Thunderbugs - Delicious (2000)

Thunderbugs were a British girl-pop band comprising Jane Vaughan on lead vocals, Stef Maillard on bass and backing vocals, Nicky Shaw on drums and backing vocals, and Brigitta Jansen on guitar, and in 1999 they were the latest project of Sony Music (through Epic), who were in the process of funnelling a shedload of cash into the band. This was the second all girl group who played their own instruments that they'd launched that year, and as Hepburn had had two top twenty hits under their belt, Sony were hoping for even greater success with Thunderbugs. Whilst Hepburn's slightly whiny and grungy music fitted well with the Buffy soundtrack it appeared on, in contrast Thunderbugs seemed to be a more traditional pop act, with the first single 'Friends Forever' being a happy, breezy affair. They were a multi-national collective, with a British lead singer and drummer, and a continental element in their French bass player and German guitarist, and after 18 months of pre-chart grooming by First Avenue Management they should have been a huge success. In August 1999 it was 'Thunderbugs Are Go!', as the costly TV advert said, to launch 'Friends Forever' and to preview the upcoming debut album 'Delicious'. It seemed to work, as 'Friends Forever' crashed into the UK top 5, but the follow-up was the slower, but still jaunty 'It's About Time You Were Mine', and while not as instant and powerful a tune as 'Friends Forever', it was a reasonable choice for the next single. In 1999 there had been a pop explosion, and by November Sony was pushing to release albums by A1, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Destiny’s Child, so Thunderbugs had to wait their turn, but before long it was Christmas with still no release date for their record. Normally this is a good time to release an album which could pick up sales as a present, which was what Sonly hoped would happen with 'It's About Time You Were Mine', but in 1999 there were so many singles on the schedules that Sony had to concentrate on new releases by acts like the Vengaboys, B*Witched, Queen & David Bowie, Tom Jones, Leann Rimes, TLC, The Beastie Boys, and The Charlatans, as well as big club hits by William Orbit and Progress, and so when the new Top 40 was announced, many singles that were expected to chart highly had disappointing sales, while the lesser known acts didn't show at all. Thunderbugs were one of these casualties, and despite having had all that money spent on them, Sony decided there was no point splashing out any more and they were consigned to the vaults. No further singles were released from the album, and 'Delicious' was only issued in the UK on the flop format of the decade, minidisc. As so often happens with these shelved or restricted release albums, the record itself is a perfectly fine collection of late 90's pop, and deserves to be heard even today, where I think it stands up pretty well.  

Track listing

01 It's About Time You Were Mine
02 Friends Forever
03 Walking On Air
04 You Got Something On Me
05 You And Me
06 Does Your Heart Still Break
07 Angel Of The Morning
08 Miracle Baby
09 Jealous
10 Delicious
11 Alright Now