Songoftheday 11/19/12 - You told me you love me so I don't understand, why promises are snapped in two and words are made to bend...

Thompson Twins - "Lies"
from the album Side Kicks (US) or Quick Step & Side Kick (UK) (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 5

Today's Song of the Day is by the British alt-pop band Thompson Twins, who are neither Thompson or twin. In fact, the group started out as a five-piece under singer/bassist Tom Bailey (the red-haired rat-tailed one), and named for characters in the Belgian comic series Tintin. After a minor personnel shift making former roadie Joe Leeway (the black mushroom-haired one) part of the group, they released their first album, A Product Of...(Participation) in 1981. It didn't really do much, and after some more departures, and the addition of Alannah Currie as a member (the blond mohawk frizzled one), they released Set, which broke them in the American clubs with the song "In The Name Of Love", which went to #1 on the dance chart in 1982 for five weeks (the US version of the album was named for this song). However, the single flopped in the UK, and the album did a middling business, peaking at #48.

By then the only "Thompson Twins" left were Bailey, Leeway, and Currie, who went back and recorded their third album, Side Kick (Quick Step & Side Kick in the UK). Thomas Dolby of future "She Blinded Me With Science" fame did some of the keyboards, and Bailey produced their album, and the first single, written by the trio, "Lies", broke them on US and British pop radio....

"Lies" stayed in the top-40 for over a month, and again topped the dance chart for two weeks. It also was a minor hit in their homeland, reaching #67 and setting them up for biggest success down the road (their following two singles made the UK top-10). The song also was a top-10 hit in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Side Kicks album did pretty well in the States, making it to #34...

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


...here's the band in 1983 performing the song live...

Up tomorrow: A Traveling Wilbury has second thoughts.