Artist · chart history
Boom Crash Opera
Band Melbourne Australia Formed 1985
Boom Crash Opera formed in 1985 in Melbourne, Australia. Boom Crash Opera has 3 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations on RockLists, spanning 1990–2018. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Onion Skin”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #36. The station that charted Boom Crash Opera most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 1 appearance. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1990.
Boom Crash Opera came out of Melbourne in the mid-'80s built around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan, with Dale Ryder singing, Peter "Maz" Maslen on drums and Greg O'Connor on keyboards. They had a strong look, a knack for writing catchy, commercial songs, and a big, glossy pop-rock sound that fit the times like a tailored jacket.
"Great Wall" and "Hands up in the Air" were top-20 hits at home in 1986, and in 1989 These Here Are Crazy Times! kept the run going with "Onion Skin", a tense, gleaming single that reached number eight on the American Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Dancing in the Storm" came from the same album. "Gimme" in 1994 made it four top-20 singles.
Pleasance's tinnitus, the price of years of loud gigs, pushed him out in 1992 to work as a solo artist and producer, and O'Connor left in 1994. Ryder, Maslen and Farnan have carried on, with John Favaro on bass.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Boom Crash Opera on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onion Skin | 2 | #36 | – | 1990 | |
| 2 | Dancing In The Storm | 1 | #51 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 51 | Dancing In The Storm | Triple M Ozzest 100 (2018) |
| 1990 | 36 | Onion Skin | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990 |
| 1990 | 76 | Onion Skin | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990 |
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