Echo & The Bunnymen — “The Killing Moon” — Ocean Rain
hman:
kapi:
Never a bad time for this.
Seconded. I’m grateful to Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, which I hope highschoolers are still re-watching as obsessively as I did back when it came out, for introducing me to a spate of 80s bands beyond the froth and cheese VH1 would have us believe accounted for a whole decade’s musical developments. I remember thinking: holy shit, there were indie bands before 1990. Seems silly now, but the revelation hits hard. Echo & The Bunnymen, with “Killing Moon” unspooled over the glorious opening sequence*, instantly became a gold standard in my collection. I began with Songs To Learn & Sing, a shrewdly curated best-of, but quickly spilled into the back catalog with Crocodiles and Porcupine. Their weird shimmer is unmatched, and the weak spots in Ian McCulloch’s range make his flamboyant style that much more interesting. Meanwhile, there was Tears For Fears’ serious side to delve into, and The Church …
P.S.: If you’re interested in seeing a film that feels like it was directed by autism and edited by that autism’s autism, rent Southland Tales.
*In the director’s cut, “Killing Moon” is here swapped out for INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart.” This is easily one of the biggest cinematic blunders I can think of. No disrespect to INXS, of course.
