Goodbye Mr MacKenzie

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie
(l-r) John Duncan, Fin Wilson, Rona Scobie, Martin Metcalfe, Shirley Manson, Derek Kelly
Background information
Origin	Bathgate, Scotland
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock
Years active	1981–1996
Labels	Capitol (1987-1990) Parlophone (1990) Radioactive (1991-1992) Blokshok (1993-1996)
Associated acts	Angelfish, The Exploited, Garbage, Isa & the Filthy Tongues
Members	Martin Metcalfe Big John Duncan Derek Kelly Shirley Manson Rona Scobie Fin Wilson

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie (known informally as The Mackenzies) was a Scottish 1980s and 1990s rock group formed in Bathgate, near Edinburgh, Scotland. At the band's commercial peak, the line-up consisted of Martin Metcalfe on vocals, John Duncan on guitar, Fin Wilson on bass guitar, Shirley Manson and Rona Scobie on keyboards and backing vocals, and Derek Kelly on drums.

The Mackenzies were a popular local rock group, but were hindered by record company conflicts and inability to gain significant acclaim, record sales or chart positions outside the UK. Internationally, they are best known as the group of which Shirley Manson – the lead singer of alternative rock group Garbage – was once a member.

The band came to prominence in the late 1980s after releasing two independent label singles, and were eventually signed to Capitol Records. After charting in the UK with their debut album, Good Deeds and Dirty Rags, and single release "The Rattler" the band failed to break through, and were shifted to a number of different record labels. The band splintered in 1993, leaving Manson, Metcalfe, Wilson and Kelly to form Angelfish to continue recording music. After Manson left for Garbage in 1994, the Mackenzies continued until their final live show at the end of 1995.

The Mackenzies began when Martin Metcalfe moved on from his first band Teenage Dog Orgy in 1984. The band were named after author Jean Rhys's 1931 novel After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie.

The Mackenzies' first single was released through a pilot music industry course run by Bathgate College under the United Kingdom's then Conservative Government employment Youth Training Scheme, a split-single 7" format of "Death of a Salesman" in 1984. Limited to 1,000 copies, and with a track by Lindy Bergman on the flipside, it quickly sold out. Shortly after, The Mackenzies signed a management deal with Precious Organisation, who had just launched another Scottish group, Wet Wet Wet. Precious managed to include both groups on Honey at the Core, a 1986 compilation of up and coming Scottish acts compiled by Glasgow Herald journalist John Williamson, and released the band's first commercial single "The Rattler". The single suffered from a lack of distribution, but received airplay on Radio One and Radio Clyde. A home-made music video for the single was broadcast on The Chart Show. The band also performed "The Rattler" on The Tube. Precious organised an A+R showcase in Glasgow but, as the band did not receive any interest from the labels invited, they chose to leave Precious.