Artist · chart history
Reef
Band Somerset United Kingdom Active 1993–2013 English rock band
Reef formed in 1993 in Somerset, United Kingdom and was active until 2013. Reef has 3 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 1997–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Place Your Hands”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #57. The station that charted Reef most often is Triple J (Australia (national)), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1997.
Reef grew out of Glastonbury in 1993, when Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant went hunting for bandmates just as guitarist Kenwyn House and drummer Dominic Greensmith, a Barnstaple native, were talking about starting something of their own. The four joined forces, cut a now vanishingly rare demo known as the "Purple Tape", and spent 1994 on the road winning people over one room at a time.
Sony's S2 offshoot signed them, and they served their apprenticeship opening for Paul Weller, the Rolling Stones and Soundgarden. "Good Feeling" came first, and then "Naked" caught a lucky break as the soundtrack to a Sony MiniDisc advert, the one where a label boss hurls the disc out of a window and a kid on the street picks it up and loves it.
"Place Your Hands", in 1997, is the big one: Stringer hollering like a soul man over a stomping, bluesy riff, a song built for festival fields and windows-down summer drives. The 2000 album Getaway brought "Set The Record Straight", proof they could still swing a riff around. These days the lineup has Stringer and Bessant alongside Amy Newton on guitar and Luke Bullen on drums.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Reef on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Place Your Hands | 2 | #57 | – | 1997 | |
| 2 | Set The Record Straight | 1 | #93 | – | 2000 |
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.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | Place Your Hands | Absolute Radio 100 Ultimate Britpop Anthems |
| 2000 | 93 | Set The Record Straight | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2000 |
| 1997 | 70 | Place Your Hands | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997 |
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