Artist · chart history
Severed Heads
Band Sydney Australia Active 1979–2019
Severed Heads formed in 1979 in Sydney, Australia and was active until 2019. Severed Heads has 2 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 1 station on RockLists, spanning 1994–1995. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Deadeyes Open (Remix)”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #10. The station that charted Severed Heads most often is Triple J (Australia (national)), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1994.
Severed Heads began in Sydney in 1979 under the gloriously deadpan name Mr and Mrs No Smoking Sign, with Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright soon joined by Tom Ellard. By mid-1981 the other two were gone, and from then on Ellard was the one constant, with Garry Bradbury, Simon Knuckey, Stephen Jones and Paul Deering passing through the ranks. What came out was electronic music with an industrial chill: clanking, cold and mechanical, with melodies that sneak up on you through the static.
"Dead Eyes Opened", first released in 1984, got a fresh remix in 1994 and climbed to No. 16 on the ARIA singles chart, a creepy, hypnotic groove that sounded right at home a decade on. That same year Gigapus brought "Heart of the Party". The group had already cracked the American dance clubs, with "Greater Reward" and "All Saints Day" both reaching the top 30 of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and Virgin, Volition and Nettwerk all put out their records.
Ellard disbanded the project in 2007, but it kept coming back to life: a 30th-anniversary show in 2010, dates supporting Gary Numan in Australia, a set at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 2013 and a US tour in 2015, their first there in more than 20 years. They signed off again after headlining shows in September 2019.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Severed Heads on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deadeyes Open (Remix) | 1 | #10 | – | 1994 | |
| 2 | Heart of the Party | 1 | #77 | – | 1995 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 77 | Heart of the Party | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1995 |
| 1994 | 10 | Deadeyes Open (Remix) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1994 |
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