The Alarm

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Rhyl, Wales (1978 – 1991, 2001 – present)

The Alarm is an alternative rock band which formed in 1978 in Rhyl, Wales. For most of their career the band consisted of Mike Peters (vocals, guitar), Dave Sharp (guitar), Eddie Macdonald (bass) and Nigel Twist (drums). The band split in 1991, but reunited in 2001.

The band began in 1978 in the North-Wales town of Rhyl, under the name of ‘Seventeen’. Its 4 members were Mike Peters, Dave Sharp, Eddie Macdonald and Nigel Twist. They knocked around the music scene for a while with little success and reformed as ‘Alarm Alarm’ (taken from one of Seventeen’s songs) in 1981. Then revered BBC DJ John Peel compared them to Duran Duran and Talk Talk and they quickly changed their name to ‘The Alarm’. With the change of their name, came a change of location. The Alarm moved to London and shared a small flat in the city to save money for their first single, ‘

Unsafe Building’ b/w ‘Up For Murder’. They came to the attention of U2 in ‘82 and toured with them as their support band (they frequently reprised that role). In 1983, ‘Sixty-eight Guns’ was released. It became their biggest hit, propelling them to #17 in the charts, and they appeared on Top of The Pops for the first and last time. Throughout the decade, the band made more albums, including ‘Strength’ and ‘Eye Of The Hurricane’; but by the late 80’s The Alarm had begun to drift apart, with Dave Sharp feeling isolated and left out of the song writing process. The relationships within the band were deteriorating. Their last album, ‘Raw’, was fragmented and the group were breaking apart. On June 30th 1991 at the Brixton Academy, Mike Peters announced on stage that he was leaving ‘The Alarm’ without telling the rest of the band. And thus The Alarm ended.

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Top Tracks

1	Rain In The Summertime	94
2	Sixty Eight Guns	75
3	Strength	42
4	Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?	38
5	Blaze Of Glory	31
6	The Stand	30
7	Spirit Of '76	28
8	Marching On	27
8	Absolute Reality	27
10	Rescue Me	24
11	68 Guns	23
12	Sold Me Down The River	18
13	Unsafe Building	17
13	Walk Forever By My Side	17
15	Declaration	14

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prominence_la

U2? That's just silly. Reminds me more of the Skids or New Model Army. Solid band, with plenty of gusto.

last month
Jpnylonmag

Hate the U2 comparisons, these guys are sooo much better! (2)

October 2011
BadKittyRocks

<3 LIFE IZ CRUEL & SO UNKIND <3 OH OH <3 WHERE'S IT GONE <3 THE SPIRIT OF '76 <3

July 2011
trad-goth

The eye of the Hurricane is one hell of a fine album the best thing to come out of rhyl (wales) ever :P

May 2011
KurtBell

These lot were funking great last night in Whitehaven!

May 2011
heres_mez

Ironic that Mike Peters actually taught the edge some chords when The Alarm were supporting u2 !!

May 2011
glsjawtomatica

To think these guys are playing bars while U2 (who blow imo) are playing stadiums is a travesty.

April 2011
Mod7Psyche

they are't german.from wales,metal,punk.

December 2010
wildflowersmr

Hate the U2 comparisons, these guys are sooo much better!

July 2010
diezeitgeist

It still eludes me how few plays this band has...

June 2010
jfon605

"Guilty pleasures"? It really is unbelievable how nearly every 80s pop/rock band winds up with this tag. I have to wonder what these pretentious morons listen to that they consider more so much more "legitimate" in comparison.

June 2010
MajorTomNbg

Very british, sorry very goody welsh. Great Band.

January 2010
IonaEnglish

my mum dated David for god ages lol, didn't think i'd find them on here

November 2009
ashdinosaur

Mike Peters is a really lovely guy :)

October 2009
inmate1571

Saw them in '84' when i was 15 travelled to Rhyl from Birmingham and they put on a great show, always puzzles me how many great tunes they've had but how underrated they still are.

June 2009
niall2910

Best Alarm song ' Absolute Reality ' & maybe The Rock .

May 2009
queenie_sweet

iiii met mike peters in november <3 it was a week before my birthday and i was loving it! what a nice guy. love the alarm, best band to ever come out of wales lol.

April 2009
briantravis

Great effing group here!

April 2009
Richey_James

Post-Punk Society

January 2009
shaunneary

Seeing as i couldn't find an event listing for Gathering 17, i created this, so if you're going, add it to your calender. Enjoy. http://www.last.fm/event/890666

January 2009