The 25 best Indie Songs of 1987
6 June 2025, 15:55 | Updated: 6 June 2025, 19:08
Take a trip back to the year that True Faith, Just Like Heaven, Shoplifters Of The World Unite and 24 Hour Party People were doing the rounds...
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The Mission - Wasteland: release date 5th January 1987
The Mish were formed by ex Sister Of Mercy members Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams and this tune was taken from their full length debut, God's Own Medicine. It remains the Leeds goth band's biggest hit in the UK, peaking at Number 11.
The Mission UK - Wasteland (Extended Video)
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The Smiths - Shoplifters Of The World Unite: release date 26th January 1987
The song You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby was originally meant to be The Smiths' first single of 1987, but it was dropped in favour of this epic track. It made Number 12 in the UK charts and remains a personal favourite of Morrissey's - he's still performing it live in June 2025.
The Smiths - Shoplifters Of The World Unite (Official Music Video)
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The Cult - Love Removal Machine: release date 16th February 1987
After the gothic majesty of their Love album, The Cult collaborated with Rick Rubin for the follow-up, Electric. This was the first single, which peaked at Number 18 on the UK singles chart.
The Cult - Love Removal Machine HD
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The Primitives - Stop Killing Me: release date 23rd February 1987
The third single from the Coventry indie band, after the previous year's Thru The Flowers and Really Stupid. The single had a famous supporter: Morrissey, who wore a Stop Killing Me t-shirt in a photo shoot.
Stop Killing Me
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Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Passenger: release date 20th March 1987
Originally recorded by Iggy Pop for his David Bowie-produced album Lust For Life ten years earlier, the Banshees' horn-driven version was one of a whole set of cover versions from their Through The Looking Glass LP.
Siouxsie And The Banshees - The Passenger
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Depeche Mode - Strangelove: release date 13th April 1987
The lead single from the Mode's sixth album Music For The Masses, which made number 16 in May 1987.
Depeche Mode - Strangelove (Remastered)
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The Jesus & Mary Chain - April Skies: release date 20th April 1987
The first single from the Reid brothers' second album Darklands. It's the band's biggest hit in the UK, making Number 8.
The Jesus And Mary Chain - April Skies (Official Music Video)
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The Housemartins - Five Get Over Excited: release date 11th May 1987
The follow-up to the Hull band's chart-topper Caravan Of Love, this was the lead single from the group's second and last album The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death. The LP saw the introduction of new drummer Dave Hemingway, who would later join singer Paul Heaton in The Beautiful South.
The Housemartins - Five Get Over Excited
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The House Of Love - Shine On: release date 26th May 1987
Alan McGee's next big thing for Creation Records in 1987 was The House Of Love, fronted by songwriter Guy Chadwick. This was the original version of the song, issued as HOL's debut single, which failed to chart. A re-recorded verson would break the Top 20 in 1990.
The House Of Love - Shine On (Official Video)
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Pop Will Eat Itself - Love Missile F1-11: release date 26th May 1987
A tongue-in-cheek cover of the 1986 single by British glam rock act Sigue Sigue Sputnik, the Poppies issued this as the follow-up to their debut Sweet Sweet Pie.
Pop Will Eat Itself - Love Missile F1 - 11
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The Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon: release date 22nd May 1987
Two years after the release of their vaguely goth debut single So Young, the Roses finally hit their groove with this classic track. It peaked at Number 3 on the Indie chart in '87 and broke into the lower end of the main singles chart two years later, following the success of the band's debut album.
The Stone Roses: Sally Cinnamon (Official Video)
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The Soup Dragons - Can't Take No More: release date 8th June 1987
Three years before they broke the Top 5 with I'm Free, Sean Dickson and co topped the indie charts with this appealing pop tune.
The Soup Dragons - Cant Take No More
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All About Eve - Flowers In Our Hair: release date 29th June 1987
The British gothic rock band were affiliated to The Mission (see above) and were fronted by Julianne Regan (vocals), Tim Bricheno (guitar) and Andy Cousin (bass). This single topped the indie charts, which led to the band signing to major label Mercury later the same year.
All About Eve - Flowers In Our Hair (Official Video)
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New Order - True Faith: release date 20th July 1987
The Manchester legends recorded this standalone single with producer Stephen Hague to accompany their career-spanning collection, Substance 1987. A memorable video directed by French choreographer Philippe Decouflé helped the single climb to Number 4 in the UK.
New Order - True Faith (1987) (Official Music Video) [HD REMASTERED]
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Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar: release date 20th July 1987
The second single from Ian McCulloch and co's eponymous fifth album made Number 36 on the UK chart.
Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar (Official Music Video)
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Public Image Ltd. - Seattle: release date 10th August 1987
The opening track from the sixth album by John Lydon's post-punk collective, Happy? The track features former Siouxsie & The Banshees guitarist John McGeoch and Lu Edmonds, formerly of The Damned.
Public Image Limited - Seattle
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R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine): release date 24th August 1987
Reworked from a track called PSA (which istelf became the 2003 song Bad Day), this was Michael Stipe's tribute to the stream of consciousness style of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. The single only reached Number 87 in the UK in 1987, but broke the Top 40 four years later following the huge success of the album Out Of Time.
R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World
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The Wonder Stuff - Unbearable: release date 1st September 1987
The debut single from Miles Hunt's indie pop outfit was one of the key tracks in the short-lived "grebo" genre and peaked at Number 6 on the indie chart. The song would later appear on the Stuffies' debut album, The Eight-Legged Groove Machine.
Unbearable
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The Sugarcubes - Birthday: release date 14th September 1987
The first single released outside Iceland for the band that brought Björk to the attention of the world. A Number 1 on the indie chart, thanks to Single Of The Week accolades from NME and Melody Maker, plus a lot of coverage of the lo-fi video on Channel 4's The Chart Show.
The Sugarcubes - Birthday (Icelandic)
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Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion: release date 21st September 1987
For his second studio album under the Sisters name, frontman Andrew Eldritch has separated from the rest of the band (who became The Mission), hired bassist Patricia Morrison and worked with Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman. Steinman hired a 40-piece choir for this epic song, which runs to nearly 10 minutes in its album version. The result was a Top 10 hit - This Corrosion peaked at Number 7 in October 1987.
The Sisters of Mercy @ This Corrosion
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The Wedding Present - Anyone Can Make A Mistake: release date 28th September 1987
Lifted from the Leeds band's debut album George Best, this was a typically wry song from David Gedge, which was followed by such titles as Nobody's Twisting Your Arm and Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?
The Wedding Present - Anyone Can Make a Mistake
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The Cure - Just Like Heaven: release date 5th October 1987
The third single from Robert Smith and co's seventh album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, after Why Can't I Be You and Catch. It peaked at Number 29 in October 1987 and was briefly the theme tune to the French TV pop show Les Enfants du Rock.
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
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The Fall - Hit The North: release date 19th October 1987
A standalone single from Mark E. Smith (or on the extended version of the album The Frenz Experiment if you had one of those new-fangled CD things). It was the follow-up to the band's Top 30 hit cover version of There's A Ghost In My House.
The Fall - Hit The North
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Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People: release date 26th October 1987
This was originally a standalone single for the Mondays, that is until they got into legal issues with a track called Desmond that appeared on their debut album Squirrel & G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out). The offending song was a little too close to The Beatles' Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da for comfort, so it was replaced by the title track on subsequent issues. 24 Hour Party People later gave its name to the Factory Records biopic starring Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson.
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People (Official Music Video)
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The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York: release date 23rd November 1987
The evergreen alternative Christmas anthem was kept off the festive Number 1 slot by the Pet Shop Boys' Elvis Presley cover, Always On My Mind. After Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan's death in November 2023, a campaign was started to get the song to the top of the charts for Christmas, but the single stalled at Number 9. Boo.
The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York (Official Video)
