Laughing On Judgement Day - Thunder

Thunder’s second album, 1992’s “Laughing on Judgement Day” showcases everything that made Thunder great. There are some wonderful up-tempo rock/pop songs, a ballad that seems to make your heart beg for mercy, and some of the band’s trademark humour. The title itself is an indication of the band’s whole attitude to life – if you’re not laughing, then you’re not living.

The album cover itself is pretty stunning. Weird, but wonderful, ...
...to represent, but this was their first album cover by Storm Thorgerson who, with a company called Hipgnosis, designed about 16 album covers for Pink Floyd, and also worked on album covers for Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Genesis. He also designed the cover for Thunder’s third album, “Behind Closed Doors”, which was the best thing about it. Hiring Storm Thorgerson was, I think, and indicator of where Thunder wanted to be, and an attempt to show ... more

Thunder’s second album, 1992’s “Laughing on Judgement Day” showcases everything that made Thunder great. There are some wonderful up-tempo rock/pop songs, a ballad that seems to make your heart beg for mercy, and some of the band’s trademark humour. The title itself is an indication of the band’s whole attitude to life – if you’re not laughing, then you’re not living.

The album cover itself is pretty stunning. Weird, but wonderful, if you like. I’m not entirely sure what it’s meant to represent, but this was their first album cover by Storm Thorgerson who, with a company called Hipgnosis, designed about 16 album covers for Pink Floyd, and also worked on album covers for Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Genesis. He also designed the cover for Thunder’s third album, “Behind Closed Doors”, which was the best thing about it. Hiring Storm Thorgerson was, I think, and indicator of where Thunder wanted to be, and an attempt to show a new found maturity, which also shows itself in their songs. Having done so well with the first album, they’ve decided that they had better take things a little more seriously.

There’s only one thing that makes this album fall slightly short of being the equal of its predecessor. After riding so far with “Backstreet Symphony”, which earned them two appearances at the famous Castle Donington Monsters of Rock festival, and numerous “Best Newcomer” and “Best Album” awards from any number of rock magazines, you get the impression that they’re maybe trying a little TOO hard with this album. The end result is some wonderfully crafted songs, but less of a feeling of all-out fun. Which is kind of ironic, given the title of the album. Even the sleeve notes aren’t as amusing as those on the first album, although the shameless sales pitch of the phrase “To enjoy this record in true stereo reproduction, our sound engineer recommends that you go out and buy another copy” will always raise a smile.

However, make no mistake about it, this is a very good album from a truly great rock band. There are any number of bands who have lived and died without producing anything nearly as good as these fourteen songs.

Incidentally, this album is special to me for one fairly unusual reason. I don’t tend to buy singles that often, preferring to wait and see what the band are like, and then spending my money on the album, or buying the album on impulse regardless. However, before this album was released, the first single “Low Life in High Places” was released as a 12”, which was then going to be the first of a four-part set, with the box available on the first single. I own three singles out of the four, and I’ve been kicking myself since 1993 that I missed the fourth. This is the only album EVER released that I own three singles from. So now you know!

“Does it Feel Like Love?”

The album starts with a mid-paced number, led in the opening verses by an acoustic guitar, much like “Until my Dying Day” from their first album, but at a quicker pace. Again like that song, it livens up during the chorus, with the rest of the band kicking in. Not the best song on the album, by any means, but a pretty agreeable start to the album.

As with much of Thunder’s material, it’s about trying to be with someone, but they’re making it difficult for you. It’s about a girl who you think is going to be ending the evening with you, or at least that’s the way it seems, but then seems reluctant to take that final step and be with you. There’s a lot of people have been there, I should imagine, but Thunder manage to put it in a way that isn’t clichéd.

“I move a little to the left/You move a little to the right/And it’s been that way all night/I’m gonna call your bluff/Baby, do you want me?/Does it feel like love?”

“Everybody Wants Her”

This is a great track. I don’t say that lightly, as I love everything about Thunder, pretty much. This was the third single from this album, and I not only have the 12” picture disc, but also a huge poster advertising it’s release that I bought a few months later. It still has pride of place on my wall.

I don’t know how many of you have heard the Dr Hook classic “When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman”. This sounds nothing like it whatsoever, but you can see where the ideas behind the two songs may have been linked. That was about being nervous about being with a gorgeous woman, in case you slip up and she leaves, or is stolen away. This song is about being so secure in your relationship with the aforementioned beautiful woman that you’re not really all that bothered how many men look at her, as she’s going to be leaving with you. Maybe this is what happens after you’ve sorted out all the problems from “Does It Feel Like Love?”

Musically speaking, this is not exactly standard Thunder, but in their best traditions, is still music at it’s best! It’s a great up-tempo pop-rock song that makes you want to sing along with the chorus at top volume. However, unusually for Thunder, this has a horn section which seems to compliment the lead guitar, rather than try to replace it. The horn players on this track are the Big Bad Horns, who played with the Little Angels for quite a long time, so they know exactly how to put horns on a rock track, and it shows! There’s also a large backing vocals accompaniment during the chorus, which didn’t work terribly well on a lot of the tracks from “Behind Closed Doors”, but does here. Quite possibly because it’s not the rest of the band providing the backing vocals!

“She’s got everything a man could ask for/She’s animal and innocence/She could wrap you round her little finger/She’s sharp as a knife, you ought to see her dance”

“Low Life in High Places”

When most bands write a song involving drugs, it tends to send a message akin to Oliver Twist – “please sir, can I have some more?” The Black Crowes song “Remedy” slips easily into my mind at this point. When Thunder do a song about drugs, the message is more like the school counsellor from “South Park” – “Drugs are bad, m’kay?”

This, the first single from this album isn’t just about drugs, more about the corruption of the society we live in. It’s about how it’s not safe to walk the streets any more. Any parent of grandparent who has ever said “in my day you could…” will understand the message here. But there’s drugs involved as well, as this is a great part of what appears to have led to the downturn in society. This song is an observation, not a plan to cure society’s ill, but is a touching indictment of our world today.

It starts in a similar fashion to the opening track, with an acoustic guitar, although this on is at a slower tempo, more of a ballad. The pace picks up a little towards the end, but this is meant to be a sad, thoughtful song, and is.

“Waiting on the corner, I saw her waiting for the man/When the limo pulled up I saw what was changing hands/I should have tried to warn her, and make her understand/There is low life in high places”

“Laughing on Judgement Day”

The title track and, for a long time now, a personal favourite of mine. This has a great message, about not pushing yourself too hard, but lightening up and enjoying life. It’s a philosophy you can see the band follow, and one I try my best to stick to as well. There’s no point working yourself into the ground while you’re alive, as you can’t take it with you, and you’ll only find it’s over too soon if you do, and that you’re missing far too much fun along the way.

It’s got a great bluesy guitar riff, which repeats throughout the verses, and the guitar work during the bridge and chorus makes you want to groove along with it. Even the solo has a bluesy tinge to it. The lyrics have Thunder’s typical humour in them, not laugh-out-loud humour as they’ve used elsewhere, but very wry and tongue in cheek. It’s a song that AC/DC might have been proud of, musically speaking, but Danny’s voice is a lot stronger and clearer than on any AC/DC record. The only complaint is that the end of the song is a little formulaic, descending into a stadium rock guitar outro, which doesn’t really keep in style with the guitar work throughout the majority of the song. It doesn’t take too much away from what’s come before it, though.

“Gonna get a heart attack/Cos he works late all the time/I swear he doesn’t know his kids/His wife thinks it’s a crime/That’s not the way for me/Taking life so seriously/When the end comes I wanna be/Laughing on judgement day”

“Empty City”

Thunder here return to a fairly familiar theme, musically as well as lyrically, as this track again starts slowly and with just a single guitar, building up to a huge middle section, before easing down towards the end.

The theme returns to the corruption of our world, and talks about how you can’t trust the places you live in, and how the world, or the city, can drag you down if you’re not careful. The city of the title is empty, as you have to barricade yourself into it, and it’s only you there.

“Build a wall around you dream/Get a gun, don’t let nobody close/Are you happy with the life that you chose?”

“Today the World Stopped Turning”

Another track with an acoustic start, again a mid-paced number, which expands into a stadium rock track as the drums and guitars come in with the second verse. The guitars are a bit rougher than on previous tracks, which seems to fit in nicely with the theme of the song.

It’s about the end of a love affair. You’re still in love with them, but they’ve just dumped you, and it feels like the world no longer exists, and you wonder why nobody else seems to be feeling the way you do, and how the world can have the audacity to keep spinning after what’s happened to you. Ever been there? I know I have, and I know exactly the feelings they’re talking about. Knowing that, at this point in their career, there were only five members of Thunder, and how many times they have written songs along this theme, you have to wonder if they are the unluckiest five men in South London! But if I could explain how I feel when I’ve been dumped this well, I’d probably be in a pretty successful band, too!

“Cos you stole my soul, then you broke my heart/And I don’t know why but I’m still yearning/Darling in my mind, you’ve frozen the hands of time/Because today the world stopped turning.”

“Long Way From Home”

This one starts with a Hammond organ intro, which is another sound you don’t tend to hear terribly often on a Thunder track. It’s another mid paced number, with just the organ and Danny’s voice over the first verse, with the guitars and the rhythm section picking up with the second verse.

It’s about returning to an old familiar place, quite possibly the town where you grew up, and finding that it’s not the way you remember, and that “your” hometown no longer belongs to you. It’s more from a perspective where you’ve almost out grown the town, having gone on to bigger and better things and coming back to find that the town has gone pretty much nowhere whilst you’ve been gone.

“The water must have flowed so fast under the bridge/I never thought I’d ever change/But I don’t feel that I belong here anymore/Like coming back to read a book, when someone’s turned the page”

“Fire to Ice”

Another end of a relationship story. This is more about the feelings involved, and an ending you might be able to see coming, rather than being presented with a fait accompli, as in “…Turning”. It’s about a relationship that has broken up before, but any differences have been resolved and it’s carried on for a little while longer. Trying to forget her, he’s trying to find solace in a bottle, and not feeling too well! Emotionally, the song is part “well, it’s all my fault, I can’t say I’m surprised you’ve gone” and part “I can’t live without you”. Another song that makes you think “yep, been there, done that.”

The song itself is typically Thunder. An up-tempo pop-rock number, although with a heavier beat that most of their songs. Danny’s voice is fairly near the top end of his range, but without him having to strain to reach it. The guitars sound a lot closer to the bass end than previously, and have kept the rough edge from “…Turning” and the beat seems almost driven along. A great track, one of the best on the album.

“Cos in times gone before, I knew you would call/But this time I don’t know/When then look in your eyes turned from fire to ice/I knew than I’d done enough to make you go”

“Feeding the Flame”

Same here with regards to the musical side of it. Another heavier number, at least by Thunder standards, although the beat is a lot slower, more mid-tempo than being driven, and Danny’s voice is again towards the top end of his range, with a couple of moments where he’s almost screaming. Which, incidentally, sounds a lot more tuneful than when Mariah Carey tries it!

It’s a song about people, possibly old friends, who turn their back on you when you make it, and then moan that you’re never in touch, and moaning about how they haven’t made it and how unfair it is, even though they never put any effort into succeeding. It’s about how all these people moaning about how “unlucky” they are drives you on to be even more successful, rather than sinking back down to their level. They’re driving you on, whilst trying to hold you back.

“Some are bitter, some will criticise/But when they’re right in your face/They can be so nice, oh no/Don’t let them drive you insane/They’re just feeding the flame”

“A Better Man”

The second single from this album, and Thunder’s biggest hit. This is the only song they’ve done that’s completely acoustic, and saw them on Top of the Pops, at Number 18 in the charts, hitting the Top 20 for the only time in their ten year career (although they did make 15 other vists to the Top 40), sitting on stools way before Westlife even thought of it or, indeed, were even thought of! It does make me a little sad that Thunder’s biggest hit was with a song that wasn’t really their usual material, especially given the wealth of great songs they had during their career. It means that Thunder join a number of great rock bands whose biggest hits were ballads, when they had a lot of great rock songs no-one seemed interested in. Extreme with “More Than Words” and Mr Big with “To Be With You” are two that come most readily to mind. It’s a bit strange, really, considering that this isn’t even Thunder’s best ballad!

The song’s about the old cliché of being with someone and them making you feel like you’re a better person. Some of the lyrics seem to be wandering into a cliché themselves, but the band have even thought of that and the song contains the line “I don’t care if it sounds like another old cliché” However, a lot of bands I like have gone through their entire careers without having a Top 5 hit in this country, and some have had to turn their back on their principles to get a hit this big (I’m thinking of Terrorvision and “Tequila” here), so I will always love this track for what it did for the band.

“And now I believe in love/I believe in love/You’re the reason why I can/Cos when I look at myself in the mirror/I see a better man, a better man”

“The Moment of Truth”

This is another fairly heavy number, by Thunder’s standards, although the vocals have come down into Danny’s range a lot more. The guitar has kept it’s rough edge, and picks up a slightly funk feel during the verses, although not as much as on some other Thunder songs on different albums.

It’s about someone who has just “woken up” and discovered that the relationship they’re in is not working to their advantage. They have come to the realisation that they have been used and abused by their partner for a long time and can’t believe that they hadn’t seen it before. But now they have freed their mind, they’ve freed themselves. It’s a happy song, as it’s a look back to what they left behind, not from inside a poor relationship.

“I’m amazed I let you do the things you did to me/But they say that love is blind/Now my ball and chain has melted away/And I feel ten feet tall today/Cos I’ve stolen back my mind”

“Flawed to Perfection”

This track again contains group backing vocals, again not done by the band. Unusually for Thunder, it starts with the chorus, with the vocals coming in before the instruments, followed by a groan from Danny, and a dirty laugh. It’s another up-tempo pop/rock song.

The song itself could almost have been written by Whitesnake, except the lyrics are far too tongue in cheek compared to what they wrote. It’s about seeing the perfect female figure, like a model out of Playboy, in real life, and the effect she has on you. There’s a chance some people could find the lyrics mildly offensive, but that probably mean they’re taking it too seriously!

“There’s a ladder in her stocking that I’d love to climb/I’m hot under the collar for the hundredth time/If the girls in California gonna make me blind/That’s alright”

“Like A Satellite”

The intro to this song is almost a reverse to a lot of the others on the album, as the whole band plays the intro, and it then goes into a single guitar and Danny’s vocals. After the first verse, the rest of the band comes back in. This is a slower number, but more of a power ballad than the simplicity of “A Better Man”. This is more like Thunder, as the power ballads have always been something they’ve done well, and this is no different, even though it does lack some of the raw emotional power of “Love Walked In” from their debut album.

The song is about a long distance relationship, and keeping it together when the two of you are miles apart. It’s about sharing an understanding that transcends space and time differences. Having spent six months in a relationship with a girl who was living in Japan at the time, I can relate to this one better than most of the songs on the album.

“In the quiet of evening I start to drift away/Imagining a place where you’ll be starting off your day/I fight the distance with a picture in my head/But I don’t know when I’ll see you/Guess I’ll have to dream instead/You’re so far away”

“Baby I’ll Be Gone”

To close the album, Thunder go back to the slightly heavier style, with a bit more bass involved, as has characterised this album. Another mid-tempo number, with Danny’s vocals towards the top end of his range again. There is a little distortion of the vocals later on in the song, which doesn’t sound like Danny at all.

It’s a song about finding out that your partner is cheating on you. It’s happened several times before, but you’ve always taken them back as, after you, you still love them. They’ve been thinking that you’ll always stay by their side, but this is one insult too far, and this time, you’re leaving.

“You say you don’t remember all the times before/When my friends were just opportunities knocking at you door/So I took it all, believing it would end/Now you’ve taken all the time I can lend”

So, this is all from Thunder’s second album. It’s a great effort, slightly heavier and more mature in outlook than their debut and somehow falls short of that album. If I were to recommend a single Thunder album to anyone, it wouldn’t be this one, but if you’re going to own a couple of their albums, this has to be in your collection. And if you enjoy decent rock music, you’ll love this! 

...less