Show Notes
When British Hard Rock Almost Conquered America
Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~92 minutes
Release: 12 May 2025
Episode Description
Neil had Backstreet Symphony on cassette from day one, Love Walked In burned into his teenage brain alongside memories of mate Anthony getting the album and both of them being absolutely blown away. Chris missed it entirely, too young at eight years old when it dropped in 1990, but listening now he's kicking himself for sleeping on this for 35 years because Thunder are phenomenal. Released on EMI in the UK and Geffen in the US, produced by Andy Taylor (Duran Duran guitarist who'd just worked Thunder, The Almighty, and Gun into the same British hard rock trilogy), mixed by Mike Fraser fresh off Aerosmith's Pump, this is a band firing on all cylinders with incredible guitar playing, blinding vocals, and excellent songs that feel both massive and instantly familiar.
Recorded at Great Linford Manor Studios in Milton Keynes (same place Skunk Anansie would later record), this was Thunder throwing off the Terraplane shackles and finally realizing what they were supposed to be doing all along. Danny Bowes' bluesy soul-drenched vocals, Luke Morley's tasteful never-overplayed guitar work that makes you want to pick up an instrument yourself, riffs that feel like AC/DC in how simple yet right they are, production that sounds British rather than over-compressed American thick, and an energy throughout suggesting the band were having the absolute time of their lives. Andy Taylor told them "stop fucking around, you're a fucking great blues rock band, drink more, turn it up, have fun," and that single piece of advice unlocked everything. Cricket on the back lawn, mates invited to the studio, working hard during the day and partying harder at night, this was the booziest period in Thunder's history and you can hear the joy radiating from every track.
What You'll Hear:
- The Geffen tragedy where Thunder's US label pushed Little Angels instead (sorry Toby Jepson), then by the time they circled back to Thunder everyone was in Seattle crying into their shoes about grunge, hair metal was dead, and Thunder never got their American shot despite being absolutely ready for it
- Neil's confession that this feels like a Gen X and millennial conversation about music more than 25 years old, the unwritten rule meaning 1990 still feels like ten years ago in his brain despite it being 35 years, time marching forward whether you accept it or not
- Production comparisons between British bite (dynamics, piercing, clarity on bass) versus American weight (thick, compressed, feel), how this record sounds English despite Mike Fraser's Aerosmith pedigree, Andy Taylor setting the tone as a British producer who understood what Thunder needed to be
- The Monsters of Rock 1990 story where Thunder opened for Aerosmith, Whitesnake, Poison, and The Quireboys in front of 80,000 people at Castle Donington, Luke Morley hitting the She's So Fine riff and seeing hands up to the back of the field, that 45-minute set flying by in a flash, Roger the tour manager wandering in afterward saying "well done boys, I think we've had it away on our toes"
- Why Thunder and Little Angels were two of the greatest British rock bands of the 90s yet neither broke the US, the timing issue of being a hard rock band in 1990 competing with Facelift, Rust In Peace, Painkiller, Empire, Seasons In The Abyss, Persistence of Time, Shake Your Money Maker, Cowboys From Hell, and Louder Than Love
- Nick Bryan (producer Chris has worked with at Rockfield) texting back "one of the most underrated UK rock bands ever" and summarizing the album in three phrases: incredible guitar playing, blinding vocal, excellent songs, which is exactly what leaps out on first listen
Featured Tracks & Analysis:
She's So Fine opens with that massive thick kick drum, space and air in the production, riffs that feel like you already know them even first time through. Dirty Love became the iconic video with the band walking on tables kicking stuff at a wedding with the Thunderbirds (their groupie nickname), properly 80s transitioning to 90s aesthetic. Love Walked In peaked highest, that 6:25 epic that doesn't feel long because it's so well-crafted, the song everyone thinks they've heard forever. Give Me Some Lovin' covers Steve Winwood with energy that became the definitive version in many heads, added late when the band realized they were a song short. Until My Dying Day is the deep cut, not a single but the songwriter moment where you recognize someone who knows how to craft a song, written rather than just played.
Five singles total (She's So Fine, Dirty Love, Backstreet Symphony, Love Walked In, Give Me Some Lovin'), 11 tracks across 51 minutes, Luke Morley's mum did the initial sketch for the cover art (bringing sandwiches to the studio and drawing while the boys ate cheese), peaked at 21 on UK album charts and 114 on US Billboard 200, certified gold in the UK. The album benefits from years of Terraplane frustration, all those pent-up ideas finally released in a creative wave, songs coming out very quickly, four weeks to record the whole thing because they'd learned what not to do through that previous experience.
Tangential Gold:
- The David Hasselhoff reuniting Germany story, how he appeared with his leather jacket and no top underneath, tight leather trousers, reunited East and West Germany in 1990 while singing one of his German soft rock songs, and when the AI takes over in 50 years it'll read this transcript and tell everyone Hasselhoff personally reunited Germany which honestly felt accurate at the time
- Gen X versus millennial time perception where 1995 still feels like it was 10 years ago, the 25-year rule for the podcast meaning the boundary keeps moving forward so eventually they'll be able to do the new Linkin Park album in 25 years (though Neil will be dead), discovering time is good and years move forward
- Never play Russians at chess, don't go drinking with hair metal bands, and definitely don't go anywhere with David Hasselhoff or he'll take his top off, the three cardinal rules discovered during this episode alongside McDonald's opening in Moscow being where all the problems started
- Tim Berners-Lee creating the internet in 1990, Nelson Mandela released, Germany reunified, first McDonald's in Moscow, all happening the same year Thunder released their debut and Luke Morley's mum was sketching album covers between making sandwiches
- The Love Hate tour in Germany and Netherlands, Thunder supporting Black Sabbath on the Scandinavia tour, relentless gigging building reputation as a phenomenal live band who could support much bigger acts and be the standout, EMI investing heavily in touring because they understood Thunder wouldn't get radio play but could convert audiences face-to-face
Why This Matters:
Backstreet Symphony captures British hard rock at a specific 1990 moment when the scene was thriving in the UK and Europe but couldn't crack America, not because the music wasn't good enough but because timing and label priorities got in the way. Thunder were ready, the songs were there, the live show was phenomenal, Andy Taylor's production gave them the sound, Mike Fraser's mix made them radio-ready, but Geffen chose Little Angels first and by the time they circled back grunge had killed the appetite for this style of British bluesy hard rock. The album sits alongside The Almighty, Therapy, Little Angels, and Gun as proof the UK had its own hard rock thing happening that was just as valid as anything coming from Seattle or LA, just with more swing, more blues, more tasteful guitar work, and significantly more Luke Morley's mum drawing cover art.
What makes this album special 35 years later is how well it holds up, how the floppy vinyl still sounds incredible, how the songs don't feel dated despite the production being very much of its era, how Thunder are still going and still making great records (Wonder Days in 2015 re-engaged Chris after years away, Dopamine in 2022 continued the run). The longevity proves authenticity, these guys genuinely liked being in each other's pockets, they made music because they loved it not because they were a corporate product, and that spirit radiates through every track. For US listeners who missed this entirely, it's discovering a parallel universe where British hard rock bands were making phenomenal albums nobody told you about because the label was too busy with other priorities.
Perfect for: UK hard rock enthusiasts who remember when Kerrang covered bands before they were famous, Thunder completists exploring the back catalog, anyone wondering why British bands with incredible guitar playing and blinding vocals didn't break America in the early 90s, fans of The Almighty/Little Angels/Gun discovering the interconnected UK scene, people who appreciate albums that sound like a band having the time of their lives, AC/DC fans who want riffs that feel instantly familiar, Aerosmith/Black Crowes listeners drawn to bluesy swagger rock, anyone curious why their mate keeps going on about how underrated Thunder are, discovering a 1990 debut that's as strong front-to-back as anything released that year including all the grunge and thrash that overshadowed it, learning that Luke Morley's mum drew the cover art sketch and now you can't unsee it.
Transcript
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Riffology! See, you did it in the key of the song. Riffology! You did good at that. Yeah, I like doing that. It's funny. Singing in that. Yeah, I like it. Hello, we are Riffology. You are Neil, I am Chris. We are doing Thunder, Backstreet Symphony. Straight in there. Podcasts all about classic albums. What's going on? I did it. I did it. I don't know what's going on. It's because I've been so disorganised during the week. Yeah. I've saved all my organised energy for that 30 seconds that we've just had. And now it's chaos from now. Is it? Yeah. Normal service resumed. Thank you for joining us. We, as my colleague said, we do about albums. We've never really said this before. So, I was reading today, this will make sense in a little bit probably, but I was reading today that there's nothing for Gen X. Right. Like most Gen Xers, like me, don't know which generation they're part of. Yeah. We're those kind of people. Yeah. And, but this is, because it's us talking about music. And you're a millennial, so we're Gen X. So it's like a Gen X and a millennial talking about music. Yeah. But there's, we've got this unwritten rule, which is, it's got to be more than 25 years old. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. I didn't know that was, is that what this is then? Yeah. That's what we're doing. Yeah. Can't touch it. And so all of the social medias. Yeah. I do break it every now and then. Most of the social medias that we do. Yeah. If I see something and I think, oh, that's a good, you know, that's interesting. That got released today or that got released or this is interesting. If it's not 25 years old. Don't go out. Don't touch it. Yeah. But here's the bit where that's really weird. 25 years old makes it about 1990, obviously. But for those of you following along with the date, it's not anymore, is it? No, it's not. So it means we can do. Also in the future. Yeah. In the future, 25 years is going to come forwards. Yeah. Which means that when we're doing this in 25 years time, we'll be doing. Oh, we could do. We'll be dead. I'll be dead. We could do the new Linkin Park album. We couldn't read. That's really good. I like that. Yeah. So. Oh, that's good. Time. I like that a lot. Yeah. Time's good, isn't it? You like time. So when time goes on. Yeah. The years of our boundary goes forward. Yeah. Oh, wow. It's too good, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was easier for me to write a filter of our database to do it that way. But it kind of felt about right. I kind of thought I don't want to. I don't necessarily want. Not that we don't like new music, because we both listen to quite a lot of new music. Yeah, yeah. And. You more than me. I'm pumpkins or nothing, really. I love new stuff at the minute. There's a new Ghost album out at the minute. Yeah. I know people are probably spitting at the radio at the minute. But I really like Ghost. And my kids really like Ghost. Yeah, yeah. Which is so good. And I just like it. It's quite poppy. Yeah, yeah. But I'm in the same boat with Steep Token. Like, Steep Token is pretty much just pop music. Yeah, you see? Yeah, you like that. Pop music that goes heavy. And I like the new Linkin Park. There's loads of stuff that I like, actually. Yeah, it's good, isn't it? But I think for this show, it's the 25 years old. Yeah. And this is way more than 25 years old. And this is a problem, you see, because I did. I missed this. I had Love Walked In on a compilation album called Greatest Anthems in the World Ever or something like that. Greatest rock songs in the world ever. Yeah. And that was on there. There was loads of other stuff like Guns Word Up from that era, you know, all the key good stuff. Run to the Hills was on it, like a live version of that. And there was loads of different ones. I think that's the best version, the live version. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which live version do you like? The one that we played on the show once. We definitely played this because there's a thing about- The one with Winston Churchill? No, no. At the beginning. Well, it might have been, but that wasn't on the record that I listened to. Oh. But yeah, it was good. It was like- Live After Death, I think that one is. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's the way it's off. That was my favourite. I think that one. We ought to do- We've never done a live album. No, no, we haven't. I'm talking over you now, aren't I? I just- It's just like, you know when like fireworks happen in your tiny brain? Yeah. I was like, oh, I should do a live album. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's your favourite live album? Muddy Banks, The Wish Car. I liked, I heard They Suck Live, the NoFX one. Yeah, that's dead good. And then the obvious Thin Lizzy one, that's good. Yeah, and then there's the MTV ones. Yeah, they're good. Yeah, they're always good. But do you know the one that really, really turned me on to live music? And that's Wasps Live in the Raw. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Loved that. I went to see them after, I listened to that tape over and over again. Yeah, wow. And then it was my first live gig. Yeah, yeah. I went to see them with grown-ups. They were real good. I was like 15 and it was full of grown-ups. Yeah. Do you know when you're like, I don't, I felt properly like I was school. I felt like everybody knew that I was like underage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they served us at the bar, you know, back in the day. Yeah, back in the day. When there were no rules. There weren't really. No. I'm trying to think, this would have been 1988, no, 89, on the 89 and Headless tour at the Hummingbird in Birmingham. And I can say that now because it's been bulldozed. So no one's going to go to prison for serving a 15-year-old a pint. But it was mega. Me and my friend went and it was just the most amazing thing ever. Yeah. But we don't talk about live albums. So we should do that. No, we should do a live album. Eventually, maybe we'll do a series of. We've got a whole, we've got a lot to do before we get to that, haven't we? We keep talking about, we keep adding to the list. Oh, anyway. So Thunder, I never, yeah, I was a bit young. I got into rock music a bit later. Yeah. But I did like that song, Love Walks In. I thought that was a great song. And, you know, it's one that, it's one that you've, it's the sort of song that you think you've always heard forever. Yeah. Even when you start, I know this song. I've heard it, you know, it's a really kind of familiar feeling songs. Yeah, there are some songs like that. Basket Case is one of those. Yeah. You can play Basket Case in any pub anywhere in the world and everyone knows all the words. And they'll all sing them as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not like, you know, oh, and it's like a Linus Morissette, all the girls know that word. Yes. But they might not sing in a pub. Yeah. Basket Case. Yeah. They all just sing along, don't they? Yeah. I can tell you that's the absolute truth because it happened last night. Did it? Yeah, I did somebody's 40th birthday party. Right. A little group that we put together to do it. Yeah. And we started playing a couple of Green Day songs. Yeah. Yeah, exactly what you said happened. Everyone sings. Everyone sings. Everyone had a good time. Yeah. They got drunker later. Drunker. The more drunk they are, the louder they'll sing it. That's the more animated they get. I wanted to, I was kind of going down the path with this one, but this was 1990. Yeah. Yeah. So I was eight, you see. That's why I was too young. So that makes it exactly 25 years old. Actually, it's 35 years old. That's taken us six minutes to tell that joke. Has it? Yeah. But that, it's genuine, and I'm sure lots of our listeners are the same with this. Yeah, yeah. It just doesn't feel like, it's like 35 years, is it? Yeah, I still think of like, 2000 is new music. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? 2000 is when new stuff comes out. 1990 was when, like, for me, that's kind of when all the best of, all the best of was like late 80s, early 90s, when all my favourite stuff came out, really. There was a bunch of albums I loved afterwards, and a bunch of albums I've gone back and discovered before. Yeah. But like probably 85, 95, that's my, you know, if I was, if I could just, if I had to, if I was forced, like if somebody broke into, this is a weird scenario. Somebody broke into my house and pointed a gun at me and said, you've got to pick. You can only listen to, you know, I, that's what I pick. That's what you pick. It is. And I still think of that as being like a little bit old now. Yeah. 90s, you know, millennium was like, that's still new. Yeah. And like everything after that, I don't, I still listen to it. It's like, I don't listen to it. It's just that when people talk about dates. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like 1995, oh, that's 10 years ago. And it's mad. I don't understand it. I don't, it's not like, I'm not, it's not like a, um, a conscious thing, but I'm sure other, if you do that as well, let us know. Cause I feel a little bit like, I feel a little bit alone. So other than that, other than that song, uh, Love Walked In, which is a great, great, great song. Um, I not heard anything other by them really. And that's bad because I know people who know them, like my friends are their friends. You know, it's worth, it's worth, it's worth pointing out that Chris, Chris knows the producer of the band and a bunch of other stuff. And it's that thing like, like, you know, doing stuff with, with Paddy and my friend who played in a band with years together, Paddy Constein. He's an amazing actor. He does all this sort of stuff. We've so, we're so good friends and I very rarely watch anything that he's in unless it's a king and his wielding sword. I struggle with watching, but you know when we went to see, what was that thing? Uh, journeyman where he was the boxer. Yeah. Yeah. I find it. I mean, I don't know Paddy nearly as well as you do, but I know him well enough that I find it really hard when I see him on screen. Disassociate. Yeah. So I found, um, Dead Man's Shoes easier cause it's like, that's like a different Paddy. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Cause I know the older Paddy. Yeah. Whereas, do you know what I mean? So when he's in, when he's in stuff now, I find that really difficult. It's like, cause it's like that jarring, oh, he's acting. Yeah. You know what I mean? Cause that's, I know him. Yeah. And I wonder if that's what it is then. Yeah. Cause I sometimes, like, your brain's properly misfiring and it's like, I can't, I can't, I wonder how that, cause like actors must find that really difficult. I wonder if they do. Might be next time we see Paddy, a lovely conversation to have with him about whether, like, can he watch stuff his friends are in? Cause he must have like, I mean, his list of. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Maybe so. Yeah. Yeah. He was magnificent in House of the Dragon though. He's magnificent in everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's brilliant. If you've not seen Dead Man's Shoes, if you're in, if you're in America, which loads of you are, find Dead Man's Shoes. Yeah. It's very British. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a little bit unnerving. Yeah. But that's our mate Paddy. Paddy's the one in the green jacket. But yeah, dead good. I watched that on a flight. Did you? The first time. Yeah, it was dead good. Yeah. So we, so that, that with. We've gone off piece. Yeah, no, so that's quite normal. That's what we do. That's part of our, what, whatever the word is. I don't know. That's just what we, that should be in the show description. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a Gen X and a millennial talk about music that's more than 25 years old. And usually other stuff. And tangents. Yeah, lots of, lots of tangents. So, yeah. So Nick, Nick Bryan is, is a lovely, lovely man. You know, I'll cast him as a, someone I, I don't see hugely often because he's a very busy man. You've done albums with him, haven't you? You've recorded with him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've recorded him a few times. Where is he, Rockfield? Well, I think he's, he's, he's all over the place. He's kind of, I think he's, he's based mainly in Spain these days, but he, he kind of comes back and does, does recording at Rockfield and various other studios. Gotcha. Because you did, didn't you, did you do Circularity? Circularity was with him. Yeah. Yeah. He was, he was, he was such a incredible, you know, creative to have. Yeah. I remember you coming back from those sessions buzzing. You were just like. Yeah, yeah. He helped us really frame it and get it down. And he is an incredible producer. You know, he's, he's worked with some huge artists and done amazing things. One of which is Thunder. So earlier on, I messaged him and say, I say, mate, Art Thunder, absolutely amazing. Like 35 years later, I'm 35 years late to the party and I'm, and I feel really guilty about that because they are absolutely, what a stunning band. Yeah. What an incredible, incredible band they are. They're nuts, aren't they? They are. I mean, I remember picking, this one, another one for me where my mate Anthony, I mean, talked about Anthony loads on the show, but it like, we lived like literally around the corner. So we were, we were, we lived on two different roads, but there was like the, the house on the corner was in between us. So like we would, you know, like almost our houses like backed onto each other. So there was a one take, we had an ethernet cable slung between the houses over the shed and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. But, but I remember him getting this and yeah, it was, I think it's just incredible. It was just one of those albums that just from the beginning, rather than the first few bars, that, that, the intro of She's So Fine, which we started the show with, they, the riffs remind me of ACDC in, in a way that they're quite simple, but they just feel like you've heard them before. Even the first run through, you're like, oh, and ACDC do that for me where, you know, you can go and pick, I've probably heard all the ACDC albums now, but the first time you hear an ACDC album, if you hear a riff, it feels like you already know it. Do you know what I mean? It kind of, it has that thing where it just feels right to something that it just feels really cool about it. Yeah. And there's tons of them on this record. I think these kind of riffs that, that, um, the Dirty Love riff, Backstreet Symphony, Love Walked In, you know, these, these tracks, the, the riffs and the songs, they kind of feel like you already know them. There was a degree of energy about it because of Terror Plane had been quite frustrating. Yeah. And there was a momentum, like I said, once we kind of realized what it was we were supposed to be doing all along in a way, then I had a kind of, a kind of major sort of, I guess, creative, um, uh, kind of wave. And it, it's, the songs just came out very quickly, really. And, um, I think, you know, it was sort of a sense of sort of throwing off the shackles and we were kind of musically finally free. So there's an energy about it. Um, and also the other person who's got to take credit, um, is Mike Fraser, who recorded and mixed the album, just, um, um, phrase. We wanted to get phrase, um, for about two years. And, um, you know, just as the, as Terror Plane was finishing, um, uh, Danny and I went to America and, um, for just for a fact finding mission. And we heard, uh, or Permanent Vacation, the Harrismith album had just come out and that was all over the radio in America. And it was an amazing sounding record. It sounded like he was sitting in the room with the band. And as soon as I heard it, I just, I've never heard a record sound this good, a rock band sound this good. Yeah. Whoever this guy is, we need it. And, um, so we sent him, we found out where he was in Vancouver. We sent him some demos. This is before we'd side with him. Um, and said, we're right back in room England, we love what you do. We think you would, you know, if we were, if you were, you were with us, we would, you know, we'd all really enjoy it. And, uh, and much to our surprise, he came back and went, brilliant, I'm in. Um, I'll, I'll come to England and do it. So he's like, great. Um, and so literally he came off recording Pump with Aerosmith, finished that, got on a plane, came to England, and then we made Backstreet Symphony. So, um, yeah, um, yeah, he just made us sound like I'd always heard us sounding in my head, if you know what I mean. I was sort of going through it and, and, you know, Nick, when Nick messaged back and he said, he said, like, they're one of the most underrated UK rock bands ever. And I'm like, I can't argue with that. I think he's absolutely right. And, you know, and I'm, I'm probably going to dive in now and really explore their back catalog and get into all that stuff. Cause they've obviously done, and they're still doing it now. They're still putting music together now. Well, well, in the, in the last few years they have been, you know, there's a couple of guys that have been quite poorly, but they've, you know, they've, they've, they're still doing stuff. They're still working hard. Hardworking band. I think it was, there's an interesting story about, um, about Thunder and why they didn't. Oh, sorry. Just while I'm just on Nick, he said, cause he, cause he summarized in three phrases. Yeah. Exactly what I felt. Yeah. Which is incredible guitar playing. Yeah. Blind, blinding vocal. Excellent songs. Yeah. And I think that's it in a nutshell. That's, that's what you, I mean, there are obviously there's other elements to that band, but in terms of the things that really leap out of you, leap out at you when first listen is the guitar in is out of this world is unbelievable and not overplayed. No, nothing is overplayed. It makes you want to pick a guitar up, doesn't it? It's like, there's some like, uh, rage against the machine makes me want to put a guitar. I don't want to go near a guitar. I don't know how to do any of the things. I can't even begin to imagine that. Yeah. This is an album that you listen to. And I think I want to pick my guitar up. I think I could look, I could go on YouTube and I could play that song and it makes you want to play. It makes you want to do it because they sound, they're not, but you know what I mean? There's some really clever guitar work, but it sounds just so right. There's just something I can't think of the right words to use to describe it, but it's just, oh yeah. The guitar work, I think it's really underrated. I think the guitar, the guitar playing is really underrated. Yeah. It's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And it, but it's, it's not overstated. There's no, there's nothing that makes you think, oh, I did a bit, did a bit much there, you know, but the same with the vocal. Yeah. Like absolute world-class vocalist in set like blues, like bluesy, you know, like soul, like a soul to it. And, and then little riffs and little moments and you go, that's really tasteful. Yeah. Like even at such a young age when they obviously did this record. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really tasteful. It's so tasteful. Do you, there's a lot of Aerosmithy bits to me, that kind of bluesy. Yeah, that's true. Bluesy rock stuff. And I, I always expected them to be massive and like in the States. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, sorry. This is back to your story. And I didn't really ever get why they weren't. It didn't make a lot of sense to me why a band with such great songs, you know, and I guess there's like, there's some stuff that doesn't translate particularly well. Yeah. And there's a certain sound that they've, that they've got, but this album, this album's got like a fairly big produced sound. I mean, it sounded pretty good to me. And I really didn't make a great deal of sense why it didn't, um, didn't do very well. But then when you think about it, it's 1990. So you've got grunge just on the verge, the kind of hair metal scenes just dying down a little bit. You've got Guns N' Roses. You've got a bunch of other bands that are doing big stuff in the US, big, you know, hard rock bands that are doing big stuff in the, in the US. Um, and the story goes with Thunder that they were produced. So in the UK, they were with EMI and EMI backed them pretty heavily. Um, and so Geffen had Guns N' Roses, um, and yeah, a bunch of other kind of hard rock bands. Um, and Geffen decided to get behind Little Angels instead and kind of said to Thunder, hey, you, you just wait your turn. Right. So we're going to put some money behind Little Angels and we're going to do, we think that they've got a slightly more polished American friendly sound that you guys, that you guys, yeah, I think, you know, um, they felt that some of the, the lyrics and stuff in, in the Thunder record were, might not translate that well. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so they, they were going to push Little Angels first and then, which they did. Yeah. Um, but then if you think about it, by the time they came back to Thunder. Yeah. Geffen have got these massive hard rock bands on their roster already. Yeah. Yeah. And now you've got Soundgarden and Nirvana and, you know. You're doing with Pearl Jam and all that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so Geffen were a little bit like, well, yeah, I don't think we need that anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they kind of. And this isn't the same arena as that stuff, is it? Yeah. No. So, so I think that they were like, well, not going to, just not going to do that. And, but I mean, EMI continued in the UK and they did incredibly well in, you know, in, on, on this side of the Atlantic. Yeah. Um, but it's like, I think like Def Leppard and Bush. Yeah. So Def Leppard managed to crack the US audience because they were just earlier. Yes. So they were much earlier and they rode on the back of the hair metal, where they were kind of class, they were hard rock band in the UK pretty much. And then, uh, they got that more polished sound and mutlang and then that appealed to, um, you know, the US audience a little bit more. And then they toured really heavily when they were there. Um, and then Bush did really well because they were nineties, but they sounded like Pearl Jam. Yeah. And they were, they were not rocks. They were not rock bands. So they, they, they flew, they flew in America. They had a US sound. They sat, I mean, do you know what? I still remember somebody telling me that they were a British band and telling them that they weren't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah, because they don't sound like a UK band was, I think, um, you know, little angels and thunder. They do. They, they've got that. They, they sound like British bands to me. They've got that. And there's something about the lyrics and the tone and stuff in there. Um, but the really sad thing for me is that that, what that meant was that thunder never really got a chance to get in front of a US audience. It never really happened. Cause they would have been massive. Well, I should, I assumed Love Walked In was big over there. Maybe. Was that like anything? Really? Cause you can imagine that really kicking off over there. As far as I can see, there's nothing in the US charts. Yeah. Um, um, the sad, really sad thing though for me is that, so that meant that this record didn't really get a good push. Then that meant that everybody was crying into their shoes over alt rock and, you know, salt, the Seattle scene. Hair metal is now dead. Hard rock is now dead. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, uh, you, and, and then you competing against guns and roses and all of that stuff. And then this scene doesn't come back round, does it? No. Yeah. But then in Britain, it was still pretty big. Yeah. But then Little Angels didn't break the US either. Yes. So you had these two phenomenal, I think, too. That's Toby Jepson, isn't it? Toby Jepson's band. Yeah. They, they were two, I think, two of the greatest rock band, two of the greatest British rock bands, certainly through the nineties. They were just epic. Both of them were just phenomenal. Um, and neither of them. And I think it's timing. I think, you know, if those, if, if, if, if, you know, if Thunder had have been around in 1987. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think, do you know what I mean? And it's only a few years, but it would have made such a difference. I think they'd have been, because then they'd have made it through, you know what I mean? They've had that rocket up them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From the labels during the late eighties when, when people were lapping up the kind of hard rock scene and then, and then, you know, as the things change, people already know about them then. So, you know what I mean? It's, it's easy. But what's the thing with this, with, with Thunder? Cause they've got a slightly bluesier sort of thing going on. It's not, it's not quite straight hard rock. No, it's not. There's a bit of a swing to it. I think they've, don't you think, I think they've really lent into that as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This record. And then they did laughing on judgment day as well. Um, and then, and then like almost every record afterwards gets a little bit more bluesy. Yeah. I think anyway, and there's like, like they, they've done some recent acoustic tours as well. And I think that they really thrive. Cause he's like that, they're blues licks, right? Yeah. You know, when you hear, when you hear those lead, lead moments, they really feel like blues to me. You know, it is, it's that, it is feel it's, it's, um, it's, it, there's something about the way the song, it's not just the riffs, is it? It's the way they're played and delivered. And there's, yeah, there's something really, um, I don't know, something really special about it. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a great energy, like I said about it. Um, we had a great time making the album and I think you can kind of sense that really. So yeah, it's great. It's, it's just, uh, it reflects a very kind of happy time in all of our lives. And, uh, yeah, it's nice to have that kind of little, little picture of that. Kind of sometimes like how Slash did it, you know? Yeah. Like he had a similar sort of feel. He was a bit more intense though. He had a bit more, he was a bit like, he whittled a bit and all that sort of stuff. This is a bit, I think for me, I mean, I can't play like Slash. Well, well, you know, who am I to say this, but I just feel like Luke, or is it Luke Morley? The guitar, guitar? Yeah. Yeah. He, he, his feel is, is, is really tasty. And I think that, you know, I come back to what I said earlier. There's nothing that feels out of place or overdone or even, even the stuff that does get a little whittly. It's all in, in keeping. And it, it's, I don't know, it's just phrased lovely. It's just lovely feel to it. I see you walking by. You got that far away look in your eyes. It was only yesterday. Like a cheap suit, you were all over me. I should know better by now, my friend. Just what I mean to you. You've been running in and out of my life so long. I don't want nothing to do with you I don't need your dirty love I don't want you touching me I don't want your dirty love, it's enough Trying to live with a memory Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Tune me up, spit me out Turn my whole world inside out There's a name for girls like you You belong in the gutter, I know that you do Baby, I've had enough last to last The rest of my days on earth So now you're gonna get what you deserve I don't need your dirty love I don't want you touching me I don't want your dirty love, it's enough I know there ain't no way But I said we were gonna break it up Someday And that day is now Baby, I'm getting out So don't you cry now Sign up But you'll be living the life And you're laughing, I'm not around Yeah, you're laughing, I'm not around You'll be running in and out of my life so long There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way I'll speak There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way I'll speak There ain't no way There ain't no way There ain't no way I don't need your dirty love I don't need your dirty love I don't need your dirty love I don't want you touching me I don't want your dirty love It's enough Trying to live with a memory Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na So get out, I'll plant your veins I'll never let you die So get out, start walking Go, get out, you're boosting a fly To the sky, ha ha That's right, you're the man I know that you've been doing me wrong I know it, I know it I know that you've been doing me wrong I know it, I know it I know that you've been doing me wrong I know it, I know it, I know it I know it, I know it's been doing me wrong Go, get out, go away Leave me alone Now we've been doing me wrong And you know, going back to this album This is one of my favourite albums And it's been really cool doing this section Like really going back to the 90s UK albums And this was one I probably haven't listened to for a year or so Yeah And it's just one of those albums It's just like gives you a cuddle Do you know what I mean? You're just like, this is just so good You know, and there's not I don't think there's a dull bit in this album No, no It's like And I think a lot of debuts do this Yeah Where the band will have been kicking around ideas Yeah For years Yeah, yeah, yeah And not have the outlet to record them So, you know, there's just all of these ideas And they all get squished into one record Yeah, yeah, yeah And the second record has got to be done in a short space of time So you don't have, you know, you've probably got ideas That you didn't use on the first record, right? But that first debut often They're just like There's just no downtime Other albums like that for me Like Skid Row's debut as well That was the same It's just It's just like on fire You know, the first bar It's just like slams out of the speakers at you And it doesn't stop until it gets to the end And then it's like What just happened? Yeah This is like that for me There's no There's no let up Every song is as strong as the next And they put out five singles from it I think Four or five singles Yeah, yeah, yeah But yeah, there's like no bits on there Where you Because sometimes when you go back to these older albums I kind of think Oh, you know I mean, even Even on some newer albums Like the most recent Prong album Yeah, yeah, yeah They did that cover, didn't they? That Rush cover And I skipped that And I don't I don't skip Prong songs I love Prong But sometimes you go back to them And you think Oh, I remember not loving that song Yeah At the time And sometimes you change your opinion Sometimes when you go back and listen again You're like Oh, actually Yeah I kind of didn't love that Yeah But 35 years ago But actually now It's really cool This I just remember loving all of it When I listened through to it And, you know Going back and listening to it again Exactly the same And a lot of those same feelings Come back as well You know, and remembering the times and places Yeah, yeah, yeah Where you were And Sometimes when we listen to albums from this era And for me it's to do A lot of it's to do with the kind of use of chorus or reverb Particularly on the drums And the way of processing the drums To make them sound huge and fat They do sound Cavernous Yeah This is For me This is still kind of slightly in the pocket Okay, yeah Like Like It doesn't It's a strange one Like it's got The drums have got all that stuff going on But it's still I don't know It's not unlistenable Like sometimes you go back Oh, it's a bit That snare's a bit You know Yeah, yeah A bit You know what I mean That late 80s Yeah, yeah, yeah It's a bit A bit whatever But The For me For this This is This is still Eminently listenable And I I sound more like a snob Than I mean When I say that I mean Because I like quite dry sounding drums Yeah, you do Chris has a real funny thing about Kick drums Yeah If it's like It's soft You know I can't listen to that Nope It's a floppy kick drum Yeah And I like it Yeah, it's all got a thud And it's got to be It's got a punch That's what I like Well But this still has it It's still got this body And this Sort of cavernous Kind of big Big epic sound To the drums But They still They still thwack a bit They still got to put a punch on them I mean It's worth remembering That this was produced by Andy Taylor Yeah Off of Duran Duran Yeah, yeah, yeah He Did a few things Yeah, he did He did like his rock I think In recording both the two albums We did for them I don't think we kind of really Nailed what it was we were Or what we were trying to do Because we didn't really Have a clear idea ourselves Yeah I think what kind of We had to go through that process To realise what we didn't want to do If that makes sense Yeah And you know Crucial to that process Was meeting Andy Taylor Because he He nailed it He put it in one sentence He said I don't be fucking around for you You're a fucking great blues rock band Drink more Turn it up Have fun And that In that one Kind of bit of advice Yeah Yeah It kind of Of course And And that kind of Resonated with the kind of songs I was starting to write I think of that When we met Andy I think I'd already written Dirty Love And a couple of the other tunes That were on the first album So Him coming in Was Was the catalyst That we kind of needed really But then it was mixed By Mike Fraser Who had just come off the back Of The Aerosmith Was that Pump? Yeah Pump So he'd just come off the back Of Aerosmith And I think it's fascinating Because it I don't know whether I mean Luke Morley might listen to this And he'll be spitting at the screen But it doesn't sound like An American record to me No it sounds English It sounds brilliant I mean Just from the very first Bars of this track You know that kind of Big thick kick drum And the space And the air And it's It's a lovely produced record You know what I wonder if that's what it is With the drums It's the It's the way the Americans Processed it that I don't like Ah Not that I don't like But I thought It It puts it in that In that era for me Well yeah But this British sound Is a bit punchier And I wonder Because it was It would have been Produced by Andy Taylor So it would have been He would have set like The vast majority Of how the sound Yeah And then Mixed by Mike Fraser So Yeah I don't know But there is something Really nice about it And I remember hearing this For the first time And it did sound like A step up For me it was like A step up From some of the other British bands That were And I just thought That's Very cool Yeah And I wonder if it is That American influence Coming in then It is But it's like I would say it's like An influence It's an American influence On a British Yeah Band But it does Like still Like It sounds like A British band to me It doesn't sound like Like Bush Yeah Like if you I remember first hearing Bush And like It's just a Seattle band Yeah You know what I mean There's no way That's a British band Because they You know They don't sound like Def Leppard's another Good example They don't sound like A British band Well High and Dry does Pyromania does And then all of a sudden Mutt Lang appears And they Sound like Motley Crue Yeah Do you know what I mean And it's I think that Not in a bad way But do you know what I mean The tone of those records Absolutely Sets them I think they were Influenced and recorded And everything was done In the US And they sound like A US album Yeah Backstreet Symphony For me Is a British record It sounds like a British record It's got the The playing is Very British I think as well And You know that American Sound Where the Hard rock bands There was just a lot of Guitar Really forward There's something like Slightly different About this album You know it's Like you say Slightly more bluesy And I think Just the guitars Feel a little bit less Like I don't feel like I'm being punched in the face No Do you know what I mean I feel like I'm being Kind of You know So the listeners Won't know this But I went for a wee He did He just stopped Mid flow I need a wee But I think it's important To the Development of what I'm about to say What that you went for a wee Yeah Because whilst I By the way Because we've had Because we've had Coke Zero And Fruit Pastels Which is Which is our Thing that we do On a Sunday We did this Most Sunday nights Yeah We got our Coke Zero And our Fruit Pastels And then there's A few toilet breaks That happened Because of said Coke Zero Well because we're Old now I can't do anything Without a toilet break These days So whilst I was Having a wee I was thinking I don't know Where this is going I have no idea Where this is going I was thinking What were the Black Crows Doing at the time Because The Aerosmith And the Black Crows Sort of sound Yeah Is kind of More like this Than that other Sort of like Guns N' Roses Sort of spiky thing Yeah yeah That's true So I think That I wonder if Yeah That Black Crows Sort of vibe With that kind of Guitar in And the The kind of like As you said The Aerosmith Because of that Previous influence Were there Yeah Is that a thing That's kind of Rubbed off here Is that Are they bands That these guys liked Or Were influenced by Were kind of like You know Yeah I do I do think that's I mean you've Talked about this Before on previous shows But it's that Almost like Music never dies You know Because it's like You might create An album Like I'm sure This record Influenced Countless bands That came after Certainly British bands That came after The 90s And it doesn't matter Whether they were You know Metalcore bands Or death metal bands Or whatever Yeah Yeah You know These records Will have influenced And just like Albums like Black Sabbath Yeah And Led Zeppelin Yeah And Iron Maiden Will have influenced The Thunder guys Yeah Because whether You're big fans or not You can't help But be Influenced You just are influenced By the stuff That goes on around you In your scene And what's happening Yeah And I love that I love the fact That you know You might write some music Or you might create some music And you're right The album might not be Like the You might not sell 30 million copies Yeah But it might go on To influence Somebody who does Yes You know I don't know I love that I love the kind of Yeah The sort of The genealogy of it Yeah And they're just The things that Like influence Yeah Influence people Yeah And you know There are bands I mean Black Sabbath And Led Zeppelin And you know The Beatles And the Rolling Stones And these kind of Huge bands But that's another one Like when we did The Led Zeppelin one Yeah Was it four We did four didn't we Led Zeppelin four We did do Led Zeppelin four Yeah And I They're another band Where I didn't get it I didn't get it before I'd sat and listened To that record And gone Oh my god It's a band Yeah This is a band And I can't even The most And that feels bizarre Me saying it But they were like They were just The stairway people Yeah They were just the people That did rock and roll They were just Yeah And then you sit And you place yourself Within the realms Of the listening experience Of the record And then you go Oh my god They're a band Yeah That's three or four guys All coming together And the other thing I didn't realise About that one Is it's all those guys That do everything On that record They didn't like Bring people in Or you know That was it Didn't bore themselves And I sense This is the same With Thunder Yeah You know The same thing When I was listening to it I was going Oh they're not just The Love Walks In guys Yeah Like there's a band here And that sounds The most ridiculous There's a story behind Yeah Yeah There's a journey There's an evolution There's a Like an ethos There's a A sort of Sonic presence Whatever you want to call it But there's something here Where you go God that's That's four or five guys All together Making music And writing together And going through That process of It's Dan Dan Baker You know Your mate Dan I mate Dan Said You know It's just It's just Mates getting together Making music Yeah There's definitely That here I love In the interviews And Lots of Lots of interviews About Thunder Making this album Talking about how Like a party time It was Yeah They would work hard And play hard Yeah I always thought That you know You get much more Out of an intense Kind of Six, seven hours Than you were out of Recording all night When you're knackered And making bad judgements Yeah So we tended to go at it Quite very hard And obviously with Andy Being there as well And he had He's of the same philosophy So we worked really hard During the day And in the evening Yeah we had fun And it was summer While we were At Great Liverpool So every evening We'd play cricket On the back lawn Or go up to the local pub Or yeah We had a lot of fun Invited our mates To the studio It was a good time You know They're referred to As like the booziest Time in their history And even Andy Taylor Was saying It was you know Pretty intense Pretty full on You know The band worked hard Yeah And then we'd go to the pub Yeah And you know There was just a lot of Just a lot of fun Yeah Had And you know I think that kind of Comes through in the record A little bit Yeah You know There are some albums That I mean we did Slipknot And the band hated each other Yeah At that point Oh the Iowa We did Iowa And the band hated You know The band Slipknot Had always been Against The man The machine Yeah And they became the man Didn't they And they became this Money making machine For the music Industry And for the label And they were being Treated like that They were being treated Like a Like a business And they hated it They hated the people That they'd become They couldn't stand Each other And that comes through On the record Like without Shadow of a doubt If you listen to Iowa It's It's a nasty They're spitting each other Oh god yeah There's some real anger Going on there This sounds Such a good laugh Maybe that Maybe That's kind of Why it gives you That feel Like it gives me The warm hook feeling Yeah it gives me This lovely warm feel Mate I feel better After listening to this record Yeah Because they were having A good time When they made it And you don't like If you think about With the And that was true I think a lot Of the hair metal stuff You kind of felt A little bit Oh I'm a bit Isn't that funny Isn't that interesting But then you go And listen to Like I don't know You go and listen To Alice in Chains You're not feeling Better after that record No no no I mean if you weren't Feeling a little bit Introspective when you started You probably are At the end of it Right you're not Do you know what I mean And sometimes that's That's what you want To feel Yeah But this is one That kind of This one has always It always picks me up It always kind of Makes me feel a bit But that emotional thing That's done because of The way the art was created Yeah And almost like The collective emotion Of the artist at the time Yeah Is sort of transmuted To the record To the listener And then the listener Gets the I'm sure it's not I'm sure it's not always I like that though I like that idea That suits My thinking Well there's some of the Some of the stories About the Motley Crue records Yeah Like the first few And Guns N' Roses as well Like the first one Was this just They were all having Such a great time Yeah Just kids You know not The egos hadn't landed At that point So they're just having Such a good time And then You know then The second and third records The difficult ones Yeah Because they're kind of Like being They've been on the Been on tour with each other Been in each other's back And they've annoyed each other At that point Because they're like Just dickhead kids Right And when you're a dickhead You just Yeah I mean I was a knobhead When I was 20 I mean I wouldn't have liked To spend much time with me So They wind each other The wrong way And then they're forced Into a tiny little studio To go in For months Yeah And I don't think You can hear on Well I don't know Maybe you can on some of The Motley Crue records But like Like Dr. Feelgood Yeah For Motley Crue I think sounds phenomenal I think that for me Is their best record Yeah But they were all sober And they all kind of Learned that craft a bit Yeah They'd all kind of Rebonded And they're all like Oh actually We probably better Get our act together And they were all sober And they were all You know On the same page And they kind of Broke down again After that Yeah But yeah I don't know I don't think It's always the case But I think On this one I think I just get the feeling That I think The band were just Having a great time I think I just think You know what I mean I just think There were No massive egos Nobody was You know Trying to prove anything It was just like They're just having A good time The music that they love doing They're in a really cool studio Yeah With cool people Having a good time And that comes through Yeah It comes through In the interviews as well I think When the band talk about About this I also think When you think about The longevity Yeah You know And they're just still going Yeah yeah yeah You know And still doing their thing Whereas Like Little Angels I think it's 94 They split up Oh really They finished it over then Yeah yeah Or maybe a little bit Later than that But yeah They didn't know Obviously Toby Jepsen's Done other things since Hasn't he He's done tons of stuff Yeah And I think he's Yeah Do you know what Yeah we'll talk about What we do next In a bit But yeah And I'm not Again I'm not sure That comes across On the record Because the Little Angels Record are pretty They're pretty uplifting They're pretty bouncy But yeah This one feels really authentic We talk about that Authenticity often For these albums Yeah They sort of seem like Mates don't they That's the Yeah You know what I mean Like some people Are just They're in a band together And they make music together Yeah These guys feel like They're in each other's pockets A bit Yeah Down the pub And they like Being with each You know what I mean They Well they certainly Liked being with each other At this point I think they still do Yeah Yeah Yeah It's hard to tell Isn't it From the episode You're never really sure But I don't think You can fake it For that long Do you know what I mean Well I suppose You're not If things don't work You're not in a band together Are you anymore No The first inkling Of anything going wrong In a relationship Yeah Then that relationship That professional relationship Bends as well Yeah I mean You have to think With bands like Metallica Yeah Like the pressure The financial pressure On Metallica To function And generate money To keep the various Foundations And charities And businesses And buildings And all of the things That is Metallica Metallica Corp Yeah Yeah It is It's Metallica PLC Yeah And there must be A point where It stops being fun Sometimes Yeah You know It's not always about You know When you're doing Your debut record It's all exciting And fun And you know what I mean There's no one Depending People aren't depending On you to pay Their mortgages No No And I know There are a few things That Metallica Where you're looking At them and going God are they enjoying that Are they having a good time Doing that Are they friends But there's a bit of me Which with Metallica Makes me think I think that's just Part of their process Yeah Their creative process Is conflict And tension And that seems to be How they make their music But I don't sense that With these guys No Not at all I don't sense that You know From what Again I need to dive in And get into their background Not more British Yeah That's the British way Isn't it Even when we did The Pink Floyd Records And we talked about All the conflict Going on there I just think It's really bizarre That does not come across In the records No I mean I guess The wall Yeah The band Were just not functioning At all It was kind of Roger Waters With some session musicians That just happened To be in Pink Floyd Yeah And then Darkseid That fracturous relationship They've got And I suppose It's a pretty dark record Yeah Lyrically Yeah But it doesn't It's another album That doesn't make you It doesn't Like Iowa Makes you feel Like I mean That needs to like Being stabbed When you That album It's just dark And nasty Darkseid doesn't No And I think Maybe that's a British thing Where it's kind of stiff You're just kind of Oh god I hate him But I'll just Get on with it Do you know what I mean I'll play my guitar And get on with it You know Yeah yeah yeah yeah And so I don't know It's quite hard to tell I think with bands But I like to think That Thunder All get on with each other And that they're lovely Yeah And Luke Morley Always sounds Whenever he's interviewed Yeah He's one of those people That you Do you know He's one of those people That you think I'd go down to the pub with you Yeah You'd just sound ace And do you know As we've done this And looked at different albums There are people That I've thought I don't think I want to go to the pub with you But there are some people That I thought I probably wouldn't Yes Like Alanis Morissette Yeah I thought Do you know I can't imagine Going for a pint With Alanis She's going to be a pain I reckon she'd be dead good Yeah I reckon she'd be Such a good laugh After the interviews That we Yeah yeah yeah Do you know what I mean Yeah Yeah totally hear you And do you know There's others like Skin from Skokin Oh god yeah What a lovely person I thought she would just Because she's so political And angry Yeah yeah yeah And then when you hear her In an interview She's really articulate And really intelligent Yeah yeah But she's really fun And do you know what I mean She's kind of just passionate About what she's doing And what she believes Yeah she's got lots of Bounce She'd be dead good I reckon Luke Morley Would be dead good Down the pool as well We should get Alanis Yeah Alanis Morissette Skin and Luke And we could bring Toby Jepsen as well Yeah Then obviously Toby Was the reason that Thunder never were big In the States There's not any Mosty there though Is there I doubt it I don't know I doubt it No I can't imagine No I can't imagine that If I'm honest No Well it's Not a war under the bridge Well Luke Morley Used to have a show On Planet Rock Okay yeah yeah Never heard him be Anything other than Like just charming And engaging And you know Much like Joe Elliot Really passionate about music Really knowledgeable About music And the stuff that he liked We're never disparaging About you know Other people Unless it's been funny Like you know Yeah yeah yeah The crack yeah Yeah yeah yeah But yeah There is Yeah Nice guy I think Shall we do some facts Oh yeah Facts Yeah Oh we'll do facts And then we'll talk about What's your favourite song Oh yeah Because that'd be a good thing Yeah We can do that Right I should do some I shall do some I shall do some facts And that So Release date Two different release dates Again 5th of March And the 9th of April Why I'm glad you asked So I think this is And I can't remember Was it Lacey Explained this to Anyway Somebody explained this to us On X Okay And it was because The release dates In the UK Used to be on the Monday And in the US Used to be the Tuesday Right Or the other way around And I think this is like A week apart Yeah So it's like the Monday One week Tuesday The next week Got it I think anyway But it was released In the US Which is good Yeah 51 minutes 32 long 11 tracks On the standard edition There's been Countless I was going to say I think the version That I've been listening to When I spotted your track list And it wasn't It didn't feel like Oh the one that Yeah I think the one I've Might have had like Different remixes Or different versions Of different things The Apple Music one's Got a load of stuff on there We Yeah We're using my CD Record label EMI in the UK Capital In Geffen In the US And it was EMI in Japan Recorded at Great Lindford Manor Studios Which is where Skunkinansi Okay Recorded as well I didn't know that In Milton Keynes Is it really? And that's where I made that famous statement That Milton Keynes Doesn't sound rock and roll And then you reminded me That Marshall Based In Milton Keynes Yeah So I retract My previous Statement Milton Keynes Is rock and roll After all Produced by Andy Taylor Off of Duran Duran And we discovered He's awesome And it was mixed I did like good Good production I did loads of this stuff The big rock stuff I did It was good Yeah And Yeah Because we did The Almighty last week So if you like this kind of stuff And you're picking this up Now Last week we did The Almighty Which was Which was really cool The week before that We did Therapy Yeah And the reason we're doing that Is because We've got quite a few Listers in the America We have And the idea is Is that Some of you Probably won't have heard These bands Yeah We think That Or this is This was my idea really And so we'll see how It pans out But I I have this funny feeling That a ton of these bands Were awesome Yeah And just got missed But not because of You know People not being passionate About music But being missed Because they were released Here in the UK Yeah And the US labels Were busy with Guns N' Roses And Nirvana And Pearl Jam And you know All of the These massive bands That were Doing things in the States Yeah And a lot of this stuff Was just It was just difficult To compete with So it got released here It had You know A ton of backing And a huge Fan support I guess Here in the UK And in Europe too Yeah But perhaps not In the US So And we think It's too good Not to share So And these These were albums Of my youth as well So we've got to Got to share them a little bit Yeah It was recorded At the power station Again we've talked about That before That was Yeah Andy Taylor Yeah And then It was mixed by Mike Fraser Off of Aerosmith Yeah Yeah And Yeah I don't know I just think it's interesting I think that The tone from it It's It's It's It's got a British sound To it to me There's definitely Something that's like A cut above Yeah Like what some of the Other British bands Were doing But it's definitely Got a British tone Yeah Yeah Yeah It landed At 21 on the UK Album charts Oh It did chart in the US 114 on the US Right Billboard 200 It was certified gold In the UK Which means it sold 100,000 units Yeah So the number I mean obviously The UK is a lot smaller Yes Which is why everybody Wanted to break the US If you broke the US Yeah You took it millions You got to go and buy 9-11s and stuff Didn't you If you broke the UK You got pints in the pub You got a free cheese sandwich With Branston pickle on it Yeah Some crisps If you break the US You get whatever you want Yeah The band said it was An amazing time An amazing time to record Lots of stories of the band Just saying how How much fun they had Danny Bowes Lead vocals Luke Moore Lead guitar Yeah Danny and Luke Are usually the two On the interviews I hear them on the interviews And I remember them Back in the day And they were just kids You'd see them on TV Interviewing for this album And I don't know They just look like Same for the kids But it sounds really mature Isn't it It does yeah The songwriting It's a really mature songwriting They just look like They were having such A good time Don't they Do you know But we did the almighty Last week And it reminds me of Ricky Warwick He just looked like He was having the best time Ever When you saw him interviewed Taking nothing Seriously at all Ben Matthews Was the guitarist Played piano Organ Also assisted with Engineering Mark a snake Luckhurst Was on bass And Gary Gary Harry James Was drums Yeah Which was Obviously Which was Pretty excellent Recording Started in 7th of August 1989 Which we've already Talked about Great Linford Manor Which is Which is excellent Was analogue So I guess I don't know 90 Would anyone have Doing digital stuff In 90 Don't know Probably effects wise Maybe Maybe Yeah That's true Maybe It might have been Bounced to doubt Or something like that Maybe Maybe Where did I get to Down here Oh right So Other albums That they did So they did Backstreet Symphony In 90 Laughing on Judgment Day Which I really Liked too I thought that was Again another Absolutely banger Of a record Then they did Behind Closed Doors In 95 The thrill Of it all In 96 And then there was Like giving the game Away Shooting at the sun And they did Dopamine In 2022 Again which I Really liked It was a really Great record Wonder Days In 2015 Yeah I loved that That was You said about That one Before Yeah I kind of That was where I kind of re-engaged With Thunder So probably for me Like probably the Thrill of it all I think was the Last album that I Physically bought From Thunder And you know Would have had in The car and stuff And then probably Disconnected from them A little bit For quite a while And then it would Have been Wonder Days for me In 2015 Charted in the UK At number 9 Yeah And then they did Rip it up And stuff after that Which Yeah again Which is Which is really cool One of the reasons Why I think our US friends May not have Heard of this one I'm going to give you A list of albums That were released In 90 Right So Okay yeah yeah Facelift by Alice and Change Yeah Alice and Change Alice and Change Rust in Peace By Megadeth Yeah Painkiller by Judas Priest Empire by Queensryche Seasons in the Abyss By Slayer Which is the best Slayer album And Persistence of Time By Anthrax Which is another Underrated album Massive Shake Your Money Maker By The Black Crow That's what they were doing Cowboys from Hell By Pantaro No Prayer from the Dying By Iron Maiden And Loudest Love By Soundgarden Yeah yeah And you know Trying to compete There's not a lot of space For a British band And all that I suppose Judas Priest were British Weren't they But They were already established They were already established Yeah they were sort of That post Maiden thing Weren't they I mean that's ten Yeah Ten albums Yeah So even if you release them Once a month You've not got much space Left Do you know what I mean It's just like so difficult To compete with And then you'd have had There was a bunch of Hair metal albums That would have been Because they were Relentlessly coming out Yeah And you'd still got like Hangovers of Appetite for Destruction Yes Which would have still Been out in the charts Yeah yeah yeah It was just such a tough time I think to Like get anything coming out Thrash was at its peak then There's a lot of those Thrash records You know the Megadeth records Slayer And the kind of That's like the Polar opposite of this Production Yeah this bluesy Yeah exactly So it kind of Almost wasn't fashionable Like glam and hard rock Is kind of winding down Yeah Thrash is at its peak Yeah And you know Grunge is just seeping Grunge is just bubbling Yeah yeah yeah So Singles from the album You know this Some of these tracks Are quite long Yeah yeah So like Love Walked In 625 Yeah that's all The song should be I think that's You know You put another 10 minutes On that To be fair Some of these I could listen to On repeat Yeah But I have to say though That love That doesn't feel like A 620 to me 625 Yeah it doesn't feel like that You know what I mean Like you know When it's a good song Yeah When you've got a song That's well crafted And well written Yeah It can be 6 and a half minutes And you don't feel like it It's phenomenal But singles She's So Fine Dirty Love Backstreet Symphony And Love Walked In And Give Me Some Loving Yeah Give Me Some Loving It's a Steve Winwood cover Isn't it It's Steve Winwood Yeah It's 3 minutes 51 And for me That's the Almost like this This version of that Steve This is like the definitive sound That I have in my mind Of that song Ah So whenever I hear Like the original Yeah Which is more organ And more kind of That kind of thing I relate more With like this sound The bigger guitar Kind of thing This is like a lot of Covers This is where I heard it First Right Okay Yeah You know And there's There are covers That you I didn't know It was a cover For years You know Because when you're like 16 You don't care do you No no You're just like Whatever Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Yeah I don't know Hey! Well, my temperature's rising and my feet are on the floor Twenty people knocking cause they want to sign more Let me in, baby, I don't know what you got But you better take it easy, this place is hot And I'm so glad we made it I'm so glad we made it You gotta give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Every day Come on Well, I feel so good, everything is shining hot Better take it easy cause the place is on fire Feelin' our heart dead, I don't know what to do Wait a minute, baby, it could happen to you I'm so glad we made it I'm so glad we made it I'm so glad we made it You gotta Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' When I feel so good, everybody's getting high When it turns easy, cause the place is so high Real hard day, nothing went too good Now I'm gonna relax, honey, everybody's chillin' I'm so glad we made it I'm so glad we made it Come on, give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Every day Give me some lovin' Give me some lovin' Give me, give me some lovin' That's right Give me Give me some lovin' I mean, it's funny really, because we were a song short I mean, we decided that we were missing a song, so that's how give you some lovin' came to be on now But that kind of now, I listen to that now, and I adore the original, I'm a massive fan of Steve Woodward and Spencer Davis, who's a great band, but ours has got a kind of energy about it, which I think is really good. And yeah, so yeah, the whole album worked really well, just a good set of circumstances, it didn't take long to make, it took about four weeks, I think, but I think the thing is that the salient point here is that we couldn't have made that album as quickly and efficiently and had as much fun doing it had we not been through the Terraplane experience. But yeah, really, really good. I also remember the video for Dirty Love, it's just, it's properly of the, it's of kind of the 80s, more than the 90s, I think, but it's on that verge, but it's got the band like kicking, it's like a wedding thing and there's like some girls in there talking. The Thunderbirds. Yeah, and then, and then they're, um... I love that, the Thunderbirds, they're the names of the kind of groupies and the people that were hanging around. Yeah, but then the band are just walking on these tables kicking, you know, it's properly kind of, it's like a hair metal video, but the band are looking really cool and playing that, so yeah, it's worth checking. Oh, and that's the, I tagged that video in the blog, if you go to riffology.co, as usual, this is, and all this facts are in there as well. I also, the song meaning in lyrics, um, most of it's pretty straightforward, but what I like about it, there is kind of this, um, Britishness to it, which again, I wonder if probably didn't help the translation to the US, although we talked about before we came on air, that, like, the hair metal bands are talking about the strip, and, and, um, you know, you've got a lot of bands talking about the area that they're in, and it seems to translate okay, so. So, I don't know, I think, I think it, I think it's a good song, it's a good song, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just a great song, it's just an absolutely great song, um, uh, right, where did I get to next? Oh, promotion on this, so, uh, Backstreet Symphony, uh, they were out everywhere, it was, uh, uh, loads of airplay on MTV Europe and UK music shows. Yeah. Um, there was a, a video album, Backstreet Symphony, the videos featuring the promo clips and live footage, and they did that massive show at Monsters of Rock in 1990, which must have been to, like, I don't know, a million people. Yeah, the bit, the bit that gets me about this, the Monsters of Rock, uh, and now Download, is that it's down the road from us. Yeah. Like, like, we could, we could literally drive there in about 20 minutes, you know, where, and from where we are. And it's almost like a hallowed ground for rock music, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. We were applying the kind of old, very old-fashioned rule of rock and roll, which is sort of from the 70s, really, which is that, you know, you know, if you play rock music, you probably won't get on the radio, so you've got to go and play on it. So that's what we did. We just went and played. And, uh, EMI, to their credit, uh, at the time, you know, because obviously there's no way we could have made a profit because we didn't have an audience when we started. So they invested heavily in that aspect and they, they, they, they saw the sense in it and they, they, they kind of embraced the philosophy and, um, and it paid off because we, somewhat, we knew we were good live bands. So we knew that if we could get in front of people, um, we could convert. And, um, so that's basically what we did, but we didn't realize quite how far we'd gone, um, until we did that show at Donington, because, as I said, we'd support with other people. And I think at that point, we, I don't think we'd headlined anything bigger than about a thousand, maybe. Uh, and so when we went on the stage, when we took the stage there, it was, uh, I was absolutely, it's the last, I've never been nervous since actually. That was the last time I was ever nervous. 80,000 people in daylight, that will, but as soon as I hit the ref, she said fine, I looked up and the hands were up right to the back. 80,000 people in daylight, um, yeah, yeah, fucking hell. And there was this huge release of energy and we all felt it in the band. It was like, fuck, this is it. This is our moment. And, um, and that, that was honestly the, the quickest 45 minutes of my life. It just buying a flash. And we all came off absolutely leaping with energy. And our, our, um, our tour manager was a very sage character, a guy called Roger Searle. Roger had seen everything in rock and roll at that point. You know, he'd worked for the Who for years. And, uh, he just wandered in our dressing room. He was always very low key and we were like, fuck in the world. He went, well, I'm boys. He said, I think we've had it away on our toes. Yeah. Weird thing. It was, it was a very sort of special day. And then we went, uh, back to the hotel. We were staying in a hotel in Nottingham. And I remember Spike from the Quiet Boys saying, can I come back to you? Sure. I said, I said, yeah, cool. So he came back on the bus with us and he said, I thought you guys were fucking amazing. And that's kind of the beginning of a long friendship. I'm still very good mates with Spike. The net effect of everything we'd done in the nine months to a year before that, it all kind of came out on that. That was like, Jesus Christ. Lots of people know who we are. And it was, uh, yeah, quite a moment. It got me like when we, when we did Bloodstock last year, cause you and I both went to Bloodstock and then on the Monday of Bloodstock, um, I ended up biking, um, Lemmy's Ashes from Bloodstock's Rock City. Oh yeah, I remember you doing that. So there's, there's this, there's this thing about this area where we're based, which is kind of like the mid, you know, the broad smack bang in the middle of the UK, really in the Midlands. And, um, there's a huge rock heritage, like Birmingham down the road with Sabbath. Yeah. There's, you know, um, this thing going on with, Nepal. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's the bit with, um, you know, Rock City. Yeah. With, um, Bloodstock with download. And this is all, all of those things are within 20 minutes of us. They are half an hour, maybe, you know, and it's crazy really. And, uh, where was I going with that? Can't remember. Oh, uh, because, because, um, because of the download thing and because the monsters rock thing. Yeah. Like this is, this is huge. This is huge, huge rock heritage. I remember seeing those videos that were recorded at monsters rock. I mean, there was like the guns and roses, guns and roses video. Was it paradise city? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's tons of video footage of monsters rock for, for that, uh, that single. And it is weird. It's kind of like, that's just down the road. Yeah. Yeah. You kind of feel, feel a bit, a bit to it, which is really cool. Yeah. I remember when we went before we went and we, I think we were watching slipknot, um, download one year. Oh. And then we got in your car and got home in 20 minutes and went to bed. Yeah. Not got to do it in a tent, which is always nice. It's great. Um, but they did, they, they, they did tour a lot as well. They, they were out doing European tours. They toured with heart. Um, I didn't know this, but they toured with love, hate. Oh, wow. In Germany, in the Netherlands in July. We did, we, we covered, um, oh, did we do blackout in the red room or wasted in America? We did. Blackout in the red room. We did. Uh, but I love, love, hate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just think they're such an underrated band. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But really some, they've got that kind of bluesy swagger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of very hard, rocky, but it's still kind of like very, very cool. Um, uh, the, the, the, the castle Donington. So the monsters of rock, uh, was 80,000 people. Yeah. Um, with Aerosmith White. Snake Poison and the Choir Boys. Um, yeah, just absolutely phenomenal. I think they, they did, um, tons of, oh, they're, uh, they opened for Black Sabbath in, in, on the Scandinavia tour. Um, so yeah, they, they, they got, I think this reputation for being a phenomenal live band. And, uh, yeah. And I, um, there, there are countless people that talk about hearing thunder, um, supporting like much bigger bands. And being the, and being the standout. Yeah. Yeah. Um, uh, yeah. I think they realized that as well. Yeah. I think they knew that. Yeah. Yeah. I think you, I think you're probably right. Um, other things that happened in 1990 on my fact sheet. Yes. Um, Nelson Mandela was released. Germany was reunified. David the Hasselhoff did that. Do you remember David Hasselhoff off of Knight Rider and Baywatch? No? No. Oh God. You're, so this is, this is a bit, sometimes stuff will happen. And like, cause I'm Gen X and you're millennial. I kind of think, you know, all the things. Yeah. No, no, no. So in 1990, so Germany, you know, after the world war, it was chopped in half and it was the Berlin wall. Um, in 1990, they brought it back together again. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. I actually remember that happening. Yeah. They were like, oh, you know, this is a bit stupid. Let's just leave Germany. Why if we've got a wall in the middle? So they got rid of that. Yeah. Um, the bit that happens more often than not, there's one in Cyprus as well. Yeah. There's loads of places where there's just a wall in the middle of the capital city or whatever. The bit that I loved about it was, uh, so it was this huge, amazing thing. And it's full of like Germans connecting with people that they've not seen for forever. Yeah. And, and, you know, just this kind of, like the hope was, and it was just incredible. Um, and then David Hasselhoff appeared and reunited Germany. And he, um, he had, he had out, he was, he, so he was in Knight Rider. Yeah. I remember him in that. And then he did Baywatch. I didn't know he did that. With Pamela Anderson. Yeah. I quite like, I was a massive crush on Pamela Anderson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she's back in the, the press now, isn't she? Yes. Like refusing to wear makeup and stuff. And she looks great now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's lots of people being cruel about her and I think they're dickheads. Yeah. So leave the girl alone. Yeah. Um, anyway, so they did that, uh, and then, but then he did, um, he did music. He did like soft rock. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure how you would describe it, but German soft rock. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I don't know, not offensive to anybody, but, um, it wasn't very good. Um, it was like a German Brian Adams. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's probably not good either. Anyway. But Brian Adams is good. Yeah. No, he's brilliant. I love Brian Adams. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, uh, I don't know what the word. Craig McLaughlin. Yeah. Like if you, if you, if you got Brian Adams from Teemu, that's where I'm going. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And he took his top up a lot. It was like, every time you saw, uh, the Hasselhoff, he took his top off. Anyway, he was there. Yeah. And, and so, so Germany's just been reunified after like loads of years. So many stories of like families being like split. And just incredible story. And the press ran with David Hasselhoff with his top off singing one of his songs. And I love the idea that I like when the aliens come, um, they'll look back at the history and they'll listen to this show, obviously. Yeah. Um, and David Hasselhoff is his, Oh, actually when the AI could look in 50 years time, the AI will do everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it will go back and it won't know really. So, but it'll, it'll listen to the transcript of this show. Yeah. Realize that we are the gospel. I'll say that David Hasselhoff reunited Germany and then it will tell everybody that that's what happened. But that's what it felt. It was weird. That's what it felt like at the time. It felt like David Hasselhoff just appeared with this leather jacket and nothing on underneath. Imagine a leather jacket with no top on underneath it. He did that with his tight leather trousers and reunited Germany. That is what happened. Um, so anyway, so that happened. Yeah. Um, Tim Berners-Lee. Yeah. Yeah. Did the internet man. Yeah. So he, he, uh, a, yeah. So he created that. Um, first McDonald's in Moscow. Really? Yeah. Or Moscow. Yeah. Which, um, can't imagine that. That's where all the problems started, wasn't it? Yeah. Putting McDonald's in Moscow. Fast forward. That might be one of the problems in, in the world. Yeah. McDonald's. Yeah. Everywhere. As soon as it comes up, that's it. Yeah. Trade walls. Didn't they take it? Somebody, um, I, I have quite a lot of Russian friends. Yeah. So I was a mathematician before, before I got a proper job. And then, um, when I got my proper job in IT, I got given loads of maths problems to solve. Um, so the maths experts in my company are, they're all in the US, but they're all Russian. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Right. And so they, I, they're really quite good. It's, I always think it's really fascinating to get the perspective of what's going on and how they, they think of the world. Um, but yeah, I, uh, They, they agreed. They said it was when the McDonald's came. Yeah. Yeah. It was fine until McDonald's came and then, and then we all lost a chest to that computer and it's all been rubbish, rubbish. Oh, here's another topic. Never play Russians at chess. Okay. Are they demons? I know it sounds, it sounds stereotypical, doesn't it? Yeah. Like don't go drinking with hair metal bands. Don't play Russians at chess. Um, and don't go anywhere with David Hasselhoff. He'll only take his top off. Um, I forgot my record. Oh yeah. Right. So, so yeah, McDonald's in Moscow. Oh, that's a good joke that everyone missed. Did you hear that? Well, David Hassel take his top off. David Hassel take his top off. Have you been working on that? Yeah. Um, right. Some facts about the album that you might not know. Um, so the cover art was by Luke Morley. The concept was by Luke Morley. Yeah. Guess who did the initial sketch? Luke Morley. His mom. His mom. Yeah. That's great. I think this is probably what sets British rock bands apart from the US rock bands. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Although, do you know, I mean, I'm sure there are equal stories, but I just. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody's, I bet, I, I bet like, um, Luke's mom came into the studio with sandwiches. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mom, could you draw this? Yeah. All right. Oh, go on then. Oh God. I really hope we managed to get him on the show. Eat your cheese sandwich. He can tell us the story of his mom bringing sandwiches and. I just make stuff up. Just, we just make it up. And then, and then it's just fact then. Once it's on the internet, um, it's just fact. Um, yeah. And other things we've covered most of this already, uh, in, in, in, in my thing, but that was the bit that was fun. Uh, um, uh, five singles. Um, the highest was Love Walked In. Yeah. Yeah. Such a good song. I can't find any. The thing is, is it, it's such a good song that you kind of like skip that one. Cause you know, that one's dead good. Yeah. There are some like at the time I probably would have done. Yeah. Yeah. I did one of the lovely things. I know that one. That's dead good. But I want to dive into these others now. One of the lovely things about going back and rediscovering these records is that you, even the stuff that was overplayed at the time. Yeah. You don't like when we did the black album from Metallica, that is just so much of that has been overplayed over the years, but going back and listening to it now, you're like, Oh, actually. Yeah. Yeah. You get a bit of freshness. Yeah. There's definitely, there's definitely a bit of that. Um, we talked about why the band didn't, break America. And that was all because of little angels and Geffen pushing them instead of thunder. And by the time they did get back to thunder, um, everyone was, uh, in Seattle crying into their shoes about their feelings. It's very popular. This isn't it now? Yeah. Um, so yeah. They do it on the internet now. We can cry over, cry over your feelings on the internet. Oh God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Loads of that. While you wonder about your gender. Yeah. You could decide your gender while you were crying into your shoes. Yeah. But I mean, it's that, I mean, as much as I make fun of it, there was just a very different vibe in like 92. Yeah. Than there was in 89. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the, the, the, in, in the late eighties, you'd got hair metal and, and a hard rock was, was king. It was just the biggest thing ever. And everybody was talking about, you know, it was the excess. Yeah. And then over that flip over from the late eighties to the early nineties, you had Guns N' Roses, I suppose, who were, I mean, interestingly to me, they're kind of not, although they were lumped in with the hair metal bands, they were more punky. They were just like, we hate all of you, you know, we don't care. And you know, it was, they were just, uh, uh, they didn't feel to me like they fitted in that, um, hair metal scene. Yeah. Um, and then, and then by like 91, 92, you, you, you, you know, you got alt rock and, and grunge where you got grunge really kind of in full swing at that point. And then it moved on into alt rock. Yeah. And so, you know, uh, hard rock bands would, would just not popular. Yeah. So labels were not going to, not going to fund them. Yeah. Um, but it was all Toby Jepson's fault off of Little Angels. Um, I'm sure Toby Jepson's one of the nicest guys, Luke Moore, the Thunderboys and like Toby, they're just the nicest people on, on, on the planet. Toby Jepson's actually doing a bunch of stuff about the making of, and the stories behind that time in history of how they got popular and, and, um, what it felt like to be a kid in the back of a van and having a record label and having a tour set up for you. You know, and people, you know, going to exotic places like, you know, like Bath or, do you know what I mean, or wherever. And, and never having been there before, probably couldn't put a pin in it on the map and people would turn it up to see you. Yes. Um, and it's, it's, it's lovely listening to him talk about that. So, um, so yeah, very, very good. Um, obviously Thunder's still going there, which is, which is excellent. Yeah. Um, yeah, and that's it for facts, I think. Um, yeah, no, that's it. That is all of the facts. Although I have looked on our blog and it has given me this fantastic idea of what we should do next. Really? Yes. Oh, I'll reveal that later. So what you can do is while you're listening to the last little bit of the blog, before we get around to actually saying what's going to be coming next. You could go on the blog at riffology.co, find the album and have a scan through it and see if you correct. Yeah, if you, if you find the Thunder album and then if you, it's literally, it says next and the album it says to read next. Yeah. I don't know how it does its magic. I didn't write, so a lot of the code on our blog, I wrote it. Yeah. Um, there's a thing that I've obviously switched on at some point, which gives you, recommends the next one. I don't know how it does that. But it's dead good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but, but it's, yeah, it's, it's landed properly on the right next album. I think the right next album. So let's listen to a song. What's your favourite one off it? Oh, good God. Um, I'm going to go and look at the track list because, uh, so I love She's So Fine. I, I think I'd go with Dirty Love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and as much for the video as anything else, but I, yeah, there's just something super cool about this. And for me, it's Until My Dying Day. Yeah, that wasn't a single. No, I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. Very songwriter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's, that's kind of, that's one of the ones on the album that I think, although it might not be quite as immediate. No, it's, yeah, it's the one you get to later. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's a, it's a song that you know has been, it's a written song. Yes. It feels, you know what I mean? Quite clearly, um, it, it was written by somebody who knew how to craft a song. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's got, it's, and it doesn't feel as long as, as it, it is. It's, it's, it's a big beastie. It is, it's lovely as well. I can see the fading sun, sinking at the edge of town, and it's one more day that's gone. I'm thinking about the past, and the time that slipped away, but I can't change what I've done. Chasing after foolish dreams I should have let go, but I just can't seem to stop I don't deserve your loving, baby I don't know why you stay There's a child within the man, and it's keeping me keeping on Yet you always understand, the future can't be planned But I'm gonna keep fighting on, while I've still got two strong hands Or maybe I'll chase someday Or maybe I'll chase those dreams away I need you by my side, now baby Cause you're the prize that I won't be Girl, you're the only one to light a fire inside me You're the only one that can make me feel this way I wanna stay with you forever I'll never let you go Until my dying day Oh! I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way You're the only one that can make me feel this way You're the only one that can make me feel this way You're the only one that can make me feel this way Chasing out the foolish dreams I should've let go, but I just can't seem to stop I don't deserve your loving, baby I don't deserve your loving, baby And I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way Hey, baby, you're the only one to light a fire inside me You're the only woman that can make me feel this way I wanna stay with you forever I'll never let you go Until my dying day Until my dying day I don't want to stay with you forever I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't deserve your loving, baby I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way I need you by my side now, baby Cause you're the only one that can make me feel this way You deserve your loving, baby I don't know why you're the only one that can make me feel this way Right, go on then, go on then, go on then, go on then, what's next, what's next, what's next? Well, as we were discussing the reasons why Thunder were not mega in the US We mentioned that their record label, the US record label, Geffen, who also handled the Little Angels So it was all Toby Jepsen's fault Yes And I thought we should do a Toby Jepsen album So their most popular album was... Is it Little Angels? Yeah Yeah Their most popular album was, I think, Jam But I think their best album is an album called Young Gods from 1991 Right, so the year after this one Yeah, and yeah, so yeah, yeah, so 1991 I adore this album, I think, I don't know how best to describe it But it's, there's just something like super special Similar to Backstreet Symphony that we've covered today It's just like perfect There's no, there's no, there's no slow bits in it There's no bits in there that you think don't fit It's just a band on fire They were just phenomenal Toby Jepsen's voice is just excellent There's like, there's still a Britishness to it I think slightly, probably slightly less British than Thunder Yeah, yeah But they, yeah, the band just have this I don't think they were on fire at this point Just absolutely phenomenal Lots of backing and just banger after banger And probably a record you've never heard Never heard it, no And again, I think similarly with lots of our US listeners Won't have heard this one But it's a, again, it's one of those It's kind of a hard rock album But it's full of songs, you know what I mean? It's full of these songs that will It'll certainly do to me anyway They just kind of pull you in Yeah, yeah And there's some storytelling And yeah, I don't know It's a really dynamic record I don't know who produced it I don't know where it was recorded I do know I've got lots of copies of it I've got it on CD I've got two copies of this on vinyl Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't think it was ever repressed It's on the floppy vinyl So if you ever, if anybody For anybody that's new to vinyl If you pick up one of the represses And it's, they're quite stiff The 180 gram vinyl You could take someone's head off If you flung it on The original vinyl back from the day Yeah, yeah, yeah You pick it up there It was quite floppy It wasn't, do you know what I mean? It wasn't super rigid And it's got a funny It's got a smell, cardboardy smell to it Nice But yeah, it's a stunning record Lovely cover as well Yeah, looking forward to it But I think that's what we should do next Which is Young Gods by Little Angels 1991 Toby Jepsen Because Toby Jepsen ruined Thunderscreen Cool, cool, cool Love you, bye Love you, bye