Del Amitri - Kiss This Thing Goodbye

Although they were stars in the UK, Del Amitri never quite broke through in the U.S., through no fault of their own.  The band's strong pop-rock songs, with folk, roots rock and even country influences, were melodic and catchy.  In spite of this, they only had 3 top 40 hits in the U.S., and only 1995's "Roll to Me" really garnered a significant amount of air play.

The band formed in the early 1980s in Glasgow, Scotland, and was named after ... well, perhaps a film producer.  It was a Scottish interpretation of the name Dimitri, and ended up sticking.  The group released a self-titled debut album on Chrysalis in 1985, but it did not gain traction, and they were subsequently dropped by the label.  Their second album, 1989's Working Hours (on A&M), did make an impact, reaching #6 on the album charts in the UK.

Del Amitri released 3 more LPs in the 1990s, all of which broke the to 10 in the UK, and had 13 top 40 singles, as well.  In the U.S., only Working Hours even broke the top 100 on the album charts.

For the blog, we went with the first single off Working Hours, "Kiss This Thing Goodbye."  It's a fine example of the band's catchy songwriting.  Interestingly, the song was released in 1989, and reached #59 on the UK charts.  A re-release in 1990 did better, reaching #43 in the UK and #35 in the U.S.

Del Amitri went on hiatus (broke up?) in 2002, but has subsequently re-formed in 2014, and seem to be active as of this writing.