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Thompson Twins were a British pop band that formed in April 1977. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity from 1983, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States, and around the world. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, to reflect their change in music from new wave to dub-influenced chill-out. They continued as Babble to 1996, at which point the group permanently dissolved.

The band was named after the two bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson in Hergé's comic strip The Adventures of Tintin. At various stages, the band had up to seven members, but their most known incarnation was as a trio between 1982 and 1986. They became a prominent act in the US during the Second British Invasion, and in 1985, the band performed at Live Aid, where they were joined onstage by Madonna.

Career[]

Early days[]

In 1977, the original Thompson Twins line-up consisted of Tom Bailey (born 18 January 1956, Halifax, Yorkshire) on bass and vocals, Pete Dodd on guitar and vocals, John Roog on guitar, and Jon Podgorski (known as "Pod") on drums. Dodd and Roog first met when they were both 13 years old.

Arriving in London with very little money, they lived as squatters in Lillieshall Road, London. Future Thompson Twins member Alannah Currie (born 20 September 1957, Auckland, New Zealand) lived in another squat in the same street, which is how she met Bailey. It was in this ramshackle and run-down house that they found an illegal way of "borrowing" electricity from the house next door. Bailey described themselves laughingly as spongers back then, as they were living on very little and scavenging everything they could lay their hands on. He even said that the only instruments they had were bought, or had been stolen or borrowed. Dodd managed to get a council flat (public housing) not far away. Their roadie at that time was John Hade, who lived in the same house, and who later became their manager.

As Podgorski had decided to stay in the north, the group auditioned for drummers at the Point Studio in Victoria, London. Andrew Edge joined them on drums for 18 months, and went on to join Savage Progress, who later toured with the Thompson Twins as their support act on the 1984 UK tour.

In 1980, the band (now consisting of Bailey, Dodd, Roog and drummer Chris Bell, who had replaced Edge the previous year) released their first single, "Squares and Triangles", on their own Dirty Discs label. A follow-up single, "She's In Love With Mystery", was issued later that year.

Line-up changes[]

In 1981, the line-up became Bailey, Dodd, Roog, Bell and two new members: former band roadie Joe Leeway on congas and percussion, and Jane Shorter on saxophone. This line-up recorded the first Thompson Twins album A Product of ... (Participation), documented in the film, Listen to London (1981). Currie, who had been associated with the band for a few years, played and sang on the first album, but was not yet a full member.

After the first album, the band's line-up shifted yet again. Saxophonist Jane Shorter left and was replaced by Currie (who also played percussion), and bassist Matthew Seligman, a former member of The Soft Boys and The Fallout Club, joined; leaving Bailey to switch to keyboards and with Leeway starting to handle vocals on some tracks.

The band signed to Arista Records and released the album Set. Thomas Dolby played some keyboards on Set and some live gigs, as Bailey had little experience with synthesizers before then. Set contained the single "In the Name of Love", sung and largely written by Bailey. It became a No. 1 dance club hit in the US, and an album entitled In the Name of Love (consisting mainly of tracks from Set, with two others from A Product Of... (Participation)) was released in the US to capitalize on the song's popularity. It entered the US Billboard 200.

Trio[]

After the success of "In the Name of Love", Bailey, Currie and Leeway, wanting to pursue the single's different sound, toyed with the idea of starting a new band on the side, which they planned to call 'The Bermuda Triangle'. When "In The Name Of Love" (and the parent album Set) failed to make a substantial impact in the UK record charts, this plan was abandoned. However, at the same time, manager Hade convinced Bailey, Leeway and Currie to downsize the Thompson Twins to a core of the three in April 1982. Accordingly, the other four members of the band were notified that the band was breaking up; they were each paid £500 and were allowed to keep their instruments and equipment in exchange for an understanding not to perform together under the name "Thompson Twins".

The remaining Thompson Twins, who had not in fact "broken up", decided to go abroad to free themselves of any UK influence, as well as to combine the songwriting for their first album as a trio with a long holiday. They first went to Egypt and then to the Bahamas where they recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau with the producer Alex Sadkin.

Bailey commented on the band's reduction to a trio in a 1983 interview: "When we reformed the band, we were making a statement. We weren't going to be a rock 'n' roll band, we weren't going to have a guitar. We were going to move on. You know, Lou Reed said whenever he played live he ended up going back to heroin music. There are old associations, associations we don't want because they don't reflect the way we feel today. ... Right now, technology is what's important, and that's what our music tries to reflect."

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