When, “Lips Like Sugar” came out it put Echo and the
Bunnymen on the map. They were already on the Alternative Music radar in
college campus and at dance clubs. They were kind of old hat really – at least –
that crowd – but the rest of the world had never really heard of them. And by
the rest of the world I mean mostly America. When EATB switched over to Sire
Records a couple of interesting things happened. They released a self titled
album and it had some radio friendly songs on it. They also were touring with
New Order in North America. This captured the attention of CNN and they focused
in on their song, “Lips Like Sugar” and built them up to be this new fangled
Beatles.
The New Order tour came off like another British Invasion
and it was enough to get them some real exposure. The tour was so popular in
the summer of 1987 that they were invited back to play in Ann Arbor at Hill
Auditorium in the winter of 1988. This was the real deal – all original
members. The band really delivered some amazing tracks and also reached the
attention of Rolling Stone Magazine and MTV.
During this brief heyday there were two different versions
of – Lips Like Sugar. One was a straight forward performance video and some
large screen projections. It was a pretty interesting video with some black and
white footage. The second version – which is their official version – featured a couple of girls in
space suits who were spying on the band. The video ends with EATB wearing
planets on their heads while playing guitars and jumping out of craters. It was
a very strange video but they were being true to themselves. Echo and the Bunnymen never got back to this weird state when it came to videos. In fact, they rarely
made any after this one because they broke up in 1988.
The career gets blurry from here. Lead singer Ian McCulloch left the group to pursue a solo project and was replaced by Noel Burke. The
drummer, Peter DeFreitas, died horribly in a motorcycle accident that winter
and the chemistry that made them unique fizzled.
Here are both of the videos for, “Lips Like Sugar” - Planets included.......
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OFFICIAL VIDEO - LIPS LIKE SUGAR, ( With Planet Sequence) |
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LIVE - LIPS LIKE SUGAR, ( With Planets) |
Echo And The Bunnymen - Saint Andrews Hall, Detroit - Concert Review >>>
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