Thunder and Anna!

Once upon a time about 1990, a CD called Back Street Symphony, by a British band called Thunder, showed up in the collection of my best friend Charles. “What’s this?” I asked, holding it up.

“Oh, man. Check this out.” He reached for it to put it in.

Charles has always been a pretty understated fellow. He didn’t, and doesn’t, often show significant emotion toward any pop culture, so for him to put it in excited terms meant it was hitting him pretty hard. (Shown is the original album cover, not the far more common re-released cover, and Charles was quick and proud to inform you that he had the original, conclusively demonstrating that he was in on these guys far before your much less hip slacker ass was.)

It didn’t take long for me to hear why. Back Street Symphony is a masterpiece of melodic hard rock. It’s relentless guitars, hitting you with equal parts tune and crunch; it’s production that’s clean, but stops short of sterilizing; it’s lyrics that are fun but never ridiculous. (That was a tough balance to find in hard rock in 1990.)

It was one of the most played discs either of us ever owned. (I’ll still listen to it straight through today, actually.) So in 1992, we gobbled up the follow-up Laughing on Judgement Day. Unfortunately, it was too late; the grunge juggernaut was beginning to steamroll everything by then.

Even if they’d hit at a more opportune time, like 1987-88, Thunder would have needed a little luck, because they weren’t pretty. But with Nirvana and Pearl Jam carpet-bombing the musical landscape, it was quite hopeless. It was over for Thunder in the United States. The third album, Behind Closed Doors, wasn’t released in the U.S. I still wanted it.

Now this is a trivial problem on today’s Web, but it was a bit of a challenge in 1995. What to do? I asked my friend Anna to help me. I knew her from alt.music.lyrics, and she lived in London. I’d send her some money, she could buy the CD for me, and ship it to me. I asked her, and she graciously agreed, and that’s how I came to own Behind Closed Doors.

Anna is one of my first online friends, and I am one of hers. It’s hard for me to believe, but we’ve been in (at least semi-) regular contact for almost 14 years. She’s intelligent, witty, and kind.

And wow, what a total babe. For one thing, take a look at her. For another, you know how she makes a living? Video games. She’s a talented game designer, and now she’s moved into the public relations side of the business. (She’s a bit of an industry celebrity, actually, though she’d wave her hand, roll her eyes, and laugh such a “preposterous” charge off.) In her spare time, she enjoys fast cars and rock ‘n’ roll. Yeah, she’s real. (I think.) Sometimes it really is one of the Beautiful People on the other keyboard.

Anna, here’s to you. I’m glad we’ve stayed connected.

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