Song:Spirit of '76
Album:Strength 1985-1986
The Welsh group The Alarm had success in England in the 80s. They were on the second tier of the early 80s wave of groups from England led by U2. The Alarm's problem was they sounded too much like U2. The comparisons were endless. The Alarm were from Rhyl, Wales. They emerged from the late 70s punk scene. Lead singer Mike Peters led a band called The Toilets who soon became The Who cover band Quasimodo which included guitarist Dave Sharp. When the band name was changed to Seventeen, Peters' next door neighbor Eddie MacDonald was the bassist. Nigel Twist was the drummer. They released a single as Seventeen and toured with The Stray Cats. They decided to call themselves The Alarm and they moved to London in 1981. Music journalists started to take notice of them and that led to U2's manager Ian Wilson becoming The Alarm's manager. They even opened for U2 in 1981. Apparently Bono was a big The Alarm fan and they continued to tour with U2. They signed with I.R.S. Records and released a couple of EPs and toured the US. A 1983 appearance of Top of the Pops propelled Sixty Eight Guns into the British top 20. They finally released their debut album Declaration in 1984. Spirit of '76 is from the 1985 album Strength. They continued to have modest success but the comparisons to U2 probably hurt them more than Peters is willing to admit. In recent years The Alarm has released expanded editions of their albums. This 2CD edition of Strength includes demos and alternate takes. The Alarm released a total of seven albums on I.R.S. After that Peters started his own label. He left The Alarm to go solo in 1991. He eventually reformed The Alarm and still leads a version of the band today. Here's the video of Spirit of '76 by The Alarm.
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