Robbed hit of the week 2/5/18 - The Farm's "Groovy Train"...
from the album Spartacus (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #41
This week's "robbed hit" comes from the British alternative rock band the Farm, who came together in the early 1980s in Liverpool, and released their first single "Hearts and Minds" in 1983. Throughout the early part of the decade, helped by "Suggs" of the ska icons Madness, the band released a series of singles without any success, and in 1986, after the death of their original drummer and departure of previous leader John Melvin, lead singer Peter Hooton reassembled a new version of the Farm, and in 1989 they landed their first minor British hit with a cover of the Paul Revere hit from the 60's, "Stepping Stone", which peaked at #58. With that momentum, the band released their debut album Spartacus, in 1991. The first single from the new set, "Groovy Train", was a hip dance-rock song in the same vein as the likes of EMF and Jesus Jones, and became their first British top ten hit at #4. After the song "All Together Now" was released in America and hit #7 on Billboard's Modern rock chart. That was followed in America by the track released first in their homeland, "Groovy Train". The fun and funky single started their first pop radio climb...
While "Groovy Train" climbed all the way to #15 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, the song stopped one notch short of the pop top-40 in the U.S. in November of 1991. In their native Britain, the song was their first top ten effort at #6. The Spartacus album topped the British albums chart as well.
Their next chart appearance came as a featured act on new wave artist Pete Wylie's remake of his earlier single "Sinful! (Scary Jiggin With Doctor Love)", which climbed to #28 in the UK. The Farm came back with a third single from Spartacus, "Don't Let Me Down", which made it to #36.
In 1992, they returned with their second album Love Sees No Colour, which spun off five charting singles in the UK, including a cover of the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" which did the best, peaking at #18. The title track "Love Sees No Colour" reached the American modern rock chart at #30 as well. The Farm's third album, Hullabaloo, arrived in 1994, and while none of the singles reached the chart in their native Britain, the track "Messiah" made it on to the American Modern Rock list at #30. The group slipped from sight shortly after, though in 2004 a new version of "All Together Now" geared to the national football team at the Euro Games, rose to become their highest-charting single at #5. They still continues to perform in concerts and rallies for the Labour party.
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Here's the alternate version of the music video for American audiences...
And the band live in concert in 1990 behind the Spartacus album...
and lastly, from a reunion show in 2006...
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