| Good Thing | |
| Cover: | Good_thing.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Fine Young Cannibals |
| Album: | The Raw & the Cooked |
| B-Side: | Social Security |
| Released: | 14 April 1989 |
| Recorded: | 1987 |
| Genre: |
|
| Length: | 3:24 |
| Label: | London |
| Producer: | Fine Young Cannibals |
| Prev Title: | She Drives Me Crazy |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | Don't Look Back |
| Next Year: | 1989 |
"Good Thing" is a song by British band Fine Young Cannibals, released as the second single from their second and last album, The Raw & the Cooked (1989). The song was their second and final US number-one, topping the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 July 1989.[3] It also peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart.[4] The song made its first appearance in Tin Men (1987). Fine Young Cannibals portrayed a nightclub band in the movie, performing this song and three others (including the single's B-side "Social Security").[5] The film is set in Baltimore in 1963, and the song's retro soul style is consistent with that setting. Jools Holland played piano on the track, noting that it was "one of the biggest selling records I've ever played on".[6]
The accompanying music video for "Good Thing" features many scenes with the Orribly Good Scooter Club, the Jokers and A41 Eagles displaying their motor scooters, both at rest and in motion, as part of scooter boy culture. The scooters featured include stock scooters, as well as highly stylised scooters and minimalist cutdown scooters.[7] [8]
The song was featured in the trailer for Mad Dog and Glory (1993) and in TV spots for Passed Away (1992)Twice during 1998, the song was featured in episodes of Top Gear, first in a used car review of the Volkswagen Golf, with a voiceover by presenter Quentin Willson, the second in the beginning of the review of the Alfa Romeo 166, with scenes showing Alfa Romeo 156s. In 2007, the song was used in adverts for the Chevrolet Captiva (United Kingdom).[6]
The song appears in Doomsday (2008), starring Rhona Mitra, in a surreal scene involving the film's main antagonist. It was also used in the film It's Complicated (2009), in the scene at the graduation party. It plays as Alec Baldwin walks towards Meryl Streep and Steve Martin, after noticing the two are obviously high.
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[9] | 18 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] | 8 |
| Spain (AFYVE)[11] | 16 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[12] | 1 |
| US 12-inch Singles Sales (Billboard)[13] | 17 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[14] | 12 |
| US Dance Club Play (Billboard)[15] | 20 |
| US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)[16] | 2 |
| Chart (1989) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[17] | 53 | |
| Belgium (Ultratop)[18] | 94 | |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[19] | 5 | |
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[20] | 99 | |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21] | 24 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[22] [23] | 40 | |
| US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)[24] | 3 | |
| West Germany (Official German Charts)[25] | 55 |
