At their peak in the mid-80s, Thompson Twins were one of the UK’s biggest synth-pop provocateurs, filling stadiums and playing Live Aid with hits like Hold Me Now and Doctor! Doctor!
The trio of Tom Bailey, Joe Leeway and Alannah Currie saw themselves as much a production company as a band, their experimentalism coming from years in London’s squat scene.
Universal themes hid more subversive content. Under Bailey’s hooky melodies, Currie’s lyrics challenged the politics of love and played with darker themes. The aesthetic spliced constructivism, surrealism, Dadaism, and gender-mashup fashion, winning many copycats.
Bailey formed the band in ’77, with Pete Dodd, John Roog, and Chris Bell, releasing two albums, A Product Of and Set, the latter featuring Leeway and Currie, before evolving into the iconic trio.
Quick Step & Side Kick, recorded in ’83 in the Bahamas with producer Alex Sadkin included hits Lies, Love on Your Side and If You Were Here. Videos featured on MTV and remixes tore up dance floors in New York and LA.
In '84 Hold Me Now from Into The Gap was their biggest US hit followed by Doctor Doctor and Sister of Mercy.
Here's To Future Days (’85) produced by Nile Rodgers spawned hits Lay Your Hands On Me and King for a Day.
After Leeway left, they released Close to the Bone (’87), Big Trash (’89) and Queer ('91), before forming trip-hop outfit Babble, releasing The Stone (’94) and Ether (’96).
Bailey continues as Tom Bailey and International Observer.
-Jenny Valentish