter Van Hooke on drums, and together they turned out polished, sweeping soft rock and pop rock: "Silent Running", "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Taken In", "The Living Years", "Word of Mouth", "Over My Shoulder" and "Now That You've Gone".
Lee and Van Hooke left in 1995 and nobody replaced them. Young died in 2000, leaving Carrack as the only lead singer, and by 2004 the band was down to a duo; Rutherford and Carrack agreed it had reached its natural end and let it go.
Rutherford, the one constant member, brought the name back in 2010 with an entirely new cast, including singers Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar, with Anthony Drennan on bass and guitar and Gary Wallis on drums. That version is still going, and Out of the Blue arrived in 2019.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Mike + The Mechanics on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Living Years | 3 | #338 | – | – | |
| 2 | All I Need Is A Miracle | 1 | #385 | – | – | |
| 3 | Silent Run | 1 | #89 | – | 1985 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 471 | The Living Years | WMGK Philly 500 (2026) |
| 2026 | 338 | The Living Years | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s |
| 2024 | 385 | All I Need Is A Miracle | WMGK Philly 500 (2024) |
| 1991 | 954 | The Living Years | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) |
| 1985 | 89 | Silent Run | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1985 |
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