Edgy DC Sep 12 2007 11:25 AM
Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Sep 13 2007 07:15 AM
In the interest of cancelling out my selection-heavy previous polls I want to visit the limited but interesting catalog of the Alarm. The band's run was pretty parallel to the Hooters, and similarly peppered with accusations of derivativeness. First they were strident and confrontational and sounded like a cross between the Clash and the Jam. (After seeing them open for the Pretenders in 1984, I wrote a fake Alarm song called "Fighting with a Stick.") Then they were mystical and redmeptevie and ended up sounding like U2 meets Simple Minds. There were some Springsteen comparisons in there also.
By the time they hit their stride and found a sound uniquely their own, their moment was passing. Hair bands weren't the only victims of Nirvana. In 1991, Mike Peters announced on-stage at the Brixton Academy that he was leaving. The band soldiered on, but not for long.
But VH-1 happy ending happen, and they're now touring and churning the oldies out.
If there was a Band Aid-type band representing Wales, the Alarm would be the heart of it, along with Dave Edmunds and Tom Jones. Mary Hopkin and Catherine Zeta-Jones, too, I guess.
Oh, right, half of U2 is Welsh-born. This band is looking pretty good.
Mike Peters and drummer Nigel Twist were in several punk bands before settling on the lineup and name you know and love. It evolved this way.
1) The Toilets 2) Quasimodo (featuring Karl Wallinger of the Waterboys and World Party) 3) Chuck Burial & The Embalmed 4) Seventeen 5) Alarm Alarm 6) The Alarm
Now you know them like your brothers, and it's time to choose your poison. Try and get past the hair.
1) "Blaze Of Glory"
2) "Rain In The Summertime" ("Top of the Pops," yo.)
3) "Rescue Me" (No video available; this is the best of the live clips.)
4) "Sold Me Down The River" (Same show. Turn it up.)
5) "The Stand" (Most of the video is excerpted in the the final third of the this interview clip.)
6) "Sixty Eight Guns"
7) "Spirit Of '76" (An actual promotional video.)
8) "Strength" (Live but high-quality.)
TransMonk Sep 12 2007 11:36 AM
Saw the original video for "The Stand" on VH1 Classic the other night. I thought they might end up in one of these polls sooner or later.
seawolf17 Sep 12 2007 11:52 AM
Who?
Johnny Dickshot Sep 12 2007 12:02 PM
Back in 82 or 83 (?) I'd have bet on these fellas being bigger than U2. And where U2 had a guitarist with a idiotic pseudonym, the Alarm had a drummer called "Twist."
Perhaps Twist, Sting and Edge ought to form a trio.
I had their debut EP which was like getting shot in the face with bullets of energy. Every song was like kill-or-be-killed. It helped that my friends and I were all nuts about Stephen King then and "The Stand" seemed inspired by the book. That association blew us all away.
I guess maybe after awhile they just couldn't keep that frenzy up or when they did it got cheesy or something. But for a short while there when someone would be like" you and what army?" I be like, "this one, asshole!"
Zvon Sep 12 2007 12:15 PM
="Johnny Dickshot"]...my friends and I were all nuts about Stephen King then and "The Stand" seemed inspired by the book. That association blew us all away.
I really have to take more time to read this board.
This was easy--Rain in the Summertime.
J.D.--The Stand is one of my top fav books of all time.
PS: Go find Nine Princes In Amber - Roger Zelazny and start reading the Amber series. Dont judge this book by its cover.
HahnSolo Sep 12 2007 12:18 PM
Mrs. Hahn absolutely loooooooves The Alarm. She saw them at the Beacon a couple of times back in the day.
Me? I always thought Strength was pretty good, and liked Rain in the Summertime. However, about a year ago while adding tracks from her Alarm Greatest Hits CD, I really started to rock to Rescue Me.
So my vote goes to Rescue Me.
Edgy DC Sep 12 2007 12:18 PM
See, I liked them better a little cheesy. The absolute lack of perspective of someone who compares a romantic disappointment to being s'old down the river" --- the term slaves used when house domestics were sold became plantation workers --- was just so outrageous I had to pat them on the back.
Edgy DC Sep 13 2007 07:22 AM
Alarming news!
The Peters' Family BBC Documentary: 19th September 19.30pm BBC2W
The Peters' Family BBC Documentary: 19th September 19.30pm BBC2W (BBC2W can be viewed on Sky Satellite throughout the UK).
Following on from the successful transmission of the original BBC documentary 'The Road to Recovery' last year (which followed the Peters family throughout 2006) this follow-up documentary continues with the birth of Evan ap Michael in January 2007 and Snowdon Rocks. The original re-edited documentary is also shown. The documentary shows a fascinating insight into the family's difficult journey through cancer and infertility into the Summer of 2007.
Transmission date 19/9/07 at 19.30pm - (times subject to change due to Rugby so please check TV times on the day).
MPO Team Alarm Information Service Tel: 011 44 (0)1745 571571 Fax: 011 44 (0)1745 571577 Email mpo@alarmpo.demon.co.uk
www.thealarm.com
PO Box 709, Prestatyn, Denbighshire, LL19 9YR, Wales, UK
Willets Point Sep 13 2007 08:15 AM
The more obscure the bands are the less I participate in these polls.
Edgy DC Sep 13 2007 08:39 AM
I appreciate the game being played out, but The Alarm = not obscure. These songs were heavily rotated on a radio station near you.
Year
Title
Chart Positions
Album
US Billboard Hot 100
US Mainstream Rock
US Modern Rock
UK Singles
1981
"Unsafe Building/Up for Murder"
-
-
-
-
Non-album single
1983
"The Stand/Third Light"
-
#1
#1
#86
Declaration
1983
"68 Guns/68 Guns Part 2/Thoughts of a Young Man"
-
-
-
#17
Declaration
1984
"Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke?/Pavilion Steps/What Kind of Hell (Live)"
-
-
-
#22
Declaration
1984
"The Deceiver/Reason 41/Second Generation"
-
-
-
#51
Declaration
1984
"The Chant Has Just Begun/The Bells of Rhymney/The Stand (Full version)/Bound for Glory"
-
-
-
#48
Non-album single
1985
"Absolute Reality/Reason 36/Blaze of Glory (Alternate version)/Room at the Top"
-
-
-
#35
Strength
1985
"Strength/Majority"
#61
#2
#4
#40
Strength
1986
"Spirit of '76/Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke (Live)/Knocking On Heaven's Door (Live)/Deeside (Live)/68 Guns (Live)"
"Rain in the Summertime/Rose Beyond The Wall/The Bells of Rhymney (Live)/Time to Believe"
#71
#6
-
#18
Eye of the Hurricane
1987
"Rescue Me/Pastures of Plenty/Elders and Folklore/My Land Your Land"
-
#35
-
#48
Eye of the Hurricane
1988
"Presence of Love/Strength (Live)/Dawn Chorus (Live)/Knife Edge (Live)"
#77
#16
-
#44
Eye of the Hurricane
1989
"Sold Me Down the River/Corridors Of Power/Firing Line"
#50
#2
#3
#43
Change
1989
"Devolution Workin' Man Blues"
-
#9
#11
Not released in the UK
Change
1989
"A New South Wales/The Rock"
-
-
-
#31
Change
1990
"Love Don't Come Easy"
-
#33
-
#48
Change
1990
"Unsafe Building 1990/Up For Murder 1990"
-
-
-
#54
Standards
1990
"The Road"
-
#16
#7
Not released in the UK
Standards
1991
"Raw"
-
-
#15
#51
Raw
2004
"45RPM" (credited to The Poppyfields)
-
-
-
#28
In the Poppyfields
2004
"New Home New Life"
-
-
-
#45
In the Poppyfields
2006
"Superchannel"
-
-
-
#23
Under Attack
Edgy DC Sep 20 2007 07:21 AM
Alarming fact of the day. In 2004, a group of teenagers called The Poppyfields released a punk single called "[url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B0001AUAP4/ref=pd_krex_dp_001_003/002-0173906-8445670?ie=UTF8&track=003&disc=001]45 RPM[/url]." It received a lot of airplay, with a video in heavy rotation in Britain.
When it hit the charts and they started getting booking inquiries, only then did they pull off their metaphorical masks and say, "Surprise, suckers, we're the Alarm and we're old and you like us anyway. They got a new lease on life and the youth-obsessed music industry got a brief comeuppance.
Edgy DC Sep 27 2007 10:43 AM
Alarming fact of the day.
After decades of declining use of the Welsh language within Wales, The Alarm released their 1989 album Change in a simultaneous alternative Welsh lanuguage version called Newid and their 1991 album Raw additionally as Tån. Welsh has since enjoyed something of a usage revival in the public life of Welshmen and Welshwomen.
Johnny Dickshot Sep 27 2007 10:49 AM
Still neeed a tiebreaker here
metirish Sep 27 2007 10:58 AM
I'm voting, meant to a while ago.
Edgy DC Sep 27 2007 12:02 PM
We have a winner!
Edgy DC Oct 04 2007 07:44 AM
Tearful note of the day, verbatim from the TfF wikipedia entry:
Derivation of band name The band's name is derived from the Primal therapy treatment of the same name developed by Arthur Janov, which was made famous after John Lennon became Janov's patient. While undergoing primal therapy, a patient is encouraged to "re-experience" his early, dramatic emotional states (even perinatal ones), including screaming like an infant, hence the expression "tears for fears". Orzabal tried primal therapy in the early 1980s, although Smith never did, and neither returned to the treatment after that time.
In a 2004 interview with VH1 UK, Orzabal and Smith said that when they finally met Janov in the mid-80s, they were disillusioned to find that he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical about primal therapy.
