Fine Young Cannibals

Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) were a British pop rock band formed in Birmingham, West Midlands, in 1984 by former The Beat band bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox with singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz). 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 two Billboard Hot 100 number ones: "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing".

In 1990, the band won two Brit Awards: Best British Group and Best British Album (for The Raw & the Cooked).

History

The group was formed in 1984 after the dissolution of The Beat, with whom Cox and Steele previously played. 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 show The Tube, recording contract offers flowed in immediately. The band's eponymous debut album was released in 1985, spawning two UK hit singles, "Johnny Come Home" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" featuring additional vocals by Jimmy Somerville.

In the gap between their first and second albums, Steele and Cox released the instrumental house single "Tired of Getting Pushed Around" in 1987 as "Two Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet", which reached No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart and was popular on the U.S. dance chart. During this time, Gift appeared in the movie Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

The band continued their international success with the singles "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing", from the 1989 album The Raw & the Cooked. Both songs reached No. 1 in the United States. "She Drives Me Crazy" also topped the Australian chart for three non-consecutive weeks and peaked at No. 5 in the UK, while "Good Thing" peaked at No. 7 in both countries. The Raw & the Cooked included three songs the band had recorded for Tin Men (including "Good Thing"), and their cover of the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" recorded for the film Something Wild.

Fine Young Cannibals disbanded in 1992, although they briefly returned to the studio in 1996 to record a new single, "Flame", for the greatest hits compilation The Finest.

Band members

Andy Cox – guitars, keyboards
Roland Gift – vocals
David Steele – bass, keyboards, drum machine

;Session and touring members

Martin Parry – drums, percussion
Graeme Hamilton – trumpet, piano
Nigel Darvill – keyboards

Awards and nominations

{| class=wikitable

! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result !! Ref.

| rowspan=4|1989

| rowspan=4|MTV Video Music Awards

| rowspan=4|"She Drives Me Crazy"

| Video of the Year

|rowspan=4|

| Best Group Video

| Breakthrough Video

| Viewer's Choice

| rowspan=13|1990

| rowspan=2|Brit Awards

| Themselves

| British Group

| rowspan=2|

| The Raw & the Cooked

| British Album of the Year

| rowspan=3|Grammy Awards

| rowspan=2|"She Drives Me Crazy"

| Record of the Year

| rowspan=3|

| Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals

| rowspan=2|The Raw & the Cooked

| Album of the Year

| rowspan=2|Juno Awards

| International Album of the Year

| rowspan=2|

| rowspan=3|"She Drives Me Crazy"

| International Single of the Year

| rowspan=2|Ivor Novello Awards

| Best Contemporary Song

|rowspan=2|

| International Hit of the Year

| Pollstar Concert Industry Awards

| Tour

| Best Debut Tour

| D&AD Awards

| "Don't Look Back"

| Individual Video

| rowspan=3|ASCAP Pop Music Awards

| "Good Thing"

| rowspan=3|Most Performed Songs

| rowspan=2|

| rowspan=2|"She Drives Me Crazy"

| 1991

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album details

! colspan="10"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications (sales threshold)

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:30px;"| UK

! style="width:30px;"| AUT

! style="width:30px;"| CAN

! style="width:30px;"| GER

! style="width:30px;"| NL

! style="width:30px;"| NZ

! style="width:30px;"| SWE

! style="width:30px;"| SWI

! style="width:30px;"| US

| 1985

| style="text-align:left;"| Fine Young Cannibals

Release date: 9 December 1985
Label: London, I.R.S.

| 11

| 2

| —

| 21

| 42

| 21

| 11

| —

| 17

| 49

BPI: Gold
MC: Platinum

| 1989

| style="text-align:left;"| The Raw & the Cooked

Release date: 6 February 1989
Label: London, I.R.S.

| 1

| 3

| 10

| 2

| 5

| 2

| 1

BPI: 3× Platinum
MC: 6× Platinum

| colspan="21" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Compilation albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album details

! colspan="6"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications (sales threshold)

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:30px;"| UK

! style="width:30px;"| GER

Label: London

| 10

| 56

| 22

| 39

| 47

| 21

BPI: Platinum

! style="width:30px;"| GER

! style="width:30px;"| NL

! style="width:30px;"| US Dance

| rowspan="2"| 1985

| style="text-align:left;"| "Johnny Come Home"

| 8

| 14

| 8

| 16

| 10

| 13

| 76

|rowspan="2"| 9

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"| Fine Young Cannibals

| style="text-align:left;"| "Blue"

| 41

| 13

| 34

| —

| 45

| —

| rowspan="2"| 1986

| style="text-align:left;"| "Suspicious Minds"

| 8

| 6

| 22

| 21

| 37

| 9

| 21

| 14

| —

| 23

| style="text-align:left;"| "Funny How Love Is"

| 58

| 97

| —

| 27

| —

| 1987

| style="text-align:left;"| "Ever Fallen in Love"

| 9

| 20

| 28

| —

| 19

| 10

| 34

| 23

| —

| 11

| style="text-align:left;"| Something Wild (soundtrack)

| 1988

| style="text-align:left;"| "She Drives Me Crazy"

| 5

| 1

| 2

| 1

| 2

| 5

| 1

BPI: Platinum