Giving the Game Away is the fifth studio album by English hard rock band Thunder. Recorded in April 1998, it was produced the band's lead guitarist Luke Morley. The album was initially released in Japan by Victor Entertainment on 24 February 1999, with the European release by Eagle Records (under the band's B Lucky sub-label) following on 15 March 1999. Giving the Game Away was the last studio album Thunder released before breaking up for the first time the following year. Following the departure of Mikael "Micke" Höglund in 1996, Giving the Game Away is the first studio album by Thunder to feature bassist Chris Childs. The album was criticised in some reviews for being too "mellow" and marking a departure from the band's previous releases. It was also less successful in commercial terms, spending only one week on the UK Albums Chart at number 49, peaking at number 2 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and failing to chart in any other region. Giving the Game Away was promoted only briefly following its release, with just two dates in Japan and ten in the UK between 1 May and 6 June 1999. The band remained inactive for the months following this, and in November announced that they were to break up after one last run of shows. Two singles were released from the album – "Play That Funky Music" and "Just Another Suicide (You Wanna Know)" reached number 39 and number 49, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart. Background Thunder recorded their fifth studio album in April 1998. Bassist Chris Childs, who was recording with the band for the first time, described the sessions as "pretty much a party with a recording session breaking out every now and then", in a similar fashion to the way in which guitarist and keyboardist Ben Matthews recalled the sessions for the band's debut album Backstreet Symphony ten years earlier. On 15 June 1998, the band released the first single from the upcoming album, a cover version of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music", which gave charted at number 39 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 35 on the Scottish Singles Chart. After a short tour of Japan, a number of festival appearances and some dates supporting Status Quo, the band released "Just Another Suicide" as the second single from the album on 8 March 1999. The single was