Artist · chart history
That Petrol Emotion
Band Derry United Kingdom Active 1985–1994
That Petrol Emotion formed in 1985 in Derry, United Kingdom and was active until 1994. That Petrol Emotion has 4 chart appearances on 4 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 1985–1990. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Big Decision”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #4. The station that charted That Petrol Emotion most often is John Peel (BBC Radio 1), with 3 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1987.
That Petrol Emotion were a London-based band of Northern Irish musicians with an American out front at the mic, and between 1986 and 1994 they made 5 albums that refused to sit still, throwing garage rock, dance-punk, post-punk and indie rock into the same cement mixer.
Manic Pop Thrill, in 1986, was the opening salvo, with "It's A Good Thing"; Babble followed in 1987 with the tense, hammering "Big Decision", and Chemicrazy in 1989 brought "Hey Venus". Critics reached for big comparisons, the Clash crossed with Creedence, a young Rolling Stones tangled up with a revved-up Television, and looking back the racket had one foot in the dance-floor rock of the early '90s and another in the post-punk revival that came a decade later.
They split in 1994, stayed quiet for well over a decade, then got back together in 2008 for shows, tours and festivals before going back on hiatus in 2010.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by That Petrol Emotion on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Decision | 1 | #4 | – | 1987 | |
| 2 | V2 | 1 | #22 | – | 1985 | |
| 3 | It's A Good Thing | 1 | #29 | – | 1986 | |
| 4 | Hey Venus | 1 | #101 | – | 1990 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 101 | Hey Venus | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990 |
| 1987 | 4 | Big Decision | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1987 |
| 1986 | 29 | It's A Good Thing | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1986 |
| 1985 | 22 | V2 | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1985 |
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