Musicians Danny Bowes, Harry James, and Luke Morley worked together in the 80s-era [tab]blues outfit Terraplane. After experiencing what Morley has called "a 'eureka' moment", the guys devised a high-energy British rock project directly inspired by the likes of Bad Company, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. The aptly named Thunder spent a year or so in constant touring and gradually built a positive reputation that helped its debut album, named Backstreet Symphony, reach a wide audience. Released 4 April 1990 by EMI / Geffen, it became an international success. The album didn't just get RIAA certified as 'Gold' but earned them a spot on BBC's 'Top of the Pops', playing their hard-edged version of "Gimme Some Lovin'" to a global audience. A well-received performance at Castle Donington's 'Monsters of Rock' event before gigantic crowds brought it home to the guys how far they'd broken through.
After touring with female-fronted rockers Heart and other artists with the same style, the guys prepared the second album, which they ominously titled Laughing on Judgement Day. Despite their deliberately 'retro' sound quite unlike the alternative and post-punk trends of the time (or, in fact, precisely because of their sticking to their guns), their sophomore album achieved even more success. Released on 24 August 1992, it proved an even bigger hit in the U.K. than their debut, reaching the number two slot on the nation's top albums chart. Its singles include "Everybody Wants Her" and "Low Life in High Places", the titles alone showing Thunder's interest in classic rock n' roll hedonism.
Bassist "Snake" Luckhurst left the band citing 'personal differences', a move that wasn't just Thunder's first line-up change but a sign of future turmoil to come. He got replaced by Swedish musician Mikael Höglund, and the band went on to record their third album, 1995's Behind Closed Doors, before facing a dilemma with their label. Finding that "most of the people who'd been there at the beginning of our tenure had moved on", as Morley put it, as well as that talk of a contract extension had terms that they simply couldn't accept, Thunder jumped from EMI.
Despite being championed by U.S. contemporaries such as Aerosmith and Guns n' Roses, the guys still faced a tough time making a lasting impact 'across the pond'. Though focused on pumping out more and more material, Morley later remarked that the mid-90s found Thunder "suffering from 'hamster in the wheel' syndrome". Mikael Höglund was unavailable for recording the band's fourth album, called The Thrill of it All, and so the 1996 release had bass duty left with Morley. For the subsequent tour, the band recruited bassist Chris Childs, who stayed with the band to record their fifth album. Although Giving the Game Away, released in 1999, earned a positive fan response, it had become totally clear how Thunder had disconnected from a record industry whose connected network of radio stations, TV networks, and music magazines dismissed the guys' sort of melodic hard rock as either endangered or extinct.
In Autumn of that year, the group announced an upcoming split, and their final tour concluded in May 2000. Still, Thunder's interest in new technology and the continuing camaraderie felt among the band's members meant that they didn't drop off the radar. After being given a slot in the 2002 'Monsters of Rock' shows, Thunder decided to return in 2003 with a new album, titled Shooting at the Sun, which the guys released on their own record label. Fully embracing the internet's ability to unite hard rock fans across the globe, 2005 resulted in the band's seventh album, aptly titled The Magnificent Seventh! by the guys. It earned praise from many critics, with musicOMH writer Neil Daniels remarking that the "terrific return to form" seemed like "a hard-hitting giant but with fists of steel and cast iron balls".
Feeling vindicated, the group's album managed to produce a return to the top 40 singles charts and spawned a bunch of live performances. After two well-received tours in 2006, with many gigs completely selling out, and two gleeful experiences in Japan, the band captured that live feel in the DVD Thunder Go Mad in Japan. The release included a documentary piece following the band's situation setting everything up and trying to sort out all of the traveling. That year additionally saw the guys releasing their eight studio album, titled Robert Johnson's Tombstone, which featured nods to the musicians' early history before Thunder's very formation. Receiving acclaim from critics and fans alike, some even claimed that the album was Thunder's best studio release yet. A U.K. tour took place at the end of November 2006, with the band extending things into shows in Europe as well.
The 2000s represented not only a period of frequent touring but also increasing musical activities by the guys outside of the band. Thunder's career renaissance continued with a 2008 studio album, which the guys simply titled Bang!, and the group's appearance with Def Leppard and Whitesnake at multiple gigs that same year. The group had found itself coming up to its twenty-year anniversary. Although not experiencing the same kind of personal conflicts or debates about musical direction that many of their contemporaries had, Thunder still appeared to have reached a kind of inflection point. In early 2009, the guys announced plans to split for the second time. Final tours and festival appearances occurred throughout the rest of the year. A well-received compilation album, called simply The Very Best of Thunder, came out as well that year.
Luke Morley stressed "only a fool would say never" when it came to talk of getting back together at some point. Still, he'd gotten focused on other endeavors and particularly dedicated himself to working on The Union, an outfit formed with musician Peter Shoulder (formerly of Winterville). Featuring a blues and soul drenched sound, that band has achieved significant critical acclaim. Other ex-Thunder members perused similar projects. Drummer Gary "Harry" James, for example, played with progressive rockers Magnum (including on their popular 2011 release The Visitation).
Thunder briefly reunited for the 'High Voltage Festival', held in Victoria Park, in 2011. Though expressing their reluctance to formally get back together, the guys agreed to future shows together, including a December performance at Nottingham's 'Rock City' venue. They intermittently took to the stage as the 2010s went on yet remained committed to their alternate projects.
In 2015, however, Thunder announced a full return with an upcoming studio album of new material. A tongue-in-cheek collective statement cited "a rather silly amount of knob-twiddling and string-pulling" as the final inspiration. The release of Wonder Days earned a warm response from critics and fans alike (the fellows at Classic Rock magazine, for example, naming it one of the year's 11 best albums), and multiple gigs got announced to preform the new material. 2017's Rip It Up was also well-received (the record's #3 spot on the U.K. Albums Chart was the highest the band reached for over two decades). This was followed with an acoustic selection, Please Remain Seated, after which the band promised to return to the "full throttle sound of Thunder" for the next studio record.
Delayed due to the pandemic situation, that full throttle new album was released in March 2021, All The Right Noises.
UK rockers Thunder will be releasing a new double album titled Dopamine on April 29, 2022.
Official Website: http://www.thunderonline.com/
2) - Thunder was additionally used by an obscure funk-based Southern rock band from the U.S. Their 1974 self-tiled album picked up some attention but failed to break through commercially. It's hard to find information about the group, but a bit is known given how it served as a stepping stone in the career of popular Texan singer-songwriter and guitarist John Nitzinger. The 1974 album is described on Discogs.com here.
3) - Thunder is the name of a defunct Pagan Black Metal band from Poland, formed in 1994.
4) - Thunder is the name of a German heavy metal band, that released 'All I Want' in 1984.
An Englishman On Holiday
Thunder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That last slammer hit me like a car
I've got the 6a.m. Balearic blues
Can't even focus on my own tattoos
I had a fight with this German guy
I saw him give my little girl the eye
While he was trying hard to be so cool
I hit him with a stool
Oh yeah alright I'll be going all night
Gonna drink till they take me away
I'm an Englishman on holiday
Every year I get to do the same
I meet the boys and get on the plane
We like to sing and shout out 'here we go'
'Cos they're the only words that we all know
We've got the loudest shirts you've ever seen
We're gonna take the beaches like a team
We've got so much duty free to drink
Enough to float a ship
Oh yeah alright I'll be going all night
So light the paper get out of the way
I'm an Englishman on holiday
We never look for trouble at the start
But it always comes our way
We've got our pride and we just can't walk away
This morning I woke up inside a cell
They dragged me screaming out of my hotel
I don't remember what it is I did
But I've got this drummer banging in my head
I've got to get out 'fore I miss the plane
Next summer I'll be back again
I'll be fighting for the Union Jack
If they let me back
The song "An Englishman On Holiday" by Thunder is about the experience of an Englishman on his holiday in Spain. The lyrics describe the Englishman's drunken escapades, including getting into a fight with a German man, drinking too much duty-free alcohol, and waking up in a jail cell. Despite the trouble he gets into, the Englishman is determined to keep drinking and partying, and he looks forward to coming back to Spain again next year.
The opening lines of the song describe the Englishman's drunken state. He's lying down in a Spanish bar and feeling the effects of the alcohol he's been drinking. He can't even focus on his own tattoos. In the next verse, he describes getting into a fight with a German man who he saw giving his daughter "the eye." The Englishman hits the German man with a stool and is proud of himself for defending his daughter.
The chorus of the song describes the Englishman's determination to keep drinking and partying despite the trouble he gets into. He's an "Englishman on holiday," and he's going to drink "till they take me away." The final verse of the song describes the Englishman waking up in a jail cell with a "drummer banging in his head." However, he's still determined to come back to Spain and fight for the Union Jack if they let him back.
Overall, the song is a humorous and lighthearted look at the stereotypical behavior of English tourists on holiday in Spain. The lyrics poke fun at the Englishman's drunken escapades while also celebrating his pride in his country and his determination to keep partying.
Line by Line Meaning
Laying down in this Spanish bar
I am currently lying down in a bar in Spain
That last slammer hit me like a car
The last drink I had hit me hard like a car, making me feel very drunk
I've got the 6a.m. Balearic blues
I'm feeling down and depressed for no particular reason at 6 a.m. in Balearic
Can't even focus on my own tattoos
I'm so drunk I can't even focus on my own tattoos that I have on my body
I had a fight with this German guy
I got into a physical altercation with a man from Germany
I saw him give my little girl the eye
I saw him leering at my daughter in a sexual manner
While he was trying hard to be so cool
Although he was trying hard to appear cool, I noticed his bad intentions towards my daughter
I hit him with a stool
I attacked him with a stool in response to his behavior towards my daughter
Oh yeah alright I'll be going all night
I plan on continuing to party and drink heavily throughout the night
Gonna drink till they take me away
I plan on drinking until I'm so drunk that someone has to forcibly remove me
I'm an Englishman on holiday
I am an English person taking a vacation
Every year I get to do the same
Every year I get to go on vacation and do the same things with my friends
I meet the boys and get on the plane
I meet my male friends and we all fly together to our vacation destination
We like to sing and shout out 'here we go'
We enjoy singing and shouting out the phrase 'here we go'
'Cos they're the only words that we all know
We only know these words to sing and shout together
We've got the loudest shirts you've ever seen
We are all wearing extremely loud and brightly colored shirts
We're gonna take the beaches like a team
We plan on taking over the beaches together as a group
We've got so much duty free to drink
We have purchased a lot of alcohol from the duty-free store
Enough to float a ship
We have so much alcohol that we could probably float a ship if we poured it all into the ocean
So light the paper get out of the way
We are going to smoke something and telling people to get out of the way
We never look for trouble at the start
We never intentionally start trouble with others
But it always comes our way
Trouble seems to find us regardless of whether we are looking for it or not
We've got our pride and we just can't walk away
We have a lot of pride and can't back down from confrontations easily
This morning I woke up inside a cell
I woke up this morning inside a jail cell
They dragged me screaming out of my hotel
The authorities pulled me out of my hotel room while I was screaming
I don't remember what it is I did
I can't recall what I did to get arrested
But I've got this drummer banging in my head
I woke up with a headache that feels like a drummer is playing in my head
I've got to get out 'fore I miss the plane
I need to get out of jail quickly so I don't miss my flight home
Next summer I'll be back again
I plan on returning to this vacation destination next summer
I'll be fighting for the Union Jack
I will continue to represent and support my country
If they let me back
Assuming I'm allowed back into this country
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: LUKE MORLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@mikebader3863
I can’t believe I’d never heard of this band or more specifically this song until a relative from Belgium told me about it! I’m British and my god it’s relatable! I’m too old for it now but definitely a standard holiday for young lads venturing out from blighty for the first time
@eastcumbriancollector983
Proper rock n roll man ave it
@georgetempest9627
'I hit him with a stool' lmfao :oD
@janetsonlylove
seen them (thunder) live 5 times since 1990, classic band!
@tonycase971
Brilliant band. Love em.
@dopam1n3rva60
I remember buying the album when I was being "baby-sitted" by my grandparents, and then continually playing this song to my German grandfather.
@leewright6130
Haha,love it !
@christineward9844
Used to go to St Georges Hall, Bradford in the early 90's to see these guys. Love em!
@paulainsworth1886
Christine Ward I remember Rio in bfd sure I saw these guys here once what a band they where think I saw little angels there too
@butwart101
this shit is the best...we need more of it to educate the fuckin kids of today about real music and what music is about ..u fuckers rock man!!!! heard you in 89 and never looked back