Why Thompson Twins’ Last Top 40 Hit Wasn’t Quite the Fresh Start They Hoped For

They underwent a slew of massive changes in their time together, both in terms of sound and personnel. But Thompson Twins nonetheless turned into consistent hitmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Their commercial success started to wane as the 80s drew to a close. Thompson Twins enjoyed one more huge single in the US in 1989 on an album that gave them a new start.

From Seven to Three

Thompson Twins began their career by trying many of the same post-punk moves that other British bands were making in the early 80s. They quickly realized that they probably weren’t going anywhere in that vein. As a result, they made a decision to focus on synthesizers starting with their third album in 1983.

Along with that decision came huge turnover. They axed four of the seven band members. All that was left behind were Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Joe Leeway. As soon as they made this move, the hits started coming fast in both the UK and the US.

As a matter of fact, the band hit the pop Top 10 in America three times between 1983 and 1985. Albums like Into The Gap and Here’s To Future Days featured deep rosters of singles. The band’s approach, which featured bold production swings alongside sturdy melodic hooks, seemed unstoppable. Until it wasn’t.

New Label, Big Budget

Perhaps the first sign that the status quo for the band wasn’t holding up was the departure of Joe Leeway. His differences with Bailey and Currie proved too much. He left before the making of the 1987 album Close To The Bone.

That album dropped off dramatically in terms of sales. Single “Get That Love” barely cracked the Top 40 in America. After such a hot stretch not long before, Thompson Twins lost their record deal with Arista in a hurry.

But they didn’t stay down very long. Warner Bros. picked them up and provided them with a beefy budget for the 1989 album Big Trash. Thompson and Currie went back to their go-for-broke production aesthetic and aimed for the dance floor with their rhythms. Lead single “Sugar Daddy” put them right back on US radio.

Sure as “Sugar”

“Sugar Daddy”, much like many of Thompson Twins, hides deeper lyrical meaning away in those monster hooks. The words are somewhat dark in their description of relationships, far from what you’d expect from a typical hit single. But the catchiness of the music rode roughshod over such concerns.

Alas, album sales for Big Trash didn’t match the success of the single, which topped out at No. 28 in America. Still, Bailey and Currie thought they had some artistic momentum heading into their follow-up album, Queer, in 1991. As it turned out, that didn’t translate into artistic success.

And that was the last of Thompson Twins, at least from an album-recording standpoint. Thompson and Currie, by then a married couple, started up the band Babble. They released a pair of albums, none of which came anywhere near the commercial peaks of the former incarnation.

(Photo by Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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