Simon Rushworth
Thunder – Dirty Love (Morley) b/w Fired Up (Morley) (Limited Edition Shaped Pic Disc) 1990
This was the song which launched the British blues rockers as a serious chart busters and potential contenders. Out of the ashes of Terraplane rose a slick outfit quite capable of competing with America’s hair metal invasion and for a good while they did just that.
Dirty Love was still the favourite set closer for Danny, Luke and the boys as late as this year’s slew of emotionally charged farewell shows – its memorable riff and uptempo chorus bagging a top 40 spot in the UK charts and making number 55 on the US hot 100. Incredibly Thunder never charted again on the other side of the Atlantic.
This early 90s anthem actually followed She’s So Fine as the second single from the band’s debut album Backstreet Symphony but it prompted a run of 14 successive top 40 hits within six years. Thunder even bucked the trend of fellow Brit rockers falling foul of the grunge invasion to maintain an impressive media profile until their late 90s hiatus.
When the band called it a day for the second time (and, by all accounts, this time it’s for real) this summer it’s clear why tears were shed and questions asked. Having reformed ahead of 2003’s Shooting At The Sun, the irrepresible Thunder were back selling out venues and troubling the charts. But if it is all over then this brilliant track – issued here as a shaped picture disc – will go down as one of the best British rock songs ever penned.