Höglund left in 1996 and was replaced by Chris Childs, after Morley performed bass on fourth album The Thrill of It All, which reached the UK top 20.

A tenth studio album, Wonder Days, was released on the earMusic label in 2015, giving the band their first UK top ten since 1995 when it peaked at number 9.

On 1 January 1989, at the group's annual New Year's Day meeting, Terraplane was disbanded by vocalist Danny Bowes and guitarist Luke Morley, who decided to form a new band under the name Thunder.

[3] According to Morley, the band name was chosen as a combination of two elements: a song he had written called "Distant Thunder", and Taylor's debut solo album.

[4] Mark "Snake" Luckhurst joined Thunder as the group's original bassist on 2 May 1989, having been recommended by James after the two had performed together in Hellfire Corner.

[5] The band's lineup was completed with the addition of Matthews, who had earlier played keyboards for Terraplane's last two shows and engineered Thunder's January demos.

[12] AllMusic's Alex Henderson, however, proposed that while the record "wasn't lacking when it came to spirit and enthusiasm", it displayed Thunder as "[not] the most original or groundbreaking band in the world".

[15] Backstreet Symphony was promoted on a UK tour running from late February through until the end of March,[7] after which Thunder travelled to the United States to perform a pair of shows for American media and meet with EMI's sister label Capitol Records, who had originally released the album in the US.

[16] According to journalist Mick Wall, who had been travelling with Thunder for a number of months, "Capitol in America were notorious at the time for not supporting acts signed to EMI in the UK", which resulted in the band splitting with the label shortly after their meeting.

[17] After splitting with Capitol earlier in the year, the band signed a US deal with Geffen Records in September, who reissued Backstreet Symphony with a new cover the following April.

[10] Thunder embarked on their Laughing All Over the World Tour on 1 October 1992, beginning with a run of 19 headline shows in the UK supported by Australian band The Screaming Jets.

[12] He was replaced the following February by Swedish bassist Mikael "Micke" Höglund,[4] who was selected from a number of auditionees for the role including former Terraplane member Nick Linden, who claims he "got down to the last two candidates".

[10] Behind Closed Doors followed on 23 January 1995, reaching a peak position of number 5 on the UK Albums Chart and receiving a silver certification from the BPI.

[4] The Behind Closed Doors Tour commenced in Germany on 5 April 1995 and included shows in Europe, the UK and Japan, wrapping up on 1 September in Tokyo.

[4] Recording took place at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales and saw Morley handling bass duties in addition to guitar due to the absence of Höglund as a result of "family commitments".

[4] The album was completed by the end of May, after which Höglund announced that he was to leave Thunder permanently; he was replaced in the autumn by Chris Childs, formerly of Then Jericho.

[4] The Thrill of It All was released in Japan on 1 September 1996 through JVC, but was delayed elsewhere due to Matthews's diagnosis of tendinitis, which prevented him from playing guitar.

[27] Some UK dates were pushed back due to Bowes suffering pneumonia and laryngitis, and in July he underwent surgery on his knee which signalled a short break for the group, during which time Childs and James featured in the rock musical Carnaby Street, while Morley toured with Taylor's band The Power Station.

[10] Live was recorded over the course of four shows in Wolverhampton and London between 12 and 16 November 1997, and were promoted on European and UK tours (in addition to a run supporting Status Quo) in the spring of 1998.

[10] The band toured the UK in promotion of the album through May and early June, before announcing later in the year that they were due to break up, issuing a statement which outlined that "After a great deal of exploration, discussion and soul searching, we have decided to split up.

In a post online, Bowes confirmed the news, which had been leaked without permission, but reiterated that it would be "a non permanent reformation" which the band agreed to "as it gives us the ability to play again without having to commit to anything long-term".

[10] Touring for the album commenced in the UK in November, followed by European shows in March 2007, a number of festival appearances in the summer, and three dates in Japan in September.

[45] In February 2011, it was announced that Thunder would reunite for a performance at the High Voltage Festival on 24 July, although Bowes made it clear that "there's no plan to do any other recording going forwards", while Morley reiterated that it was a "one-off reunion".

A statement released by a spokesperson for the band stated that "after what has been a rather silly amount of knob-twiddling and string-pulling, I'm happy to report that they've decided to record a new studio album".

[56] Responding to the question over the band's "change of heart" regarding the possibility of new material, Bowes commented that they decided to record a new album after receiving an "overwhelming response" from fans when they supported Journey and Whitesnake the previous year.

The book was launched at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester on 12 November 2016, where the band performed a short acoustic set and spoke with McIver live.

[69] On 1 December 2017 the band released the single "Christmas Day", including a re-recorded version of "Love Walked In" and acoustic recordings of "Low Life in High Places" and "Heartbreak Hurricane".

[71] Please Remain Seated was released through new label BMG[72] on 18 January 2019, with "twelve radically reworked re-recordings of songs from their 30 year career"[73] and has been described as "a more quiet album, taking in influences from rock, blues, country, jazz and soul".

Music website Blabbermouth.net praised the song as featuring Thunder sounding "as immediate as ever" while also labeling "The Western Sky" as a "razor-sharp, riff-driven track".

[74] Luke Morley confirmed in an interview in November 2023 that Thunder were currently on a break, following Danny's illness,[75] and released a solo album, Songs from the Blue Room.