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.
Fired Up
Thunder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A backstreet beauty queen
She was standing at 11th and 46th
Like a second hand sex machine.
She got me fired up
Then she tried to make a deal with me
I was really fired up
Oh!
In a basement bar in broadway
You can watch the well played scene
All the lonely hearts, sitting at the bar
In a five dollar fantasy.
Let me get it fired up
See her messing on the stage at seventeen
Ooh you know what I mean
Then we get it fired up
It's the kind of night out that you don't see where you've been.
Mm you wanna get fired up.
Gotta gotta get fired up
You know you can't get enough!
You wanna do it like you're in a dirty movie,
You play the game but you never ask her name,
Waaaaaaaawh!
Walking the streets in the dead of night
You can try, you can buy right on the reel
They got love for sale,
Been going on since time began
A pretty lady waiting for a lonely man
And she can go on and get him fired up.
Well her dress was tall and dirty,
A backstreet beauty queen,
She was standing at 11th and 46th
Like a second hand sex machine.
She got me fired up
Then she tried to make a deal with me
Ooh you know she tried to take me
I was really fired up
Oh then she told me how good it would be
Woah-oh!
[Fade] Mm you wanna get fired up
Gotta gotta gotta get fired up
Mmm-mm-mm-mmm
You know you can't get enough
The lyrics of Thunder's song "Fired Up" tell the story of a man who is enticed by a woman who is standing on a street corner, dressed provocatively and looking like a "second hand sex machine." The man becomes "fired up" and is willing to make a deal with her. The chorus repeats the phrase "fired up," emphasizing the man's excitement and arousal. The song then transitions to a different setting, a basement bar on Broadway, where the man and his date watch the "well played scene" of lonely hearts sitting at the bar, engaging in five dollar fantasies. The lyrics then go on to describe a world where love is for sale and pretty women wait for lonely men. Throughout the song, the theme of sex and arousal is emphasized, creating a mood of excitement and danger.
The lyrics of "Fired Up" convey a sense of desperation and danger, reflecting the seedy world of prostitution and sex for sale. The woman is characterized as a "backstreet beauty queen" and a "second hand sex machine," emphasizing her objectification and lack of agency. The man is portrayed as a willing participant in this world of transactional sex, emphasizing his own objectification and loss of control. The song creates a mood of sexual danger and excitement, while also reflecting on the darker side of human desire.
Line by Line Meaning
Well her dress was tall and dirty,
Her dress was long and filled with dirt,
A backstreet beauty queen
She was a beautiful lady who stays away from the main roads
She was standing at 11th and 46th
She was standing at the corner of 11th and 46th street
Like a second hand sex machine.
She appeared to be a used and worn out sexual partner
She got me fired up
She made me feel excited and aroused
Then she tried to make a deal with me
She then offered some sort of deal to me
I was really fired up
I was truly enthusiastic and passionate
Then she told me how good it would be
She then explained to me how pleasurable it would be
In a basement bar in broadway
At a smoky bar located in the underground level of Broadway
You can watch the well played scene
You can observe the stage production performed by skilled actors
All the lonely hearts, sitting at the bar
All the people looking for love, sitting at the counter
In a five dollar fantasy.
They indulge in a romantic illusion that costs only five dollars
Let me get it fired up
Let me get excited and passionate
See her messing on the stage at seventeen
Watching her perform on stage when she was only seventeen years old
Ooh you know what I mean
Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about
It's the kind of night out that you don't see where you've been.
It's a night that's so wild and crazy, you can't even remember where you've been
Mm you wanna get fired up.
You desire to be excited and passionate
Gotta gotta get fired up
I really need to get excited and passionate
You wanna do it like you're in a dirty movie,
You desire to engage in sexual activity like you're in a raunchy film
You play the game but you never ask her name,
You engage in sexual activity but never learn her name
Walking the streets in the dead of night
Strolling the streets late at night
You can try, you can buy right on the reel
You can attempt to purchase sexual services discretely on the street
They got love for sale,
They offer sexual services for payment
Been going on since time began
The sale of sexual services has been happening for ages
A pretty lady waiting for a lonely man
A beautiful woman waiting for a man in need of company
And she can go on and get him fired up.
She can then arouse and excite him
Mm you wanna get fired up
You desire to be excited and passionate
Gotta gotta gotta get fired up
You have a strong need to be excited and passionate
Mmm-mm-mm-mmm
Sounds that represent excitement and arousal
You know you can't get enough
You know you always crave more of that excitement and passion
Contributed by Kaylee M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.