Thunder could score first number one 28 years after being pipped by Kylie
The band said their chart success was driven by ‘fan power’.
Veteran rockers Thunder could score their first number one album – nearly 30 years after being beaten to the prize by Kylie Minogue.
The London band’s 13th album All The Right Noises this week lags just behind Evering Road by 25-year-old singer-songwriter Tom Grennan, according to the Official Charts Company.
Guitarist and chief songwriter Luke Morley said it would be “funny” if Thunder hit number one, but added: “If chart positions were massively important to us, we would have given up years ago.”
Thunder made an impact in the 1990s with hard rock hits such as Love Walked In, A Better Man and In A Broken Dream, at a time when the mainstream was dominated by Britpop acts such as Oasis and Blur.
But their most commercially successful record, 1992’s Laughing On Judgement Day, was kept off the top spot by a greatest hits compilation of Minogue’s music.
Speaking about their second chance at a number one, Morley told the PA news agency: “It is amazing that we are battling with those people really because if you look at streaming, mainstream radio, they are acts that get way more exposure than us.
“We don’t particularly get any in those areas. Our chart position is based purely on fan power and that is a wonderful thing.”
The rocker said the group had been propelled up the charts by their long-standing fan base.
“Thirty years is a long time in this industry and we have a lot of very dedicated, committed fans,” he said.
“And thank God, because they have seen us through various different musical trends and changes. The industry has changed so much since we started.
“It is wonderful that that popularity enables us to make a living and the demand still seems to be increasing if anything, which is remarkable at this stage of our career.
“If occasionally it trundles up the chart and people see it then great. Like I say, I think it is quite amusing.”
Despite their clash in the 1990s, Morley said the band harboured no hard feelings for Minogue.
He said: “She does what she does very well and good luck to her.
“She has been around for, oh my God, the same amount of time as we have.”
All The Right Noises is out now on BMG.
