Artist - Thunder
Song - "Dirty Love"
Album - Backstreet Symphony, originally released on the Capitol label in 1990, but
re-released the following year on the Geffen label.
Thunder was an extremely underrated hard rock band that hailed from London,
England. According to Allmusic.com, schoolmates Danny Bowes (vocals) and
Luke Morley (lead guitar) had been playing together since the age of 15. In the early
80's, they formed the band Terraplane. They released an independent single, "I Survive",
in 1984, which became quite popular locally. They were signed to the Epic label later
that year. Once they were signed, Epic wanted the band to follow a more glossy and
radio-friendly sound, similar to Bon Jovi and Survivor. The band agreed, and their
first album, the keyboard-laden Black & White, was released in 1985. Their first
single, "I Can't Live Without Your Love" didn't do much, but the album did decently
in England (UK Albums chart #74, according to the band's Wikipedia.com entry).
Their second album, Moving Target, was released in 1987. The album did poorly,
and Terraplane disbanded. Taking along Terraplane's drummer, Gary "Harry"
James, Bowes and Morley formed Thunder with guitarist/keyboardist Ben Matthews
and bass player Mark "Snake" Luckhurst in early 1989.
According to the band's website, demos were recorded in January of 1989, and they
were signed to the EMI label in April of the same year. The band recorded their
first album, Backstreet Symphony (produced by Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor),
in August of 1989, and it was released in the UK in March of 1990. The original video
for "Dirty Love" was shot in December of 1989, but the single wasn't released here in
the U.S. until March of 1991. They shot a new version of the video for MTV (that's a
young Pamela Anderson in the shower in the video!), and it went into rotation immediately!
EMI had allowed Capitol to release the album in 1990, but the band signed with Geffen
for their U.S. releases in 1991, at which time Geffen decided to re-release the album.
"Dirty Love" was actually the very first U.S. single issued on the then-new Geffen label.
Thunder continued on with huge success in both England and Japan, but "Dirty Love"
was really the only song to do anything here in the States, mainly due to the change in
musical climate issued in by bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. "Dirty Love" peaked at
#10 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. Another single from Backstreet Symphony,
the power ballad "Love Walked In", peaked at #31 later that year, and that was it.
Even though the band continued on with albums that did well in the UK, they never
charted another single or album in America. Quite sad, too, because some of their best
work was released on the next three albums; Laughing on Judgement Day, which was
released in 1992, followed by Behind Closed Doors in 1995, and The Thrill of It All in
1996.
If you're a fan of good, hard-rockin' music, give these guys a listen! They've released
some pretty great music over the years that was criminally ignored here in the States.
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