The Alarm 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 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, '
1 | Shout To The Devil | Declaration |
2 | Strength | Standards |
3 | How The Mighty Fall | Change |
4 | One Step Closer To Home | The Eye Of The Hurricane |
5 | Third Light | Declaration |
6 | Permanence Of Change | The Eye Of The Hurricane |
7 | Declaration | Declaration |
8 | Unsafe Building | Standards |
9 | Shelter | The Eye Of The Hurricane |
10 | Blaze Of Glory | Standards |
11 | The Stand | Standards |
12 | Blaze Of Glory | Declaration |
13 | Black Sun | Change |
14 | Absolute Reality | Standards |
15 | Rain In The Summertime | Standards |
16 | Rescue Me | The Eye Of The Hurricane |
17 | Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke? | Declaration |
18 | Spirit Of '76 | Standards |
19 | Marching On | Standards |
20 | Love Don't Come Easy | Change |