Pleasance developed tinnitus from constant exposure to loud live music and left in 1992 to pursue a solo career as an artist and producer.
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".
[6] Farnan described his bandmates, other than Pleasance, to The Canberra Times' Pollyanna Sutton in May 1986 "[t]he others are sort of from nowhere ... Drummer Peter "Maz" Maslen, has and still does a lot of recording sessions, in early 1984 he met Richard in this avante-garde band called One Hand Clapping, then played together with Venetta Fields in the time just before Boom Crash Opera.
"[5] Boom Crash Opera were signed to WEA and in April 1986 they released their debut single "Great Wall", which was produced by Steve Brown.
[5] McFarlane described it as an "exuberant" single, which "established the hallmarks of [their] sound: the tight, funky rock of the music, the boom-like crack of the drums and the work song chant of the vocals".
[citation needed] Stuart Coupe of The Sydney Morning Herald reported there were "impressive notices" for the album and that the group had "been tipped for mega-stardom".
[1][7] Coupe felt that "City Flat" was "[o]ne of the more outstanding tracks" and it "appears to paint a fairly bleak picture of [their] home town".
A pensive guitar leads into the most brilliant of bridges and a lilting melody underpinned by Richard Pleasance's strong bassline".
[15] In August 1989 they released a single, "Onion Skin", ahead of their second album These Here Are Crazy Times (October), which was produced by Jimmy Iovine, Pete Smith and Pleasance, and mixed by Nick Launay.
As in previous outings, lead singer Dale Ryder's effortless (although somewhat limited) vocal delivery and Richard Pleasance's skillful guitar work helped disguise the fact that underneath the catchy melodies and slick production, there wasn't a lot of substance to [their] music".
Late that year Boom Crash Opera released a four-track extended play, Dreams on Fire, with both Pleasance and Vallance aboard.
[1] The EP was produced by Keith Forsey and the band;[1][2] it appeared on the ARIA Singles Chart Top 50,[7] and featured the track, "Holy Water".
However, during early writing sessions, Pleasance left the band and returned to Australia; he was temporarily replaced by Dorian West on bass guitar (ex-Wildland).
The final vocal line of Ryder's in the song which is "just look out the window", has his voice actually breaking due to being so emotionally moved by the experience.
After Boom Crash Opera returned from L.A. Ian Tilley joined on bass guitar, keyboards and backing vocals, as the permanent replacement for Pleasance following the departure of Dorian West.
[1] The track was written by Farnan and O'Connor and early in 1993 the Liberal Party wanted to use it for their federal election campaign theme but were refused permission.
He noted that "Rock and Roll bands are strange, creative beasts ... We indulge ourselves now and again and take a radical left-hand turn and get off the track".
[20] The four remaining members: Farnan, Maslen, Ryder, and Tilley, continued the band and in October 1994 they issued a single, "Gimme", on their newly signed label, BMG.
[1][7] The parent album, Born was released in March and was produced by Farnan and Neil Wiles, and engineered by Kalju Tonuma.
McFarlane declared the album was a "tougher affair which found the band embracing hi-tech pop, techno-metal and all manner of sound effects and cyberpunk studio trickery".
[1] Although "Gimme" had received generous radio airplay and the album had reached the top 40,[1][7] BMG scrapped the release of the second part, Born Again.
In November 1997 Boom Crash Opera released a studio album, Gizmo Mantra, which was produced by Daniel Denholm, Kalju Tonuma and the group.
[1][7] McFarlane noted that "after 1997 [the band] disappeared from view" but during their main career they had a "strong visual image and the uncanny ability of its principal songwriters to pen catchy, commercial songs ensured a string of successful releases".
In 2002 Robert Doyle the Opposition Leader of Victoria used "Dancing in the Storm" as his theme during the Liberal Party's state election campaign launch in November.
[23] During those bush fires the group had been in Pleasance's studio in Hepburn Springs, recording an acoustic disc for Dancing in the Storm.
In March 2016, Drummer Peter ‘Maz’ Maslen advised media that original member and lead singer Dale Ryder had resigned from the band, replaced by Andrew De Silva.
Maslen has performed live and/or as a recording drummer for many Australian artists including: Natalie Imbruglia, Delta Goodrem, Mark Seymour and The Undertow, Men at Work, The Seekers, Tripod, Shellie Morris, Tex Perkins, Felicity Urquhart, Belinda Emmett, Vika and Linda, Archie Roach, Ollie Olsen, Bodyrockers, Icehouse, Shannon Noll, Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Diesel, Jimmy Little, Troy Cassar-Daley, Colin Hay, Olivia Newton-John, Ian Moss and James Reyne.