Artist · chart history
The Scabs
Band Diest Belgium Formed 1981 Belgian rock band
The Scabs formed in 1981 in Diest, Belgium. The Scabs has 19 chart appearances on 17 radio countdowns from 1 station on RockLists, spanning 1988–2008. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Hard Times”, which appears on 15 lists and was voted number one once. In total the artist has topped 1 countdown. The station that charted The Scabs most often is Studio Brussel (Flanders, Belgium), with 19 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1990.
The Scabs came out of Diest, Belgium, and they made the kind of sweaty, no-frills punk rock that belongs in a packed bar at closing time. The original core was Guy Swinnen on vocals and guitar, Berre Bergen, Francis Vangeel on guitar and Frankie Saenen on drums. "Matchbox Car" gave them an early hit, and it became a fixture on Belgian radio.
The guitar spot kept changing hands. Mark "Lakke" Vanbinst replaced Vangeel in 1983 and left two years later for La Fille d'Ernest, and in came Willy Willy, a former member of Vaya Con Dios, who stayed until 1994. Skintight brought "Halfway Home" in 1988, and in 1989 Fons Sijmons took over from Bergen, who went off to join De Kreuners, with Jan Hautekiet adding keyboards in those years.
Then came the peak. Royalty in Exile, their third album, from 1990, earned a gold disc and gave them "Hard Times", the song Belgian radio has never let go of, plus "I Need You" and "Time". Jumping the Tracks followed in 1991 with "Don't You Know". Tjenne Berghmans took over from Willy Willy in 1994, the band folded in 1996, and they were back on the road in 2007, with Swinnen and Saenen still at the heart of it. Three members have since died: Sijmons in 2013, Bergen in 2016 and Willy Willy in 2019.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Scabs on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hard Times | 15 | #1 | 1 | 1990 | |
| 2 | Halfway Home | 1 | #4 | – | 1988 | |
| 3 | I Need You | 1 | #10 | – | 1990 | |
| 4 | Don't you know | 1 | #11 | – | 1991 | |
| 5 | Time | 1 | #14 | – | 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.
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