Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

About this episode

In this episode, Tom Bailey discusses the creation of the Thompson Twins' hit song 'Hold Me Now'.

Thompson Twins originally formed in 1977 in Sheffield, in the UK. “Hold Me Now,” their iconic hit, came out as a single in November 1983, and eventually on their 1984 album, Into the Gap . That album went to number 1 in the UK and went platinum in the US. The song spent 21 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. So for this episode, I talked to the founding member of Thompson Twins, Tom Bailey, and he told me how he and his bandmates, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, made “Hold Me Now.” For more info, visit songexploder.net/thompson-twins.

People in this episode

Host: Hrishikesh Hirway

Guest: Tom Bailey

Topics covered

• music history
• songwriting
• 1980s music
• Thompson Twins
• Hold Me Now
• album production

Keywords

• Thompson Twins
• Hold Me Now
• Tom Bailey
• Into the Gap
• 1980s music
• Billboard Hot 100
• music production

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Thompson Twins

Books & works: Into the Gap

Places: Sheffield

More episodes of Song Exploder

• Paul McCartney - Ripples in a Pond · June 10, 2026 · 24 min
• Hot Chip - Boy From School · May 20, 2026 · 26 min
• Key Change: Emma Straub · May 13, 2026 · 23 min
• The xx - Crystalised · May 6, 2026 · 26 min
• Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Father and Son · April 22, 2026 · 19 min
• The Memory Palace: The Thundering Herd, The Vanishing American · April 15, 2026 · 25 min