The Teardrop Explodes
Encyclopedia
The Teardrop Explodes were an English
post-punk
/neo-psychedelic
band formed in Liverpool
in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" (still a staple of 1980s alternative pop compilations) the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope
as well as that of keyboard player and co-manager David Balfe
(later a record producer, A&R man and the founder of Food Records
). Other members included later Smiths
producer Troy Tate
.
Along with other contemporary Liverpudlian groups, The Teardrop Explodes played a role in returning psychedelic elements to mainstream British rock and pop, initially favouring a lightly psychedelic West Coast beat-group sound (sometimes described as "bubblegum trance") and later exploring more experimental areas. In addition to their musical reputation, the band (and Cope in particular) had a reputation for eccentric pronouncements and behaviour, sometimes verging on the self-destructive. These featured strongly in contemporary press accounts and were later expanded on in Cope’s 1993 memoir Head On.
, with two native Liverpudlians – Ian McCulloch
(later of Echo & the Bunnymen
) and Pete Wylie
(who went on to form Wah!
) – in which Cope served as bass player. Although Crucial Three would later develop a legendary status, it was essentially an extremely short-lived rehearsal and writing band which kick-started the trio’s individual ambitions.
Cope and Wylie briefly teamed up in The Nova Mob (along with future Banshees drummer Budgie) which lasted for one gig before Cope reunited with McCulloch in the similarly short-lived Uh! (which also featured drummer Dave Pickett) . Cope and McCulloch went on to form a fourth group, A Shallow Madness, retaining Pickett as drummer but recruiting organ player Paul Simpson and part-time guitarist Michael “Mick” Finkler. Cope and McCulloch’s ongoing ego clashes led to the latter leaving the band during rehearsals, ultimately to form Echo and the Bunnymen. Cope, meanwhile, had befriended Liverpool scenester Gary "Rocky" Dwyer and had suggested a new band name to him – The Teardrop Explodes, taken from a panel caption in the Marvel
comic strip Daredevil
(#77). Dwyer’s initial response was a laconic "that’s a weird one you’ve got there, Jules." In spite of this. Dwyer’s enthusiasm was enough that he learned drums especially in order to play in the as-yet-unformed band, and Cope has subsequently credited him as the group’s original driving force.
With Cope taking on the roles of singer and bass guitarist, The Teardrop Explodes was completed by recruiting Simpson and Finkler from the wreck of A Shallow Madness and proved a more hardy gigging proposition than its predecessors, soon establishing itself as a live act. The band were soon signed as label acts and management clients to the up-and-coming Liverpool indie label Zoo Records
, run by former Dalek I Love You
bass player David Balfe and future KLF
man Bill Drummond
. Another act on the label was Echo and the Bunnymen, who maintained a love/hate relationship and continuing rivalry with the Teardrops throughout their existence.
The band’s next single, "Bouncing Babies", inspired a tribute song of its own: "I Can't Get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes" by The Freshies
, an ode to the difficulty of obtaining a copy of the song. In February 1980 the band released their third and final single on Zoo Records: “Treason”, which was recorded in London with producers Clive Langer
and Alan Winstanley
.
In the summer of 1980, The Teardrop Explodes began recording their debut album, Kilimanjaro, at Rockfield Studios
in Monmouthshire
. The sessions were interrupted by touring requirements, and also by internal dissension. This peaked when Cope and Balfe opted to fire Mick Finkler as guitarist. Cope would subsequently claim
that "Mick, to me, had got really complacent. There was no fire in what he wanted to do. Mick just wasn't bothered about pushing at all. I thought what's more important, the friendship or the band? And when it came down to it I realised the band was the most important." Finkler's sacking earned the band a fair amount of ire from the closely linked and competitive Liverpool scene (and from Ian McCulloch in particular) as well as establishing Cope's reputation as something of a tyrant.
Finkler was replaced by Balfe’s Dalek I Love You
colleague Alan Gill
, who was in the band for the second set of Kilimanjaro sessions and re-recorded approximately half of Finkler’s guitar parts. Gill was also instrumental in introducing the previously drug-free Cope to both cannabis
and LSD
. This would ensure that a band which had previously had a strong interest only in the stylings and theory of psychedelic rock
soon began living the psychedelic lifestyle and perspective in earnest.
When released later in 1980, Kilimanjaro reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart and the band toured to support it.
but by now Cope and Balfe’s abrasive relationship had worsened to the point that Balfe was ousted as group keyboard player, although he continued to be involved with management.
As well as broadening the band’s sound and outlook, Alan Gill had brought in an all-but-complete new song before his departure, which he and Cope had reworked. This was released as the band’s next single, "Reward". In January 1981, the song hit #6 on the UK Singles Chart (with the semi-estranged Balfe joining the band to mime trumpet playing during their Top of the Pops appearance). "Reward" was added to the tracklisting of a hastily commissioned Kilimanjaro reissue and the band found themselves to be rising mainstream stars, with the ever-quotable Cope a favourite for magazine interviews.
The band relocated to London
to take advantage of their growing success, although by now Cope was retreating into a drugged lifestyle and beginning "a period of unrestrained megalomania." In order to keep the band on the road as a touring concern, two London musicians were hired – keyboard player Jeff Hammer and bass player Alfie Agius (the latter freeing Cope to concentrate on vocals and rhythm guitar). Despite the internal turmoil, by 1981 The Teardrop Explodes were at the height of their popularity. In March, the band played its first American dates (a time also notable for Cope’s meeting with Dorian Beslity, who’d later become his second wife).
In April, the band had another Top 20 hit with the re-released "Treason" (featuring the earlier Kilimanjaro line-up of the band) which reached #18 in the UK singles chart. Another single, "When I Dream", received airplay on progressive radio in the U.S., introducing the band to new fans.
In June 1981, the band embarked on another American tour, during which they attracted attention from members of the American psychedelic scene as well as those who had heard of them via their reputation as pop stars. The tour proved to be a chaotic affair: neither Agius nor Hammer fitted into the group socially (to the point of physical altercations with road manager Colin Butler) and Cope was retreating further into an LSD-fuelled isolation, retaining only Dwyer as trusted companion. The tour finally came adrift on the East Coast in a mess of bad business arrangements and infighting.
On their return to the UK, the five-piece Teardrop Explodes recorded the song "Passionate Friend" (which was allegedly about Cope's brief recent relationship with Ian McCulloch
's sister, further increasing the friction between Cope and his former bandmate). Released as a single, it reached #25 in the UK chart and gained the group another Top of the Pops appearance (in which Cope performed wearing a ripped pillowcase he’d made into a T-shirt, later claiming to have been tripping on LSD throughout the performance). Subsequently, both Agius and Hammer were sacked. Having sufficiently mended his relationship with Cope and Dwyer, David Balfe returned to the group as keyboard player.
, which was recorded in London during November 1981 with a nucleus of Cope, Dwyer, Tate and Balfe. Unlike the first album, which was more of a band effort, Wilder was more the work of Cope (who took sole songwriting credit on every track on the album) and was a bleaker, more sombre work than its predecessor cataloguing the breakup of Cope's first marriage and the mental chaos surrounding Cope and the band. The album was also a break from the solid beat-group sound of Kilimanjaro, showcasing a variety of different approaches. It reached #29 on the UK chart, but ultimately failed to perform as well as Kilimanjaro. The next single, "Colours Fly Away" stalled at #57 in the UK chart, signaling the end of the Teardrops as a popular singles band.
At the end of 1981 (and with Ronnie François
now added on bass guitar) the band took up a lengthy residence at the Pyramid Club in Liverpool, where they set up “Club Zoo”, playing twice a day as a five-piece,. The band then undertook an extensive tour of Europe, the USA and Australia, hiring trumpeter Ted Emmett (ex-64 Spoons
) for the live band.
By March 1982, the Teardrops’ internal situation was as fraught as ever following assorted disagreements and individual meltdowns. The increasingly alienated Cope retreated to his hometown of Tamworth
and left the day-to-day running of the group in the hands of Balfe, who took the opportunity to sack Tate, Francois and Emmett.
A third single from Wilder - the uncharacteristically sombre "Tiny Children" - was released in June 1982 and narrowly missed the top 40 (#41 UK) despite being championed by the then high profile BBC Radio One DJ, Mike Read. By now, Balfe had also developed an interest in writing songs and consequently lobbied to take over as band songwriter, with Cope retained predominantly as singer and frontman.
To Cope’s disgust, the band were already committed to a UK tour playing as a guitarless three-piece, with the instrumentation covered mainly by synthesizer and backing tapes. Cope found the tour “disastrous and demeaning”: he performed most of it in a self-destructive sulk, raging at his audience, and quit the group immediately afterwards.
In February 1983, Mercury Records released a delayed (and now posthumous) Teardrop Explodes EP, “You Disappear From View”, which included songs salvaged from the aborted third album. The EP received average reviews and charted poorly at #41 in the UK charts.
Following the band’s dissolution, Julian Cope began a successful career as a solo artist, writer and cultural commentator which continues to this day. Gary Dwyer played drums on Cope’s 1984 debut solo album World Shut Your Mouth
, and would drum for Balcony Dogs in the late 1980s, but would subsequently leave music for a variety of jobs including fork-lift driver. David Balfe moved into artist management (initially working with Strawberry Switchblade
) and subsequently set up Food Records
, acting as a mentor to bands such as Blur
: he would quit the music business in the mid-‘90s and now works as a freelance writer and dramatist. Former guitarist Troy Tate would release two solo albums and work as a producer (including work with The Smiths
).
archaeology, shamanism and the promotion of Krautrock
) he commented "Supposedly intelligent people say to me: "Don't you think you'd be more successful if you re-formed The Teardrop Explodes?" I'm doing all this stuff to keep myself invigorated every day, hanging out with people I believe are culture heroes, and you think I'm doing all this because it hasn't yet occurred to me to reform The Teardrop Explodes?'
In 1989, various Teardrop Explodes promos were included on Copeulation, a compilation of Julian Cope’s pop videos. In April 1990, Mercury Records released a Teardrop Explodes album called Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes. Recycling the original and rejected title of the Kilimanjaro album, it had been compiled by Balfe from the abortive third album sessions and the "You Disappear From View" EP tracks. In November of the same year erstwhile Teardrop Explodes manager Bill Drummond
(without consulting Cope) released yet another Teardrops album, Piano, which compiled all of the early Zoo Records
singles.
Cope’s response to the 1990 albums was mixed (and, in the case of Piano, wrathful), although he would subsequently concede that Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes "(wasn’t) as crap as it seemed in September 82." In all cases the press reception was highly positive. In August 1992, Cope was able to work on a retrospective under his own terms with the release of Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes
which featured twenty tracks personally selected by Cope and including six by The Teardrop Explodes. In 2004, Cope's Head Heritage label issued another Teardrop Explodes compilation called Zoology: this featured sixteen rare and re-mastered songs taken from lost recording sessions, demos and live bootlegs and packaged "in the Zoo Records tradition of clashing colours and rudimentary graphics."
In 1994, Cope published Head On, the first part of his autobiography. The book covered his childhood, his arrival in Liverpool and the entire career of The Teardrop Explodes. It concluded with the demise of the band.
In 2010, both Kilimanjaro and Wilder were reissued as multi-disc deluxe editions with bonus tracks. In June of the same year, Mojo Magazine gave The Teardrop Explodes their 'Inspiration' Award (previously won by the likes of The Clash
, Blur
, Bjork
, and The Buzzcocks). The magazine commented ""We have a tradition of reuniting bands at the Mojo Honours List. The Specials
in 2008 - with Jerry Dammers
- is a case in point. And last year, Blur and Mott The Hoople made their first appearances in reunited form on a stage at the MOJO Honours List. This year, we're amazed that The Teardrop Explodes agreed to come and receive this award that celebrates their spirit of innovation and their impact. They were the great ambassadors of psychedelia in the '80s when the genre was all but dead. And you can hear their influence on Morrissey
and Blur
- to name but two acts that benefited from The Teardrops' epic post-punk sensibilities." The award was presented by Alex James from Blur. David Balfe, Gary Dwyer and Alan Gill all showed up to accept the award: Julian Cope ultimately refused to attend the ceremony.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
/neo-psychedelic
Neo-psychedelia
Neo-psychedelia is music that emulates or is heavily influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s. It began to be revived among British post-punk bands of the later 1970s and early 1980s and was taken up by groups including bands of the Paisley Underground and Madchester scenes, as well as...
band formed in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" (still a staple of 1980s alternative pop compilations) the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
as well as that of keyboard player and co-manager David Balfe
David Balfe
David Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards with The Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their number one hit - "Country House".-Biography:...
(later a record producer, A&R man and the founder of Food Records
Food Records
Food Records was a record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe, who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distribution, Food licenced acts to the Polygram offshoot London and Warner's WEA Records, before...
). Other members included later Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
producer Troy Tate
Troy Tate
Troy Tate is a musician and record producer who was a member of several bands including The Teardrop Explodes and Fashion as well as working as a solo artist.-Biography:...
.
Along with other contemporary Liverpudlian groups, The Teardrop Explodes played a role in returning psychedelic elements to mainstream British rock and pop, initially favouring a lightly psychedelic West Coast beat-group sound (sometimes described as "bubblegum trance") and later exploring more experimental areas. In addition to their musical reputation, the band (and Cope in particular) had a reputation for eccentric pronouncements and behaviour, sometimes verging on the self-destructive. These featured strongly in contemporary press accounts and were later expanded on in Cope’s 1993 memoir Head On.
Origins
Having arrived in Merseyside in 1976 (as a student attending City of Liverpool College of Higher Education), Julian Cope became involved in Liverpool’s emerging post-punk scene. His first band was Crucial ThreeCrucial Three
The Crucial Three were a short-lived band that existed for approximately six weeks in early 1977. They nevertheless achieved notoriety on account of the individual success of all three founding members: Julian Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes and has enjoyed a long and successful solo career as...
, with two native Liverpudlians – Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch (singer)
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...
(later of Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
) and Pete Wylie
Pete Wylie
-Studio albums:- Extended Plays :-Singles:-External links:***...
(who went on to form Wah!
Wah!
Wah! is a U.S. band performing and creating music for the New Age and yoga market. The female lead singer Wah! and the band’s name are synonymous....
) – in which Cope served as bass player. Although Crucial Three would later develop a legendary status, it was essentially an extremely short-lived rehearsal and writing band which kick-started the trio’s individual ambitions.
Cope and Wylie briefly teamed up in The Nova Mob (along with future Banshees drummer Budgie) which lasted for one gig before Cope reunited with McCulloch in the similarly short-lived Uh! (which also featured drummer Dave Pickett) . Cope and McCulloch went on to form a fourth group, A Shallow Madness, retaining Pickett as drummer but recruiting organ player Paul Simpson and part-time guitarist Michael “Mick” Finkler. Cope and McCulloch’s ongoing ego clashes led to the latter leaving the band during rehearsals, ultimately to form Echo and the Bunnymen. Cope, meanwhile, had befriended Liverpool scenester Gary "Rocky" Dwyer and had suggested a new band name to him – The Teardrop Explodes, taken from a panel caption in the Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
comic strip Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
(#77). Dwyer’s initial response was a laconic "that’s a weird one you’ve got there, Jules." In spite of this. Dwyer’s enthusiasm was enough that he learned drums especially in order to play in the as-yet-unformed band, and Cope has subsequently credited him as the group’s original driving force.
With Cope taking on the roles of singer and bass guitarist, The Teardrop Explodes was completed by recruiting Simpson and Finkler from the wreck of A Shallow Madness and proved a more hardy gigging proposition than its predecessors, soon establishing itself as a live act. The band were soon signed as label acts and management clients to the up-and-coming Liverpool indie label Zoo Records
Zoo Records
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan...
, run by former Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You may refer to:* Dalek I Love You, a synthpop group* Dalek I Love You , the group's self-titled album* Dalek I Love You , an audio play broadcast on BBC Radio...
bass player David Balfe and future KLF
The KLF
The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....
man Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
. Another act on the label was Echo and the Bunnymen, who maintained a love/hate relationship and continuing rivalry with the Teardrops throughout their existence.
Early singles and Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes released their first single, "Sleeping Gas", in February 1979. Simpson’s stage presence was now such that he rivalled Cope as the band’s onstage focus, and by mutual agreement the two decided that the group wasn’t big enough for both of them. Simpson left the band in the spring: the next year, he would link up with Ian Broudie to form Wild Swans. His initial replacement was Ged Quinn, who played on the Teardrops’ subsequent British tour. However, co-manager David Balfe had also been lobbying for full Teardrops membership: by July 1979, he had succeeded in ousting Quinn and taking his place as keyboard player. Balfe's famously frictive relationship with Cope would characterise the rest of the band's history, fuelling both its ambition and its infighting.The band’s next single, "Bouncing Babies", inspired a tribute song of its own: "I Can't Get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes" by The Freshies
The Freshies
The Freshies were a punk band from Manchester, England formed in the late 1970s and dissolved in the early 1980s, fronted by singer and comedian Chris Sievey .-Career:...
, an ode to the difficulty of obtaining a copy of the song. In February 1980 the band released their third and final single on Zoo Records: “Treason”, which was recorded in London with producers Clive Langer
Clive Langer
Clive Langer is a British record producer active from the mid 1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films Still Crazy and Brothers of the Head. Prior to his record producing career he was a guitarist with the British cult band Deaf SchoolLanger...
and Alan Winstanley
Alan Winstanley
Alan Kenneth Winstanley is a British record producer active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer.-Notable studio albums produced by Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer:* One Step Beyond... – Madness...
.
In the summer of 1980, The Teardrop Explodes began recording their debut album, Kilimanjaro, at Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
. The sessions were interrupted by touring requirements, and also by internal dissension. This peaked when Cope and Balfe opted to fire Mick Finkler as guitarist. Cope would subsequently claim
that "Mick, to me, had got really complacent. There was no fire in what he wanted to do. Mick just wasn't bothered about pushing at all. I thought what's more important, the friendship or the band? And when it came down to it I realised the band was the most important." Finkler's sacking earned the band a fair amount of ire from the closely linked and competitive Liverpool scene (and from Ian McCulloch in particular) as well as establishing Cope's reputation as something of a tyrant.
Finkler was replaced by Balfe’s Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You may refer to:* Dalek I Love You, a synthpop group* Dalek I Love You , the group's self-titled album* Dalek I Love You , an audio play broadcast on BBC Radio...
colleague Alan Gill
Alan Gill
Alan Gill is a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, who formed part of the synthpop band Dalek I Love You and the Neo-psychedelic band The Teardrop Explodes.-Early career:...
, who was in the band for the second set of Kilimanjaro sessions and re-recorded approximately half of Finkler’s guitar parts. Gill was also instrumental in introducing the previously drug-free Cope to both cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. This would ensure that a band which had previously had a strong interest only in the stylings and theory of psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
soon began living the psychedelic lifestyle and perspective in earnest.
When released later in 1980, Kilimanjaro reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart and the band toured to support it.
"Reward" and success
In November 1980 Alan Gill left The Teardrop Explodes, claiming not to enjoy the touring lifestyle. Cope would later praise him for his strong creative impact on both the band and its perspective, but also suggested that with the band’s growing success Gill had found himself "afraid to compete." Gill was replaced by former Shake guitarist Troy TateTroy Tate
Troy Tate is a musician and record producer who was a member of several bands including The Teardrop Explodes and Fashion as well as working as a solo artist.-Biography:...
but by now Cope and Balfe’s abrasive relationship had worsened to the point that Balfe was ousted as group keyboard player, although he continued to be involved with management.
As well as broadening the band’s sound and outlook, Alan Gill had brought in an all-but-complete new song before his departure, which he and Cope had reworked. This was released as the band’s next single, "Reward". In January 1981, the song hit #6 on the UK Singles Chart (with the semi-estranged Balfe joining the band to mime trumpet playing during their Top of the Pops appearance). "Reward" was added to the tracklisting of a hastily commissioned Kilimanjaro reissue and the band found themselves to be rising mainstream stars, with the ever-quotable Cope a favourite for magazine interviews.
The band relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to take advantage of their growing success, although by now Cope was retreating into a drugged lifestyle and beginning "a period of unrestrained megalomania." In order to keep the band on the road as a touring concern, two London musicians were hired – keyboard player Jeff Hammer and bass player Alfie Agius (the latter freeing Cope to concentrate on vocals and rhythm guitar). Despite the internal turmoil, by 1981 The Teardrop Explodes were at the height of their popularity. In March, the band played its first American dates (a time also notable for Cope’s meeting with Dorian Beslity, who’d later become his second wife).
In April, the band had another Top 20 hit with the re-released "Treason" (featuring the earlier Kilimanjaro line-up of the band) which reached #18 in the UK singles chart. Another single, "When I Dream", received airplay on progressive radio in the U.S., introducing the band to new fans.
In June 1981, the band embarked on another American tour, during which they attracted attention from members of the American psychedelic scene as well as those who had heard of them via their reputation as pop stars. The tour proved to be a chaotic affair: neither Agius nor Hammer fitted into the group socially (to the point of physical altercations with road manager Colin Butler) and Cope was retreating further into an LSD-fuelled isolation, retaining only Dwyer as trusted companion. The tour finally came adrift on the East Coast in a mess of bad business arrangements and infighting.
On their return to the UK, the five-piece Teardrop Explodes recorded the song "Passionate Friend" (which was allegedly about Cope's brief recent relationship with Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch (singer)
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...
's sister, further increasing the friction between Cope and his former bandmate). Released as a single, it reached #25 in the UK chart and gained the group another Top of the Pops appearance (in which Cope performed wearing a ripped pillowcase he’d made into a T-shirt, later claiming to have been tripping on LSD throughout the performance). Subsequently, both Agius and Hammer were sacked. Having sufficiently mended his relationship with Cope and Dwyer, David Balfe returned to the group as keyboard player.
Wilder and Club Zoo
Expectations were high for the band's second album, WilderWilder (album)
Wilder is the second album by neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, and the final completed album released by the group....
, which was recorded in London during November 1981 with a nucleus of Cope, Dwyer, Tate and Balfe. Unlike the first album, which was more of a band effort, Wilder was more the work of Cope (who took sole songwriting credit on every track on the album) and was a bleaker, more sombre work than its predecessor cataloguing the breakup of Cope's first marriage and the mental chaos surrounding Cope and the band. The album was also a break from the solid beat-group sound of Kilimanjaro, showcasing a variety of different approaches. It reached #29 on the UK chart, but ultimately failed to perform as well as Kilimanjaro. The next single, "Colours Fly Away" stalled at #57 in the UK chart, signaling the end of the Teardrops as a popular singles band.
At the end of 1981 (and with Ronnie François
Ron François
Ron François was a founder member of The Sinceros , and former member of the London R&B band The Strutters. After the demise of The Sinceros in 1981, François joined The Teardrop Explodes and stayed with Epic Records releasing a solo single, "If You Love Me", in 1982 before departing to live in...
now added on bass guitar) the band took up a lengthy residence at the Pyramid Club in Liverpool, where they set up “Club Zoo”, playing twice a day as a five-piece,. The band then undertook an extensive tour of Europe, the USA and Australia, hiring trumpeter Ted Emmett (ex-64 Spoons
64 Spoons
64 Spoons were a British rock/pop band active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who utilised strong elements of progressive rock, jazz-fusion, punk energy and performance comedy...
) for the live band.
By March 1982, the Teardrops’ internal situation was as fraught as ever following assorted disagreements and individual meltdowns. The increasingly alienated Cope retreated to his hometown of Tamworth
Tamworth
Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...
and left the day-to-day running of the group in the hands of Balfe, who took the opportunity to sack Tate, Francois and Emmett.
A third single from Wilder - the uncharacteristically sombre "Tiny Children" - was released in June 1982 and narrowly missed the top 40 (#41 UK) despite being championed by the then high profile BBC Radio One DJ, Mike Read. By now, Balfe had also developed an interest in writing songs and consequently lobbied to take over as band songwriter, with Cope retained predominantly as singer and frontman.
The lost third album and final split
In September 1982, the band reconvened at Rockfield Studios to record their third album around the nucleus of Cope, Dwyer and Balfe. Creative tensions were high, as Cope wanted to write ballads and quirky pop songs, while Balfe was more interested in recording synth-based music. Balfe took over the sessions and locked Cope and Dwyer out of the studios for much of the time. Rarely able (or inclined) to add their own contributions, Cope and Dwyer worked off their frustration playing risky, stoned cross-country games with speeding jeeps. The situation culminated in a notorious (though disputed) event in which an irate Dwyer chased Balfe over the Monmouthshire hillsides with a loaded shotgun. Hating Balfe’s instrumentals, Cope walked out of the sessions with only part of the singing done and the album incomplete.To Cope’s disgust, the band were already committed to a UK tour playing as a guitarless three-piece, with the instrumentation covered mainly by synthesizer and backing tapes. Cope found the tour “disastrous and demeaning”: he performed most of it in a self-destructive sulk, raging at his audience, and quit the group immediately afterwards.
In February 1983, Mercury Records released a delayed (and now posthumous) Teardrop Explodes EP, “You Disappear From View”, which included songs salvaged from the aborted third album. The EP received average reviews and charted poorly at #41 in the UK charts.
Following the band’s dissolution, Julian Cope began a successful career as a solo artist, writer and cultural commentator which continues to this day. Gary Dwyer played drums on Cope’s 1984 debut solo album World Shut Your Mouth
World Shut Your Mouth (album)
World Shut Your Mouth is the debut album solo album by Julian Cope.-Background:World Shut Your Mouth was written during Cope's 1983 retreat to the village of Drayton Bassett , following the breakup of Cope's former band The Teardrop Explodes...
, and would drum for Balcony Dogs in the late 1980s, but would subsequently leave music for a variety of jobs including fork-lift driver. David Balfe moved into artist management (initially working with Strawberry Switchblade
Strawberry Switchblade
Strawberry Switchblade was a female pop rock band formed in Scotland in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, best known for their song "Since Yesterday" in 1985.-Before being signed:...
) and subsequently set up Food Records
Food Records
Food Records was a record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe, who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distribution, Food licenced acts to the Polygram offshoot London and Warner's WEA Records, before...
, acting as a mentor to bands such as Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
: he would quit the music business in the mid-‘90s and now works as a freelance writer and dramatist. Former guitarist Troy Tate would release two solo albums and work as a producer (including work with The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
).
Legacy of The Teardrop Explodes (and reissues)
Interest in The Teardrop Explodes would continue long after the band's demise. Cope, however, has always resisted pressure to reform the band. When asked in 2000 if the Teardrop Explodes would ever get back together, he said: "Would you ever return to having your mother wipe your asshole?" In the course of a 2008 interview which dealt with his more current activities (including outsider politics, NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
archaeology, shamanism and the promotion of Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
) he commented "Supposedly intelligent people say to me: "Don't you think you'd be more successful if you re-formed The Teardrop Explodes?" I'm doing all this stuff to keep myself invigorated every day, hanging out with people I believe are culture heroes, and you think I'm doing all this because it hasn't yet occurred to me to reform The Teardrop Explodes?'
In 1989, various Teardrop Explodes promos were included on Copeulation, a compilation of Julian Cope’s pop videos. In April 1990, Mercury Records released a Teardrop Explodes album called Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes. Recycling the original and rejected title of the Kilimanjaro album, it had been compiled by Balfe from the abortive third album sessions and the "You Disappear From View" EP tracks. In November of the same year erstwhile Teardrop Explodes manager Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
(without consulting Cope) released yet another Teardrops album, Piano, which compiled all of the early Zoo Records
Zoo Records
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan...
singles.
Cope’s response to the 1990 albums was mixed (and, in the case of Piano, wrathful), although he would subsequently concede that Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes "(wasn’t) as crap as it seemed in September 82." In all cases the press reception was highly positive. In August 1992, Cope was able to work on a retrospective under his own terms with the release of Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes
Floored Genius
Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes 1979-91 is a compilation album by Julian Cope, released in 1992, combining Cope's work with The Teardrop Explodes and his early solo work.-Track listing:#Reward #Treason...
which featured twenty tracks personally selected by Cope and including six by The Teardrop Explodes. In 2004, Cope's Head Heritage label issued another Teardrop Explodes compilation called Zoology: this featured sixteen rare and re-mastered songs taken from lost recording sessions, demos and live bootlegs and packaged "in the Zoo Records tradition of clashing colours and rudimentary graphics."
In 1994, Cope published Head On, the first part of his autobiography. The book covered his childhood, his arrival in Liverpool and the entire career of The Teardrop Explodes. It concluded with the demise of the band.
In 2010, both Kilimanjaro and Wilder were reissued as multi-disc deluxe editions with bonus tracks. In June of the same year, Mojo Magazine gave The Teardrop Explodes their 'Inspiration' Award (previously won by the likes of The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
, Bjork
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
, and The Buzzcocks). The magazine commented ""We have a tradition of reuniting bands at the Mojo Honours List. The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
in 2008 - with Jerry Dammers
Jerry Dammers
Jeremy David Hounsell "Jerry" Dammers is a British musician who is a founder and keyboard player of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A...
- is a case in point. And last year, Blur and Mott The Hoople made their first appearances in reunited form on a stage at the MOJO Honours List. This year, we're amazed that The Teardrop Explodes agreed to come and receive this award that celebrates their spirit of innovation and their impact. They were the great ambassadors of psychedelia in the '80s when the genre was all but dead. And you can hear their influence on Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
and Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
- to name but two acts that benefited from The Teardrops' epic post-punk sensibilities." The award was presented by Alex James from Blur. David Balfe, Gary Dwyer and Alan Gill all showed up to accept the award: Julian Cope ultimately refused to attend the ceremony.
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
||
| 1980 | Kilimanjaro
|
24 | 25 | 156 |
| 1981 | Wilder Wilder (album) Wilder is the second album by neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, and the final completed album released by the group.... |
29 | 19 | 176 |
| 1990 | Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes
Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label.... |
72 | – | – |
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
||
| 1990 | Piano (rarities)
|
– | – | – |
| 1992 | Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes Floored Genius Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes 1979-91 is a compilation album by Julian Cope, released in 1992, combining Cope's work with The Teardrop Explodes and his early solo work.-Track listing:#Reward #Treason... Island Records Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group... |
22 | – | – |
| 2001 | The Greatest Hit
|
– | – | – |
| 2002 | The Collection
|
– | – | – |
| 2004 | Zoology (rarities)
|
– | – | – |
| 2007 | Peel Sessions Plus (1979-82) (sessions recorded for BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock... ) |
– | – | – |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
UK Indie UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered... |
IRL Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
NZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
|||
| 1979 | "Sleeping Gas" (Zoo Records Zoo Records Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan... ) |
– | – | – | – | Kilimanjaro |
| "Bouncing Babies" (Zoo) | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1980 | "Treason (It's Just A Story)" (Zoo) | – | 3 | – | – | |
| "When I Dream" | 47 | – | – | – | ||
| 1981 | "Reward" | 6 | – | 11 | – | — |
| "Treason (It's Just A Story)" (Mercury Records re-release) | 18 | – | – | – | Kilimanjaro | |
| "Ha-Ha I'm Drowning" | – | – | – | – | ||
| "Passionate Friend" | 25 | – | – | 48 | Wilder | |
| "Colours Fly Away" | 54 | – | – | – | ||
| 1982 | "Tiny Children" | 44 | – | – | – | |
| 1983 | "You Disappear From View" | 41 | – | – | – | Everybody Wants To Shag... The Teardrop Explodes |
| 1990 | "Serious Danger" | 92 | – | – | – | |
| "Count to Ten and Run For Cover | – | – | – | – | ||