How Echo & The Bunnymen and God Wrote "The Killing Moon" | New British Canon
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 чер 2024
- Get Surfshark VPN at Surfshark.deals/TRASHTHEORY and enter promo code TRASHTHEORY for 83% off and 3 extra months for FREE!
Stuck between the studied indie of The Smiths and the stadium-bothering rock of U2, Echo and The Bunnymen were one of a kind. Shackled with one of the oddest names in post-punk, but yet adored by the UK music press, their psychedelic yet doom-infused first three albums set them up as one of the most exciting bands in Britain, with singles like “Rescue,” “A Promise,” and “The Cutter” slowly gaining them higher chart placings and a more rabid fanbase. But on the cusp of the mainstream, with the potential to be the biggest band of the 1980s, they went to France, changed their sound and put all their faith in a song their singer heard in a dream. This is New British Canon and this is the story of “The Killing Moon.”
#EchoandtheBunnymen #DonnieDarko #MusicDocumentary
Fact-checking by Serenity Autumn.
This video is sponsored by Surfshark.
Soundtrack:
Luar - Citrine ( / luarbeats )
B-Side - Pen Unubis
Jesse Gallagher - Spirit of Fire
Luar - Ignite ( / luarbeats )
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
0:00 Introduction
02:01 Echo & The Liverpool New Wave
06:17 Echo & The Pop Breakthrough
11:50 Echo & "The Killing Moon"
17:13 Echo & The Time Travelling Bunny
You can also follow me here:
Twitter: / trashtheory
Facebook: / trashtheoryyt
Or support me on Patreon:
/ trashtheory
Get Surfshark VPN at Surfshark.deals/TRASHTHEORY and enter promo code TRASHTHEORY for 83% off and 3 extra months for FREE!
Trash Theory playlists - Spotify: tinyurl.com/yxp32pjf Deezer: tinyurl.com/y2mdp8h2
Also if you want to help out, here's my patreon link: patreon.com/trashtheory
The closing statement says it all. I first heard Killing Moon on a moonlit winter night sometime around 1984, wandering around aimlessly after class, when I heard this music coming from a block party between some apartment towers just off campus. Stayed for a while, had a few beers and continued on into the night. Bought the album within a week.
Can you do a Fiona Apple one maybe?
*Does Netflix UK consider Austin Powers offensive because Myers' caricature appropriates British culture?*
*I wonder if they stream The Love Guru.*
I'm 72 and still listen to the killing moon and oceon rain to this day, they are timeless.
Villiers terrace great song and lyrics was when you were totally out of it it just resonates
That’s so cool!
they are!
I'm 12 and I don't know what's going on.
Have you had a break?
I can't believe a 23-minute video about The Killing Moon doesn't ever mention THE two echoed-piano chords that grab your ear right from the beginning. One of the greatest hooks ever.
I totally agree. That piano part is haunting yet perfect for the song…
I can;t believe that this whole video doesn't mention the Young Ones comedy show where Rick says he'll write to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen.
How could you "not believe it " when it's right here in front of you?
Believe it.
It isnt a 23 min vid about that song. Im abt halfway in, hasnt mentioned the song hardly once.
i fell asleep listening to the cure's "disintegration" once and spotify did that thing where it kept playing related songs and i was roused from sleep in the middle of the night during the chorus of "killing moon". even while unconscious that song reached me and registered as something crucial that i needed to know. it has since become one of my favorite songs (and "ocean rain" a similarly favorite album).
and that's the story of the first time i heard "killing moon".
Perfect story......thanks for sharing!!
Falling asleep to Disintegration is a trip of its own!
Something similar happened to me with “Swamp Thing” by The Chameleons. The intro woke me up and i thought “this song is way too good to be real, I must be dreaming”. One of the best songs of the 80s imo (alongside the Killing Moon ofc)
Zuppa, I gotta thank you man. I just looked up that Chameleons song, and it's truly awesome! I typically know 90% of the bands that people talk about in the comments, but this one threw me off guard, so I looked them up and found an awesome song. I would recommend Daniel Ash "Coming Down Fast", and "Ballad of the Hip Death Goddess" by Ultimate Spinach.
Also, check out The Misunderstood, they were a psychedelic rock band with a lap steel guitar player! Their singer got drafted to go to Vietnam, but instead he went AWOL and ran off to join an Ashram somewhere in Asia. Even if you don't like the music, they have a crazy back story. ("Never Had a Girl Like You Before" is my favorite track by them)
If "The Killing Moon" were Echo's only contribution to music, it'd be enough. The song, though somewhat underrated, is bigger than the 80's. It transcends styles and trends as a masterpiece of songwriting: melody, lyrics, arrangement, and the mood - thicker in its intense symbolism than the famed romanticism of the Moody Blues, for anyone capable of hearing it.
Totally agree. Oddly though, it irks me...because The Killing Moon hints at SO much potential....that, imo, isn't realized.
The Killing Moon is SUCH a great song, a perfect song really, that it honestly makes the rest of the album feel kinda meh....
Which is unfortunate. E&TBM, for me, always feel like they could have been great....but were just really good.
I honestly love everything about the band so much....that I _wish_ their other songs could be _as good_ as The Killing Moon.
@@avedic I offer you 'Back of Love', there are two times I have NOT been able to bounce around like a loon to that track, once Seeing them at Glastonbury and I was more than ankle deep (and then some) in mud, the other time I was recovering from the removal of a cyst somewhere very delicate.
'Bring on the Dancing Horses' and 'Nothing lasts forever' are actually in their own ways perfect as well.
Ocean Rain the song is as good if not better than The Killing Moon. The entire album is brilliant.
Try listening again after removing the bullshit from your head
Nailed it.
Two years ago I was in a restaurant in Napa, California where the "Killing Moon" was being played by the Gen X owners. No exaggeration, the whole place (waiters, cooks, guests, kids) started singing at the top of their lungs. I wish I had taken out my phone to record it but I was too busy trying to out-sing others. Thank you, Bunnymen for that enormous gift to the world! Thank you Trash Theory for another great video.
Did they all start clapping afterwards? r/thatHappend, lol.
Saw them in Oakland, huge following here in Bay Area
lol. grew up next door in Sonoma Co. Can 100% picture this. I don't know if there's anything more IDGAF than a NorCal Gen Xer.
@@zulfhashimmi2040 Yep!!
@@yakacm that's ALMOST a very GenX reply.
Its funny, in the pre-internet, pre-mp3 era, you may have only heard one or two of these songs on the radio. Missing out on everything else these bands put out, because maybe you didn't have a cassette or hi fi system. Or the only record store was an hour away by train. Could you imagine hearing one of the greatest songs of your young life once or maybe twice and then not again for decades, not even knowing the band's name?
I've lived through those times. Hunger really is the best condiment because whenever I'd randomly come across one of my favourite songs on the radio or TV it was magical.
That was why the tape trading scene was so great in the 80s and 90s. There was always someone that would find the better deep cuts and B-sides that the radio would never play and these homemade comp tapes would get traded all over the world for the price of a few stamps. Probably 90% of my favorite albums were bought because of music I heard this way.
Those days made you appreciate the music even more. Kids the days have no idea what we would go through to hear a certain song again lol 👍👍
Sounds like hell. Most of the bands I like I never hear on the radio and if I do it's only ever one station. Thankfully nowadays it's relatively easy to find a bands back catalogue
I have lots of times. Took me fuve years to find "these days" by the golden palominoes about a dozen for Xymox " wonderland" and fifteen for billy bragg " sexuality"
i saw Bunnymen in 1981 at cloudland ballroom here in Brisbane Australia. Half cut on a bottle of cider drunk on the train ride there. wearing an outfit I had cobbled together from goods bought at Sherry's Army disposals, khaki shirt with pins and writing, oversized commando boots worn on the outside of pegleg 60s trousers (doc martins were impossible to get in Australia in those days), hair teased so much it had developed a complex.. i must have been 16 or 17. It were an old ballroom with a spring loaded floor so the crowd bounced along to the beat..the standout song was 'over the wall', the caverous reverb in that place was insane..what a band, and still a fave all these years later..mark of great band to not get carbon dated to time..timeless
Two shows in Sydney for me. So glad I saw them then. 🙌
There’s a fantastic description of their show at the Whiskey in LA that year in Flea’s memoir ‘Acid for the Children’, reading it brought it all back.
Grew up on Bunnymen, I’m still confused how they never ascended to greatness. Porcupine haunted me for years, it’s the classic that no one knows. The genius that McCulloch raved about, is all there. But the masses couldn’t see it at the time. These were a very special band, I’m glad I found them, but sad the world never really did.
I am so glad the masses never found them, bc I fear they would have been forced to make more money, less art....The way it is they have iconic cult status, and Mac has enough to not get a regular job, do solo work, putz around having bevvies and argue about football. Best outcome ever, I'd say. Btw, I saw them in 2000s in Houston and they were fabulous live as always. Mac promised to sign something for us and we waited for hours but he hid out in the Tour bus having a panic attack, a snog, a shot...who knows. Will Seargant came out and signed stuff and even planted a soft sweet platonic kiss on my cheek. Leaves me giddy still. Such an innovative guitarist and sweet man.😘😍🥰
I'm glad most of the world do dent I have a mad theory them same people who didn't get them believe all this circus 19 business stay left field and always think outside the box like obscure bunny men songs and lyrics f---k mainstream music/media ha ha little rant over
@@notpub saw the Albert Hall gig in the early eighties defiantly. In there prime then
@@anthonymitchell8893 So swimmingly lucky that is!!! Bet it was BEST EVER!
@@notpub one of the best I haven't been to a concert for thirty years it's one of the few I do remember vaguely ha ha along with the smiths , the pou ge s and the stra ng le rs maybe you have heard of them ? I crammed all my music venues into 4 years 83/87 where does the time go peace out
The first time I heard this song was when I watched Donnie Darko several years ago and I was hooked on it for good. That film has a great soundtrack.
I was looking for the Donnie Darko comment. You even have Donnie's initials.
Watch Valley Girls for more awesome 80s tunes.
me too!
I can't think of a stronger "love at first note" moment for me than hearing that song in that movie. I was 14 and my family still had dial-up, so the only way I could get the song was by buying Echo and the Bunnymen's greatest hits on cd. An important day in my goth origin story, for sure.
The first time I heard the killing moon was in the movie the girl next door.Love it
My kids really fell in love with this song when I had them watch Donnie Darko. Now they are hooked on both song and movie.
The Killing Moon is one of the best songs ever written.
Agreed! The song it's melody and lyrics don't and can't stop drawing the listener in. To me, a layman it's perfect. Doesn't won't and can't age. It's a perfect storm.
@@kiers1970 The Killing Moon cannot age as you have said, because it is eternal.
It was.
It is.
And it will be.
true
The opening line definitely came from the leylines trip. The earth's power grid points are real, whether one is aware or not, it's always aware of you, might even touch you in a dream😊
as good as The Killing Moon is, I think Seven Seas is a masterpiece; when the song shifts, right after the instrumental interlude...."burning my bridges"....amazing!
I prefer Seven Seas. It's a cloudy dim beach song, which mirrors (/smashes my mirrors) my life perfectly on the west coast of Ireland facing the Atlantic. The echoey bittersweetness of it, it is so... weathery lol, beautiful song
@@LILBABYN0THING isn't it beautiful !? Just a masterpiece. Greetings from California.
@@geoffoakland an Echo back to you at 3am from the Golden Sands of Playa del Rey...California.
Played this song over and over coming back from my mother's pre-funeral rosary prayer session. 6 years ago to the day( night actually) Top down on the Alfa Romeo. Shifting gears heading west on Venice Blvd. Accelerating and shifting all in harmony with the song. The breeze drying a tear or two off my cheek before it drips off my chin. I don't think I ever stopped cause I hit every green light till I got home. It felt as if the road was meant for me and nothing was gonna stop me till I pulled up to my driveway. Played the song on that drive home and when it's over played it again and again. I'm alone now I thought a family of one.
@@robertweldon1140 great, though sad story. It doesn't hurt that I'm a massive Alfa fan; the the engine in the Guilia quadrofoglio alone is enough to bring tears to my eyes; My friend had a Duetto, late 60s I think, great sound also. Sorry for your loss: I lost my father 2 years ago, it can be really tough sometimes. Music, as you just well illistrated can be so powerful, when it it's associated with a certain time in your life. Peace.
@@geoffoakland Thanks for the sentiments and although 6 years ago it the moment got me reminiscing them looking up the song. Then reading the comments and your comment which was only an hour before I posted mine and being a fellow Californian gave me a compulsion to write my thoughts.
Wish my Alfa was one of the one you speak of. Both absolute classics. Mine is an 86 Spider Veloce born from the Duetto still very cool to drive.
Still gets me i drove roughly 15 miles through L.A. traffic that night and didn't get one singe red light. The song the warm air the downshifting then accelerating.
The memories some happy some sad.
By the way if you care to share what part of the Golden State do you hail from?
I was living in my first apartment when I heard The Killing Moon, reverberating from my neighbor downstairs. I was so mesmerized, that I went down to ask her who and what this was. At almost sixty, it is still a standout recording for me. Maybe more than ever.
That memory must be so clear for you even at sixty, being a teen myself I can’t comprehend living that long and remembering most details. It’s funny what memories are brought back from limbo when we hear certain songs.
Their first 4 albums are near flawless and everyone who hasn't heard them in full yet will definitely not be disappointed. Those albums are massive in scope, peak post punk music for sure
Well said. I agree wholeheartedly.
Second was their peak and prime talent...3rd was a confused effort of noise and was inferior as Ian even openly admitted. The 4th commercial effort doesn't even rank... if you are hearing the music ...and the change. 2nd album has the greatest song they ever wrote musically and lyrically...and it wasn't Promise.
@@c.anderson3444 which one do you mean? My favourite has always been Turquoise Days (though that's surely not the one you're talking about, I suppose it's a bit of a filler track) I could see your comment applying to any one of the triad Show of Strength, Over the Wall or Heaven Up Here though
@@verhvouvim1518 yes That Golden Smile.
For the casual observer of the 80’s the entire decade has a reputation for being very synthetic, superficial, and shallow. For those of us in the know though some of the most gut-wrenching music is from that decade, of which this song, and the album it’s from, are prime examples.
It's the sheer range of music that was on offer that I remember - everything from prog rock to punk to dub to 2-tone to New Romantic to African music to hip hop to Kraftwerk and more.
Oh yeah... so beautifully put. I am eternally at odds with those "casual observers" who are still quick to "remind" me of how "synthetic and shallow" the 80s were.
Ugh.... I'm even married to one.... ;-( Heh heh... (there are still many things we agree on though).
More than U2, I thought the Cure was really the band on a parallel path. Here in the US, neither band was very high on people‘s radar until their best-ofs came out in the mid 80s. The Cure really used that heightened profile to create a successful pop career, more than Echo.
I thought U2's second album, **Correction** it’s their third album, War was pretty huge. It had 3 big singles in heavy rotation on both radio and MTV. They were unavoidable by that time (The Unforgetable Fire in '84 really propelled them to a household name.) and I don't think there was a greatest hits album out quite yet. My introduction to U2 was via the videos for I Will Follow and Gloria on MTV. I'm not really a big fan of U2 anymore, it's just that my memory of their career differs a bit from yours.
@@Action_Slacks I enjoyed the early U2.
@@Action_Slacks War was U2's third album after Boy and October. I was a huge fan in the mid/late 80's and saw them twice in 87. Their earlier albums were definitely post-punk, which freaks a lot of kids out because they just automatically think that they suck.
@Brushwood Thicket Farmer- Yes, you are quite right. However, The Cure had better and more diverse songs than the Bunnymen in 1980s and 90s combined. That was part of their appeal. The Cure's real contemporary and the band on their parallel path was actually Depeche Mode. Both had similar successes during those decades... Depeche Mode took it to another level later on, totally in an independent sort of a way.
@@cybertaiga9534 Totally agree that the Cure's back catalog was more influential than any one Bunnymen song.
And yup War is arguably the album that elevated U2 from new wave cult act to Major Rock Stars. They were on another level at that point.
Never got into complete albums by E&TB, but damn the "Songs to Learn and Sing" collection is full of fantastic songs...
One of the most beautiful songs ever. Love this channel.
Agreed! I'm loving the deep dives they do and for showing me so much that I missed.
Echo & the Bunnymen have been and still are my favorite band since high-school. Seen them Live several times, and have always walked away utterly impressed by their own talents.
**Truly an absolute killer band**
Please make one of these types of videos for *_THE CHAMELEONS._* Their time in the spotlight is *LONG* overdue...
I was in Harlech Wales with 50pence in my pocket in an amusement arcade. I was 14 and me and me brother'd been sent on our way to go entertain ourselves so there we were playing pacman and asteroids which I was crap at so I mosed on over to the jukebox and saw the words 'echo and the bunnymen' and thought - 'what a stupid name but funny so let's spend 10p on this cutter song'. I spent the rest of my money playing it over and over and went back the next day then bought everything they ever did from then on and still have a ton of their stuff on le running ipod thing. Awsome band.
My introduction to Echo was the same but in Brande DK in the local chip shop, saw the name on the jukebox and spend 1 dk to check what this was all about, and I haven't look back since.
Neglects to mention drummer Pete de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989, after McCulloch left the group
Echo and the Bunnymen are world class. A pillar band from the 80's. The Killing Moon is kind of the perfect song along with The Cutter and Never Stop. The all night version of Killing Moon which came out on their box set is even more glorious. What a band, thank you Liverpool. Great video!
One of the Best British Bands EVER!!!! Seen them Twice in 1984 in the USA. First in March in a Club with about 800 kids. That's where we first heard "The Killing Moon" and it was a Highlight of that Gig. Saw them again in July 1984 at "The Opera House" about 3000 people. By then "Ocean Rain" had been released and was a Hit on College radio and played on Commercial radio as well."Ocean Rain" is Phenomenal and WE Fans LOVED IT!!!!
Ocean Rain has always been my favorite Bunnymen album. I was lucky enough to see them in 1987 for their self-titled album tour. Great show, and got to meet McCullough briefly, and he was just as cheekily arrogant as you'd expect.
Echo and the Bunnymen are one of the most underrated and under appreciated bands of all time.
The killing moon is no doubt one of the most interesting songs I ever heard.I went to see them live once and it was excellent exactly what I expected
“The Killing Moon” is not only one of Echo and the Bunnymen’s most famous songs, it’s a true masterpiece!
echo and the bunnymen is such a magical band and they sounds like fairytale. I regret the fact that I haven't born yet in the 80s, but I guess that's how I'll always see them as a "fairytale" as it's something that I never experience in person. also, rest in peace Pete
You would have to be born in the late 60's to early 70s to really appreciate these bands. I was born in 1972 and found them when I was 15 and even then that was late.
@@phyllisollari6538 it must be a gift to be a teenager in the 80s, having bands like this in their glory days is different than seeing them as history today... 80s is such a great decade omg, the music, movies, etc... I hope that I can taste a bit of it :)
@@carissanami5824 we didnt appreciate what a gift it was! When we were growing up, people who grew up in the 60's were going through THEIR nostalgia time! we were inundated with 60's music, movies and shows with the very strong emotional ties to it!
Back in the mid 80's I was a teenage punk rocker in Southern California. An older girl in my school that I admired from a far came up to me and asked me if I'd "ever heard of Echo & the Bunnymen". Later that week she lent me Ocean Rain, and Porcupine. The two albums changed my young life, and opened my mind to much more than my hardcore punk leanings. EATB are still my most favorite band to this day. A lifelong soundtrack. Long live the Bunnymen!
I heard them on KROQ growing up. I inherited my brother’s gray LP but the first cassette I bought was Ocean Rain.
I got to see them opening for violent femmes at the fairgrounds around 2016. They were great!
Nice final line. 😉
I first heard Echo and the Bunnymen in high school. A friend loaned me his copy of Heaven Up Here. Someone else recommended The Cure, so I bought 17 Seconds/A Forest, which I think had been out for about a year. We were already going to punk gigs in Hollywood, but there was nothing quite like these two bands out there. I think we were goth before it had a name, lol. A year later I was in university and the scene blew up. I was getting more into the Clash, and local bands like X (I saw the Clash once and X about a million times).
Before Echo and the Bunnymen, I was a metal head, but the metal of the 70s. We used to have juvenile debates about what was metal and what was just hard rock. By the end of the 70s, we were debating what was punk rock and what was new wave. 😆
One more memory: I went to a small high school, and while their were different groups of friends, it wasn’t really clique-y in our class. We were all getting into punk rock and related bands by senior year. But the funny thing was what the junior year class did. They had been passing around a VHS copy of Quadrophenia, and one day in September, they all showed up to school dressed as mods. That was their thing, and they stuck with it. Ska was just becoming popular and I think the English Beat was the junior class’s favorite band, judging from how much they played it. It always cracks me up to think of the organization and commitment they had to one day just turn up as mods. And they stuck to it for the year and maybe beyond.
Fun fact for those who don't know, the picture taken with the band sitting in the row boat in what looks like a cave, I think it's on the Cover of Killing Moon or the inside sleeve,those photos were taken at a place called Carnglaze Caverns in Cornwall!!.. I've been there many times as I live just up the road from there and it's an awesome place to visit if you've got the chance... 😉✌
Having been a huge Bunnymen fan in the 80s, I remember seeing an interview in the 90s with Ian on a local channel, during the band's nadir. The weight of Killing Moon seemed to hang around his neck as he said wistfully 'I know one day I'll write another song as good as that'. He looked lost, and seemed haunted by the fact that he couldn't rediscover the spark that created that moment. In time, he went on of course to write 'Nothing lasts forever', a song whose lyrics in many ways sum up what he was feeling at that point, a song that many fans would agree speaks to them in the same way as Killing Moon does, but at a different point in their lives.
Yes, exactly!!! Both are masterpieces.
They did write Bring On The Dancing Horses a year or two later, that’s a masterpiece too imo. “First I’m gonna make it then I’m gonna break it til it falls apart”
@@ShakaCthulu Agree!!! I would say The definitive masterpieces are
1) Porcupine
2) Heaven Up Here
3) Ocean Rain
4) Evergreen
5) Siberia
6) Meteorites
7) Flowers
The remainder of the catalogue is great, excluding "Reverberation" and "The Fountain".
Also, I know many people care a lot about the 79 debut and the later commercial debut S/T, both of which have strong songs, but are not end-to-end masterpieces.
Also, Mac's solo, "Candleland" which includes a cameo from Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Massive Attack) is quite beautiful! His solo 7" accoustic version of "Sliding" is pure vintage treasure. 🧡🧡🧡
I saw EATB in London 1984. They were magnificent. "The Killing Moon" has stood the test of time. Between 1980-84, the Bunnymen couldn't put a foot wrong.
What a great band.
1987 San Francisco
I went through 3 cassettes of Ocean Rain as a teenager. It's still one of my favorite of all times.
Even thinking about this song gives me goosebumps.
McCulloch is a genius.
It always sounds odd to me when people shorten the band's name to 'Echo'. I think that's mainly an American thing.
In the UK, or at least to me, they were always 'The Bunnymen'.
This song singlehandedly carries the whole album and damn that opening riff is so good
But the rest of the album is tremendous!
I completely agree. That opening riff _is_ super cool....and unfortunately, yes, the song DOES carry the album.
The Killing Moon is SUCH a great song, a perfect song really, that it honestly makes the rest of the album feel kinda meh....
Which is unfortunate. E&TBM, for me, always feel like they could have been great....but were just really good.
I honestly love everything about the band so much....that I _wish_ their other songs could be _as good_ as The Killing Moon.
@@avedic Really?Seven seas,Silver,Ocean rain and My kingdom are easily as good and there isn't a bad track on the whole album.
@@avedic i think Porcupine is where they peaked, one of my favorite albums ever, and yet i still think they had the potential to do something even better. They have 2 perfect songs (Killing Moon and The Cutter) and a bunch of other killer tunes, but they really could be at least as big as The Cure if they wanted to imo.
the album is great, silver is one of my fav bunnymen tunes
I played the hell out of songs to learn and sing in the winter of 85/86. I was working at a rocky mountain ski resort where I skied all over the mountain every day. Best job I ever had at age 21. My dad died young at the end of February that year. After a week off I kept skiing till the end of May and spent the summer in Vancouver for expo 86. Ended the year camping in Hawaii and made it home for Christmas. It was a big part of the soundtrack for a very bittersweet year…
This band opened my mind and heart for Post-Punk. The killing moon is undoubtedly on my top 10 favorite songs list. It’s nothing short of an Epos!
Heaven Up Here is my all time favourite album but a few years later The Killing Moon became my favourite Bunnymen song. It's magnificent !
Heaven Up Here is brilliant from start to finish....🥰
Such a good album.
My favorite by them also. "Show of Strength", "Turquoise Days", and the title track are, in my opinion, their greatest songs.
I heard of Echo and the Bunnymen from reading about Echosmith and their inspirations. "Killing Moon" was my opener to Echo; I've been listening ever since. Post-punk is my favorite genre (which is funny being that punk was my favorite as a teen).
Might feel sad I'm getting old but living my teens through the 80s more than makes up for it. We had the best of the best, variety, creativity, you name it.
The Killing Moon encapsulates the 80s, its essence, its brilliance
It’s great seeing them get the recognition they deserve
My dad was a fan of them in the 80s and I grew up loving them and whenever I’d mention them know one knew who I was talking about
Their first 2 albums are perfect as well
Sad fact about Donnie Darko. For the Directors cut, Killing Moon was replaced with INXS - Never Tear Us Apart for the opening sequence. It kind of ruined the original feeling from the theatrical version for me .
That’s awful. I won’t be getting the directors cut then.
“ never tear us apart” is a big, end of the movie, happy ending romantic ballad.
That makes no sense for the movie
Yeah, and what a terrible choice as a replacement. Cant see how it fits the film at all.
I’m from Sydney, and was into the band scene that inxs were plucked from, and if there ever was a band you could describe as ‘industry plants’ it was them.
I was at a show, a matinee for school kids in 1980… they had a few originals but were mostly playing ska covers. There was a posse of A and R people there. We stood next to them and heard their ridiculous banter about how Micheal was like Mick Jagger ( cringey stuff to us young punks) … the rest is history.
Echo and the Bunnymen, still my favourite band, who released my favourite song "The Killing Moon" and my favourite album "Heaven Up Here". Even after all these years i've still yet to hear anything that comes close to The Bunnymen during the period of their first four albums. I seriously doubt I ever will.
The Killing Moon was my wedding song. Strange choice but shockingly accurate for the dynamics in my relationship.
The "all night version" and it's sleeve is a timeless work of art.
Wonderful b sides too.
The mid 80's was very psychadelic outside the synth pop with lots of homework on the garage bands of the 60's like the seeds , the nuggets compilations and English psychadelia .You can hear the stone roses and brit pop from this. I saw them in the mud at Glastonbury mid 80's they played as if their life depended on it and we realy appreciated it.
I can't believe I never heard The Killing Moon back in the Eighties. It just never got any airplay in our region. I discovered it recently, and it blew me away. It has rapidly become one of my favorite songs. A masterpiece.
“Expertly disheveled hair” would be a great band name.
I've always thought "Methlab Explosion" had a lot of untapped potential as a band name...
“Meticulously arranged to appear as if it hadn’t been.”
I tried for the McCulloch expertly dishevelled look a couple of times back in the eighties and it's fucking hard trying to make it look like you just fell out of bed looking like that!
@@KeifieB I found the easiest way is to just fall out of bed looking like that.
"Haunting la-la-la's" is my choise for a band name hahaha
This is beautiful please do a video on the chameleons next
I was thinking the same. They were so criminally ignored in their time.
YESSS this is such a good idea theyre so unappreciated
I was about to say it, they are really similar to the Bunnymen to me, amazing 80s band that could be much bigger, he’ll I’d go as far to say they are almost as good as E&TB. Swamp Thing has my favorite intro to any song ever and imo is as good as The Killing Moon.
Don't fall!!!!!
Ok and what about the brilliant Siglo xx?
Agreed!
Porcupine was my existence my opening semester of sophomore year of university. Such an immersive, dark, opaque, cathartic journey of an album.
A diamond that trancends the ages. Wonderful
I listen to the BUNNYMEN every day , killing moon is the song I play every morning on my way to work. Classic song , perfect vocals , fab guitar work 💘 , but it's just one of their superbly crafted songs , this band is genius.
When I heard the first album by E & B It was a few months after release but I didn’t know what or who Echo was. A friend of a friend told me about them and I was transfixed when I listened to the band on his Walkman. Liverpool was a long way from Lansing Michigan so I heard the band in drips and droplets over their golden age. They were a strange flower in the garden of the American Midwest new wave. In the pre internet days everything was word of mouth of cool kids parties. I loved the band but they were basically obscure during their entire existence. Imagine my surprise when I lived in London during the Britpop summer of 1995 to discover Echo & The Bunnymen were actually well known and considered a pop act who appeared frequently on television and radio playlists.
I was 14 when Ocean Rain came out, and it was probably my favorite record of my (American) high school years. Crazy to think it had such a mixed reaction.
Echo & The Bunnymen are EASILY my favorite band of all time.
LOVE THEM ! I remember buying "Crocodiles" for the cover photo alone!!!
Years later I saw them at the Rose ballroom (in NYC). REM opened for them, and I remember thinking " they'll never make it! " Ha! What irony , REM went on to become what they have become, but there remains a special place in my heart for Echo and the bunnymen.
It's uniquely chilling yet enticing. You've no choice but to go wherever it's going. Love it.
I must have heard "The Cutter" on the radio when I was in San Angelo, TX. I bought "Porcupine" on cassette when I was there. Later in Greece I had both "Crocodiles" and "Heaven Up Here" on cassette and then "Ocean Rain" on vinyl I think when I came back stateside where I saw Echo and the Bunnymen and The Church live in DC. Great show. Great memories.
Thank you for this! I adore Echo and The Killing Moon is a masterpiece!
The Killing Moon is transcendent. A song that is as timeless as a night brightened by moonlight and Stars ✨🌙💫
I’m American and I love the Brit’s music, I share it with my friends and they all love it.
I’ll never forget, and remain forever appreciative of, the night Rodney on the ROQ (106.7 FM) introduced this band to his audience. Hard to believe that was 40 yrs ago!!
Read Will sergeant’s memoir which is wonderful and essential reading for anyone who grew up in the 80s.
I just ordered it!
@@bonniemiller274 enjoy!! It’s a real treat and I suspect there’ll be part two to follow.
I will always love the bunny men and Ian’s solo projects. His voice is killer!
I just missed Echo growing up as I did in a very conservative christian "cult". I remember seeing the name written on peoples school bags and thinking "sounds like something I'd like". The were described to me as "like the Cure" and I loved the cure, i wasnt allowed to own their records but I had contraband mix-tapes. Much later I bought their first 4 albums, Porcupine was always my favourite, I didn't think much of Heaven Up Here. Thanks for these reviews, I get to relive my youth somewhat so thank you xo
JW?
One of the most underrated bands ever!
Underappreciated. Let's figure out these words, okay?
The most underrated and under appreciated band of the 80's, one great album after another, masterful song writing
Killing Moon is (in my humble opinion) the greatest song ever. A beautiful, thought provoking piece of genius. I adore it and have done since I first heard it in 1984. It inspires sadness, happiness and everything in between. I never get bored of hearing it and wish others could share my joy. Just perfect.
Perfect comment
Trash Theory !! I love the New British Cannon episodes. I watch the Cocteau Twins one repeatedly! Very informative. Makes me feel like my music knowledge is so minimal in comparison lol. Keep up the great work
That was excellent! I always had a sense that ‘Killing Moon’ sat in a similar pocket as Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’ track, and both the songs and the albums are frequently played to this day. If you ever fancied a foray into New York post punk folklore to explore Tom Verlaine, Television, Marquee Moon and the aftermath, I’ll be first in the queue to buy a ticket.
OMG, he needs to do a CBGBs video! Television, Richard Hell, Blondie, Talking Heads, Dead Boys, et al. So much of what he focuses on is British. It started first in NYC!
This!
One of the greatest songs from one of the most unknown bands here in the us love them
They were a big part of my high school and college. Well-written and produced vid! Thank you!
Saw them live on the Ocean Rain tour in Detroit, August 24th 1984. 38 years later and still the best show I’ve ever been to abd I’ve been to hundreds if not over a thousand.
I never heard of them until my girlfriend at the time brought me to their show in San Francisco in 1985 (or was it 86?). The Church was the warm up band. Great show! I've been a fan ever since.
The Church is soooo good and underrated, Under The Milky Way is up there with The Killing Moon as one of the best songs of the 80s and of all time tbh.
At the SF Civic?
@@Balthorium Yes! That was it.
In the Todd In the Shadows episode on A Flock Of Seagulls, he mentions the Liverpool scene, making note on how stupid the band names were. I guess Ian agreed when he named the Bunnymen. Also, Jayne Casey was an instrumental figure here. She sang for Big in Japan and then formed Pink Military.
"...Winter walks will always have a soundtrack" - Brilliant!
Another great video! Love the Big Country shout out, a largely forgotten band, but in fact, my first concert experience in '83.
I remember the video with the three wheelers.
Absolutely one of the bands whose music exists in the cells of my brain stem.
Loved this.
A great video about a great band. And what ever else you may think of him, I think it is hard to deny that Ian McCulloch had one of the best voices of the 80s. Perhaps the strongest, clearest singing voice of that decade.
Ian in one of those guys who can just put words to the moment. The times I've seen him in person I've come away with quotes that stayed with me. I don't know if that makes him a genius or not, but very few people can do that. Also - the music is incredible.
What an excellent video! Ians ego is actually kind of hilarious.
Echo and the Bunnymen were better than the Smiths by a mile.
Didn't think so in the 80's, loved the Smiths much more. But now? Yeah, I agree with you. I couldn't stand Morrissey's voice starting sometime in the 90's.
YES!!!!!!!!!
LOL
Why does one have to be better? They're so different I wouldn't even compare the two. Love them both.
@@gordon2598 We can all rank and compare according to our taste, nothing wrong with that. If I think they are better than the Smiths than that's my personal opinion, it's not right or wrong, just how I feel.
Both Ian & Will made The Killing Moon the eduring classic it is today. Every album, every tour before had been awesome, in America. But The Killing Moon sealed the deal as a transcendant masterpiece beyond indie, alternative, rock or pop itself.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
I wonder how a band like The Cure managed to reinvent themselves over and over and keep going while the Bunnymen fell apart. In 1984/85 they were both gaining new fans and chart success with more accessible music but while The Cure went on to do Kiss Me... and then the monumental Disintegration, the Bunnymen faltered and burnt out. Was it ambition, or talent, or just sheer luck?
The Bunnymen admitted to being particularly lazy and wary of pop stardom. They also were really a foursome and there was some tension between McCulloch and the other three. Robert Smith was always the leader and main songwriter of the Cure. He also never wanted to go solo--McCulloch did. There are also dozens more reasons....
If you haven't seen Trash Theory's video on the Cure bouncing between Goth & Pop, it is here: ua-cam.com/video/faVBcFmoAC8/v-deo.html
It may offer some insights.
I know there was talk from Ian about how they never really wanted it but I grew up with their music and back then he was as hungry as the rest. If you were in the business like me the real issue most of us pointed to was their horribly lazy management who didn’t know how to build a band beyond local club scene and didn’t seem to care. Ian’s mistake was not seeing his own potential and changing managers sooner. They were extremely popular on the college charts and could have exploded but for a myopic and incompetent label.
Maybe because they were busy working on their music instead of talking about how AWESOME they are LOL I do love them tho
The Cure also fell apart after Pornography, those interims pop singles where the band reinvents itself are really just Robert. That could never have happened with the Bunnymen. They were fundamentally a band, whose chemistry only worked with the four of them together.
Also, I think Smith is a much more self assured person than MacCulloch.
My mom introduced me to the song when I was young and didn’t really care for it when I was younger but it stuck with me. Here I am at 19, loving the song with all my heart and singing it every time it plays in my car.
Well done. The Bunnymen are of the finest bands ever, with every gig being special...
One of my favorites. Great retrospective. I saw them in Seattle at the Moore Theater as recently in 2018. I absolutely loved their catalog almost 40 years later.
Great video, I’m listening to Ocean Rain now 🤘
Would love to see videos on:
Talk Talk
The Fall
XTC
Minutemen
John Otway
Butthole Surfers
Half Man Half Biscuit
Dr. Feelgood
John Cooper Clarke
The Adverts
Also I noticed you did a video about TOTP you should also make one about the far superior & legendary ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ 🤘
A video on The Fall would be great, but it would need to be feature-length in order to do it justice.
While Ocean Rain is an undeniable masterpiece, my personal favorite is Heaven Up Here. A band I love, I’m forever grateful I got to see them play live in New York City for their last tour before breaking up. Although I must say, their reuniting has been fruitful, which really is an exception to the rule. How many reunited bands have produced anything worthwhile? For evidence, check out their What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? album. (And for any of you out there that followed them during their breakup, I have to say, Reverberation is terrific, as is the Electrafixion project. They can do no wrong!)
I agree the Bunnymen are the only band to put out consistently very good to excellent material, while none of it equals the magnificence of those first four masterpieces, even the fifth could have been a close masterpiece if they just recorded the original demos and alternate takes in their original punk form rather than glossy it all up by their producers.U2, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Erasure, et al have all consistently released subpar material since the 90's to today way below the Bunnymen's work of the same period. Did you see them at Pier 84 or Jones Beach (I was at the Beach performance)? I also have very high regard for REVERBERATION, BURNED and WAYGTDWYL.
@@henrybiedenkapp675, I believe it was at the Pier, with New Order and Gene Loves Jezebel on the same bill. At least that’s the way I remember it - that was long ago! However, I do recall Ray Manzarek playing on a couple of tracks with Echo, which I thought fantastic, as I’m a huge Doors fan, too!
@@johnpresnell, yes, Ray played at the Pier, but not at Jones Beach, so I missed out on that unique experience. I'm a huge Doors fan, too.
The dreamy-ethereal Bunnymen🖤 have aged like fine wine, their music endlessly giving back.
Additionally I see a Trash Theory production i hit the button 🖤
This couldn’t have come out at a better time, as if I couldn’t love this channel more
Rick: I'm going to write to my MP!
Neil: But you haven't got an MP, Rick, you're an anarchist.
Rick: Oh right. Then I shall write to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen !
Where he starts the letter "Dear Mr Echo ..." I used to love that scene.
I think about this line all the time!!!
“Dear Echo..”
Thank you for this. My old brain doesn't retain all of it's beloved pop culture nuggets as sharply any more. And I needed to read your comment to have the absurdist brilliance of that scene come flooding back.
Yesss. This is one of my favorite songs, I'm so happy you covered this!
For many years, and still to this day, I still believe The Killing Moon is one of the greatest songs ever written. The lyrics, the music, the vocals, the production and the video are timeless. Very interesting info on Donnie Darko. When I first sat down to watch that film it was more on a whim than anything, and when it opened with The Killing Moon, I was like, well, any movie that would open with this song is worth watching. And I loved it. Thanks for the great video. Lots of cool info.
This was wonderful, you do a great job with these! “Fate, up against your will” is one of the best lines ever written.
I’ve recently discovered Cathy Dennis, a UK pop songwriter that I’d love to know more about. She wrote Britney Spears “Toxic”, and Kylie Minouge’s “can’t get you out of my head”. The most interesting song she wrote was “Am I the Kinda girl” for herself, and then wrote “I Kissed a girl” for Katy Perry… also she wrote for the Sugarbabes, which is one of my favorite videos on this channel.
crazy how i didn't realize how huge the bunnymen's influence was on arcade fire. you can hear mac's bellow in win butler's voice... they even performed the cutter together
uh why y´all styled like our generation and culture ? this is some of the most bizarre shit i have ever seen ? hordes of people who have nothing to do with our cultures or how we grew up styled like how we grew up ?
@@xvbiffbangpow8579 what the fuck are you talking about
Lovely work, and so nostalgic. Takes me right back to the Liverpool of my youth. An amazing period for local music, and this was one of the best songs to come out of it.