Boom Crash Opera

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian pop rock band formed in early 1985. Initially they were based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance on guitar, bass guitar and vocals; and Peter Farnan on guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and vocals. Pleasance developed tinnitus from constant exposure to loud live music & left in 1992 to pursue a solo career as an artist & producer. The group also included Dale Ryder on vocals, Peter Maslen on drums, percussion and vocals; and from 1992 Ian Tilley on bass guitar and vocals.

Their top 3 albums are Boom Crash Opera, These Here Are Crazy Times, and Fabulous Beast. Their top 20 singles are "Great Wall", "Hands up in the Air" (both 1986), "Onion Skin" (1989) and "Gimme" (1994). In the United States "Onion Skin" reached No. 8 on the Billboard component chart, Modern Rock Tracks. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, noted that the group had a "strong visual image and the uncanny ability of its principal songwriters to pen catchy, commercial songs ensured a string of successful releases".