Peak
1
Weeks
17
Score
3,311
Chart Year
1989
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
Together with "She Drives Me Crazy," this is the other one of the Fine Young Cannibals' twin #1 Billboard hits, both pumped out in 1989 from their second album The Raw & The Cooked. They also had another Top-40 hit from the same album, "Don't Look Back" at #11. This pegged Fine Young Cannibals (often abbreviated "FYC," even on the cover of the album) forever in music history as superstars who exploded onto the music scene in one year and were practically forgotten ever since. However in their home turf of Birmingham, England, their fame is somewhat more evenly spread. "Good Thing" was a worldwide hit, charting #4 on Irish Singles, #7 on Australian ARIA, #8 on German Singles, #12 on Swiss Singles. If we discover life on other planets, we'll probably find out that the song charted high with them, too. To this day you almost can't listen to a whole day of radio without hearing either this or "She Drives Me Crazy." Fine Young Cannibals rose from the ashes of the UK band The Beat. Sometimes called "The English Beat" to distinguish them from the US Paul Collins' band, The Beat had a number of UK Singles hits including a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Tears Of A Clown," "Mirror in the Bathroom," and "Too Nice To Talk To." When the band broke up in 1983, guitarists David Steele and Andy Cox went on to form FYC with a new vocalist, Roland Gift, whom they carefully chose after eight months of listening to cassettes. At the height of their popularity, the group was hounded to accept sponsorship deals, including a ridiculous one involving this song. "The worst thing was they wanted us to remake the 'Good Thing' video with Hondas instead of Vespas," David Steele told Q magazine in 1990. "I used to hang out with scooter kids and to them the biggest joke in the whole world was the Honda scooter."
The one good thing in my life Has gone away, I don't know why She's gone away, I don't know where Somewhere I can't follow her The one good thing didn't stay too long My back was turned and she was gone Good thing Where have you gone My good thing You've been gone too long (good thing) People say I should forget New friend tomorrow Don't get upset People say she's doing fine Mutual friends I see sometime That's not what I want to hear I wanna hear she wants me near Good thing Where have you gone My good thing You've been gone too long (good thing) Good thing Then one day she came back I was so happy that I didn't act Morning came into my room Caught me dreaming like a fool Good thing, my good thing My my my my good thing Where have you gone (good thing) My good thing My good thing (good thing) Girl Where have you gone It's been so long Good God girl Good God girl Good God girl Good thing Good God Good God
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 6, 1989 | 69 | 57 |
| 2 | May 13, 1989 | 50 | 76 |
| 3 | May 20, 1989 | 35 | 91 |
| 4 | May 27, 1989 | 28 | 98 |
| 5 | Jun 3, 1989 | 19 | 107 |
| 6 | Jun 10, 1989 | 15 | 111 |
| 7 | Jun 17, 1989 | 7 | 119 |
| 8 | Jun 24, 1989 | 5 | 121 |
| 9 | Jul 1, 1989 | 2 | 124 |
| 10 | Jul 8, 1989 | 1 | 125 |
| 11 | Jul 15, 1989 | 3 | 123 |
| 12 | Jul 22, 1989 | 7 | 119 |
| 13 | Jul 29, 1989 | 16 | 110 |
| 14 | Aug 5, 1989 | 30 | 96 |
| 15 | Aug 12, 1989 | 39 | 87 |
| 16 | Aug 19, 1989 | 45 | 81 |
| 17 | Aug 26, 1989 | 79 | 47 |