A-side Good Thing Released 14 April 1989 Genre College Rock, pop rock | B-side Social Security Recorded 1987 | |
Format 7" single
12" maxi
CD maxi | ||
"Good Thing" is a song recorded by Fine Young Cannibals, the second single from their album from 1989, The Raw & the Cooked. The song was their second U.S. #1, topping the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 July 1989. It also peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart.
Contents
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"). The film is set in Baltimore in 1963, and the song's retro soul style is consistent with that setting. The song appears in Doomsday (2008), starring Rhona Mitra, in an surreal scene involving the film's main antagonist.
Jools Holland played piano on the track, noting that it was "one of the biggest selling records I've ever played on".
Track listings
- "Good Thing" – 3:22
- "Social Security" – 3:26
- "Good Thing" (Prince Paul remix) – 5:30
- "Good Thing" (7" mix) – 3:22
- "Good Thing" (nothing like the single mix - instrumental) – 4:38
- "Good Thing" – 3:22
- "Good Thing (double groove alternate)" – 3:22
- "Social Security" – 3:26
- "Good Thing" (7" mix) – 3:25
- "Good Thing" (nothing like the single mix) – 4:42
- "She Drives Me Crazy" (Monie Love remix) – 5:59
Music video
The video 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 well as scooter culture. The scooters featured include stock scooters, as well as highly stylised scooters and minimalist cutdown scooters.
In popular culture
Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song in 1990 for The Chipmunks Go to the Movies episode, "Daytona Jones and the Pearl of Wisdom" (a spoof of the Indiana Jones films). The song was featured in the trailer for Mad Dog and Glory (1993).
Twice during 1998, the song was featured in episodes of Top Gear, first in an used car review of the Volkswagen Golf, with an voice over by presenter Quentin Wilson, 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).
The song was 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.