Fine Young Cannibals | |
|---|---|
 Fine Young Cannibals, 1990 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Two Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet |
| Origin | Birmingham, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1984–1992, 1996 |
| Labels | London,I.R.S. |
| Spinoff of | |
| Members | Roland Gift |
| Past members | Andy Cox David Steele |
Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) were an Englishpop rock band formed inBirmingham, West Midlands, in 1984 by formerThe Beat band bassistDavid Steele and guitaristAndy Cox[5] with singerRoland Gift (formerly of theAkrylykz). Their self-titled 1985 debut album contained "Johnny Come Home" and a cover of "Suspicious Minds", two songs that were top 40 hits in the UK, Canada, Australia and Europe. Their 1989 album,The Raw & the Cooked, topped the UK, US, Australian and Canadian album charts, and contained their twoBillboard Hot 100 number ones: "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing".[6]
In 1990, the band won twoBrit Awards: Best British Group and Best British Album (forThe Raw & the Cooked).[7]
The group was formed in 1984 after the dissolution ofThe Beat, with whom Cox and Steele previously played.[5] Their name came from the 1960 filmAll the Fine Young Cannibals starringRobert Wagner andNatalie Wood.[8] The duo of Steele and Cox spent eight months listening to over 500 cassettes of potential singers before picking Gift. They had difficulty obtaining a record contract, but when a video of their song "Johnny Come Home" appeared on British TV showThe Tube, recording contract offers flowed in immediately.[9] The band'seponymous debut album was released in 1985, spawning two UK hit singles, "Johnny Come Home" and a cover ofElvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" featuring additional vocals byJimmy Somerville.[6] The two songs also became hits internationally, charting in the top 40 inEurope,Canada, andAustralia although they failed to make a significant impact on the US charts.
Fine Young Cannibals appeared as thehouse band in a nightclub in the 1987 comedy filmTin Men and also contributed songs to the film'ssoundtrack, including "Good Thing".[10]
In the gap between their first and second albums, Steele and Cox released the instrumentalhouse single "Tired of Getting Pushed Around" in 1987 as "Two Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet", which reached No. 18 in theUK Singles Chart[11] and was popular on theU.S. dance chart. During this time, Gift appeared in the movieSammy and Rosie Get Laid.
The band continued their international success with the singles "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing", from the 1989 albumThe Raw & the Cooked. Both songs reached No. 1 in the United States.[12] "She Drives Me Crazy" also topped theAustralian chart for three non-consecutive weeks and peaked at No. 5 in the UK, while "Good Thing" peaked at No. 7 in both countries.[13]The Raw & the Cooked included three songs the band had recorded forTin Men (including "Good Thing"), and their cover of theBuzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" recorded for the filmSomething Wild.[6]
In 1990, the band contributed a version ofCole Porter's "Love for Sale" to the AIDS research benefit albumRed Hot + Blue, produced by theRed Hot Organization.
Fine Young Cannibals disbanded in 1992, although they briefly returned to the studio in 1996 to record a new single, "Flame", for thegreatest hitscompilationThe Finest.[6] In 2025, Gift announced a two-show tour in 2025 billed as "Roland Gift Presents Fine Young Cannibals", with an unknown line-up as of July 2025.[14]
| Year | Awards | Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Awards | "She Drives Me Crazy" | Video of the Year | Nominated | [15] |
| Best Group Video | Nominated | ||||
| Breakthrough Video | Nominated | ||||
| Viewer's Choice | Nominated | ||||
| 1990 | Brit Awards | Themselves | British Group | Won | [16] |
| The Raw & the Cooked | British Album of the Year | Won | |||
| Grammy Awards | "She Drives Me Crazy" | Record of the Year | Nominated | [17] | |
| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals | Nominated | ||||
| The Raw & the Cooked | Album of the Year | Nominated | |||
| Juno Awards | International Album of the Year | Nominated | [18] | ||
| "She Drives Me Crazy" | International Single of the Year | Nominated | |||
| Ivor Novello Awards | Best Contemporary Song | Nominated | [19] | ||
| International Hit of the Year | Won | ||||
| Pollstar Concert Industry Awards | Tour | Best Debut Tour | Nominated | [20] | |
| D&AD Awards | "Don't Look Back" | Individual Video | Graphite Pencil | [21] | |
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards | "Good Thing" | Most Performed Songs | Won | [22] | |
| "She Drives Me Crazy" | Won | ||||
| 1991 | Won | [23] |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24][13] | AUS [25] | AUT [26] | CAN [27] | GER [28] | NL [29] | NZ [30] | SWE [31] | SWI [32] | US [33] | |||||||||||
| 1985 | Fine Young Cannibals | 11 | 2 | — | 21 | 42 | 21 | 11 | — | 17 | 49 | |||||||||
| 1989 | The Raw & the Cooked
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24] | AUS [25] | AUT [26] | BEL (Fl) [38] | GER [28] | NZ [30] | |||||
| 1996 | The Finest | 10 | 56 | 22 | 39 | 47 | 21 |
| ||
| 2006 | The Platinum Collection
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2009 | She Drives Me Crazy
| — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2012 | The Collection | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24] | AUS [25] | GER [28] | ||
| 1990 | The Raw & the Remix
| 61 | 114 | 38 |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24] | AUS [25] | BEL (Fl) [38] | CAN [40] | GER [28] | IRE [41] | NL [29] | NZ [30] | US [42] | US Dance [43] | ||||
| 1985 | "Johnny Come Home" | 8 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 76 | 9 | Fine Young Cannibals | |
| "Blue" | 41 | 13 | 34 | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | ||||
| 1986 | "Suspicious Minds" | 8 | 6 | 22 | 21 | 37 | 9 | 21 | 14 | — | 23 | ||
| "Funny How Love Is" | 58 | 97 | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1987 | "Ever Fallen in Love" | 9 | 20 | 28 | — | 19 | 10 | 34 | 23 | — | 11 | Something Wild(soundtrack) | |
| 1988 | "She Drives Me Crazy" | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| The Raw & the Cooked |
| 1989 | "Good Thing" | 7 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 1 | 20 | ||
| "Don't Look Back" | 34 | 38 | 38 | 10 | 29 | 10 | — | 23 | 11 | — | |||
| "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be" | 20 | 109 | — | 35 | 33 | 8 | 29 | — | 54 | 8 | |||
| 1990 | "I'm Not Satisfied" | 46 | 145 | — | 83 | 66 | 19 | — | — | 90 | — | ||
| "It's OK (It's Alright)" | — | 169 | — | — | 44 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1996 | "The Flame" | 17 | 85 | 65 | — | 65 | — | — | 36 | — | — | The Finest | |
| 1997 | "She Drives Me Crazy 1997" | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||||||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
