Songoftheday 4/21/17 - It seems like weeks since you looked at me baby without that look of distaste, I don't know why your feelings are changing but I've seen it in your face...
from the album Waking Hours (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3
Today's song of the day comes from the Scottish alternative rock band Del Amitri, who came together in Glasgow under lead singer Justin Currie and guitarist Iain Harvie in the early 80s. The original incarnation of the group released their debut album in 1985, and was a moderately successful album (helped by their opening spot on the Smiths' tour), but it wasn't until four years later, and a shuffling of members besides Currie and Harvie, when their sophomore effort Waking Hours was released. The first single from the set, "Kiss This Thing Goodbye", missed the top 40 in its first shot in the UK (#59). A second single, "Stone Cold Sober", was a minor British hit at #90 and was the first to get noticed in Australia (#50). After their third release from the record, "Nothing Ever Happens", climbed all the way to #11 on the British chart (to this day their biggest success on their homeland's chart), the band re-released "Kiss This Thing Goodbye". Written by Currie, Harvie, and short-term guitarist Mick Slaven, the song also came even closer to the top 40 there at #43, but this time American radio took notice, and now they found themselves with a Stateside hit...
"Kiss This Thing Goodbye" became Del Amitri's first American top-40 pop hit in July of 1990. The single also reached the top-20 on both of Billboard's Mainstream (#17) and Modern Rock (#13) radio charts. The track also got into the top 40 in Australia at #28 (their biggest hit Down Under). They returned to the British charts at #36 with a fourth single, "Move Away Jimmy Blue".
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Here's the band performing "Kiss This Thing Goodbye" on Letterman to promote the album....
And finally, in a more recent concert in Scotland...
Up tomorrow: Get a little naughty with Breathless Mahoney.
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