BOOM CRASH OPERA

Almost from its inception in 1985, Boom Crash Opera was the subject of competition between major record companies in a bid to snare the band. Boom Crash Opera eventually signed to WEA with immediate results. 

Pete Farnan and Richard Pleasance formed Boom Crash Opera in Melbourne with Peter Maslen, Greg O'Connor and newcomer Dale Ryder. Ryder became a pin-up idol, and it seemed Boom Crash Opera would become a case of contrived form over substance. 
The band's first two exuberant singles, 'Great Wall'/'Caught Between Two Towns' (#7 in May 1986) and 'Hands Up In The Air'/'Leave' (#11 in August) put paid to that when each hit the national Top 20. The singles established the hallmarks of the Boom Crash Opera sound: the tight, funky rock of the music, the boom-like crack of the drums and the work song chant of the vocals. 
American Alex Sadkin (Grace Jones, James Brown, Simply Red, Talking Heads) produced the band's eponymous debut album, which came out in September 1987. 'City Flat'/'Spirit Of Progress' (July 1987), 'Her Charity'/'Face That I'm Living In' (September) and 'Love Me To Death'/'Bombshell' (February 1988) were minor hits, while the album peaked at #17 nationally in November. 

These Here Are Crazy Times (October 1989) reached #7 on the national chart in November, and yielded the monster hits 'Onion Skin'/'Rocks In My Head' (#11 in August), 'Get Out Of The House'/'Thinking In Slow Motion' (#24 in October) and 'The Best Thing'/'Flying A Kite In The Rain' (December). Look! Listen! featured the jubilant 'Dancing In The Storm' (#21 in May 1990) and 'Talk About It' (#35 in July). Two of their hit singles even made it onto the soundtracks of International film releases. 'Dancing In The Storm' featured in the well-known movies 'Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead' and 'The Big Steal', and 'The Best Thing', also featured in 'Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead'. 'Onion Skin' also hit number 5 in the US charts.