“Big Bad Noise” was released in 1988. 

They had a break through with their self-titled debut in 1983 and then vocalist Mark Gable’s vocal cords ruptured and the band were in hiatus during 1984 and 1985, waiting for Gable to recover. The momentum gained was lost but it also gave the band time to write a lot of songs. 

Guitarist Brad Carr left the band, to be replaced by Brett Williams as they supported Bon Jovi on their 87 Aussie tour but his song contributions would live on forever.  

The single “Run To Paradise” (written by Gable and Carr) came out in December 1987.

And the song revived the pub rock movement just as it was dying. Suddenly DJ’s were out and live bands were in again. This lasted for another 5 or so years and the movement started to die off again.

For me, I couldn’t resist the A, E, D, E chord progression. 

Then the album dropped in February 1988 and by then the band had a lot of momentum. The Jovi September 87 shows went into the “Run To Paradise” single release in the December summer and now the album.

“Struggle Town” captured the regional areas as these thriving cities of the past, struggled to survive in the 80’s when the work went away. And no one wanted to go back to Struggle Town, but in the end we never really left it, living from pay to pay.

“Boys Will Be Boys” is up next. I guess we don’t have a choice, boys will be boys, and get up to fighting and what not.

Then you have tracks like “Guilty” and “Like Fire” which won’t set the charts alight, but that AC/DC like vibe in the intro/verses rocks hard and the choruses are melodic and catchy.

“Big Bad Noise” sounds like it came from a Def Leppard album.

And the rest of the album just rolls along while beers get downed, with “Fireworks”, “Gasoline” and the perfect summer cut, “One Hot Day”.

And this album gave them a three year victory lap. “Midnight Sun” came out in 1991 and it was rockier and better, but commercially it didn’t do the same business as “Big Bad Noise”. More band members came and went, with vocalist and guitarist Mark Gable and bassist Ian Hulme the mainstays from 1979 to the current day.