China Crisis
China Crisis
Entry Requirements: 18+ after 7pm
China Crisis were never your run-of-the-mill 80s pop band.
Formed in Liverpool by singer Gary Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon, they distilled their love of David Bowie and Steely Dan into an exquisitely melancholy post-punk sound that saw them win their just chart rewards. Has there ever been a more wistful Top 10 hit than the charming Wishful Thinking? Their hero Walter Becker – of Steely Dan fame – was so impressed he even became a band member back in 1985, producing and playing on Top 10 album Flaunt the Imperfection, and returning for 1989’s hugely acclaimed Diary of a Hollow Horse.
And, all the while, the hits kept rolling in… Christian, Black Man Ray and King in a Catholic Style all made their way into the UK Top 20.
Line Up
China Crisis whose distinctive AOR-fuelled pop songs charted in the 80s when they spent a total of 92 weeks in the charts. Who said the Eighties were all bad? China Crisis, for instance, were largely considered one of the better musical things about that much-maligned decade.
They formed in 1979 in Kirkby on Merseyside, with a core band of vocalist/keyboardist Garry Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon. The band was signed to Virgin Records and recorded their debut album, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms: Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain, which was released in December 1982.
A re-release of 'African & White' became China Crisis' first hit in the UK, reaching number 45 in the UK Singles Chart. When the follow-up single, 'Christian' made UK number 12 in early 1983, this brought them to national prominence along with 'Wishful Thinking'. The band toured Europe and USA during the late eighties and performed in front of crowds as large as 87,00 in Germany.
