The Alarm - Later Years

Later Years

The band toured extensively through the United States and Europe through the 1980s into 1991. They gained much popularity in 1983 when they were the opening act for U2, a band to whom they were often compared musically. On 13 March 1988, The Alarm performed at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California with The 77s and House of Freaks.

1989's Change was an homage to the group's native Wales, and was accompanied by an alternate Welsh language version, Newid. Produced by Tony Visconti, Change spawned the group's biggest Modern Rock hit in America, "Sold Me Down the River," which also put them in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top 50 for the first and only time. "Devolution Working Man Blues" and "Love Don't Come Easy" also earned radio airplay, and the track "A New South Wales" had an appearance by the Welsh Symphony Orchestra and the Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir. Although it was popular in Wales, it did not sell as well as the group's earlier works, and internal band dissension, exacerbated by deaths in both Peters' and Twist's families, made 1991's Raw the original Alarm's final effort.

After the release of Raw in 1991, despite their success and relative longevity, Peters announced on stage at the Brixton Academy that he was leaving the band.

This came as much of a shock to his colleagues as to the audience. Following this show Peters signed his legal right to one quarter of The Alarm name and logo over to the other three. Peters and Sharp both embarked on solo careers.