May 6, 2011 by A.S. Van Dorston

Echo & the Bunnymen kicked off their Crocodiles/Heaven Up Here tour on May 5 in Atlanta, where they play their first two albums in their entirety. Former members Lol Tolhurst and Roger O’Donnell will join The Cure for shows in Sydney to perform their first three albums, Three Imaginary Boys (e.g. Boys Don’t Cry), Seventeen Seconds and Faith on May 31 and June 1. This fall The Mission and Gene Loves Jezebel will play a 25th anniversary concert. Last year I saw Psychedelic Furs perform a selection of their best 80s songs. Nearly all of these shows have been or will sell out. These post-punk bands that became the cream of college rock radio in the mid-eighties are likely playing to bigger crowds now than they were 30 years ago.

“College Rock” was used to describe the music that populated the playlists of American college radio stations in the 80s, just before commercial stations began using the term “modern rock” in the late 80s, and then “alternative rock.” My first exposure to college rock began with KUNI, the radio station of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, which also transmitted in four other cities, including my hometown of Dubuque. I was introduced to all sorts of post-punk and indie rock on shows often hosted by KUNI mastermind Bob Dorr. While I got turned onto American bands like R.E.M. and the Replacements, British and Australian bands overall seemed to have more allure. The less I knew about them, the more mysterious they were. At least until they started showing up in soundtracks to movies that defined the adolescent years of my generation, such as John Hughes’ Pretty In Pink (1986) and Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987).

Seeing the row of cassettes in the banner of the Slicing Up Eyeballs website, which tracks reunions, tours, reissues and new releases of college rock era bands, reminds me of when I’d discover to my surprise and delight, that Target stocked a lot of these in their $5.99 cassette sales. By 1986 most of these bands had pretty solid major label distribution, were all pretty well produced, but had a refreshing array of styles as colorful as their cover art. My friend Mike and I would often buy something like The Church, Love & Rockets, The Woodentops or Screaming Blue Messiahs based on just one track I heard via KUNI, or even unheard based on a record review. The charts and MTV were still dominated by mainstream pop and hair metal like Bon Jovi and Poison, but at least some of college rock wasn’t so underground that they were impossible to find by then. With the demise of Trouser Press and The Record magazines, SPIN and Rolling Stone seemed to pick up some slack in reviewing college rock.

By the time I actually got to college, I started to lose track of the bands that hadn’t already broken up. I played some of the bands on my first couple radio shows in the spring and summer of ’88, but then became immersed in my pre-punk, punk and post-punk show. Time spent listening to new music in 1988-89 was limited mostly to Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Slayer, Dinosaur Jr., Godflesh, Fugazi, Melvins and Bad Brains. I rarely heard commercial radio, which was apparently playing hits by The Church, Love And Rockets, New Order and The Cure. But to my ears at the time they sounded completely different than a couple years before, way too mellow, overproduced, dancey or mellow next to Wire, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Gang Of Four, The Birthday Party and Pere Ubu. Some of the releases in 1989 (XTC, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Hoodoo Gurus) I heard in full and was bitterly disappointed, others (The Cure, New Order, Love And Rockets, The Stone Roses) I completely ignored. I didn’t get around to hearing most of them for another decade, when I first started to miss that kind of music. I’ve gradually appreciated them for what they are, the last glimmer of some pretty awesome bands (or in the case of The Stone Roses, the only burst of creativity from a hugely overrated, but still enjoyable band). Every couple years I revisit this era (1987: 20th Year Reunion, Revisiting Music After 20+ Years, 1986: One Boy’s Quest to Avoid Bon Jovi and Find Cooler Bands) and get reaquainted with albums I hadn’t listened to in ages, or missed at the time.

One band I completely missed was The House Of Love. Their debut album made a big impact in England in 1988, picking up the torch from The Smiths as the next big guitar pop band. They were totally off my radar as I was focused on noiser fare at the time. It wasn’t until 2000 that I finally got a comp courtesy of Julian White, of the first album and singles from 1986 and 1987. Their first single “Christine” was supposedly their pinnacle, which threw me because it just sounded like an okay rip-off of early Jesus and the Mary Chain. It wasn’t until this past month that I really dug into their catalog and developed an appreciation for them, especially the immaculate guitar that can evoke melancholy or vivid, swirly psychedelia.

Two other bands I completely ignored were on the goth end of the spectrum, The Mission U.K. and Gene Loves Jezebel. The Mission U.K. consisted of a couple ex-members of The Sisters Of Mercy, who I liked pretty well. I don’t think there was a goth-shaped hole in my life, but the albums are enjoyable. What’s surprising is that I heard very little of the darker goth influences of Bauhaus, Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees, and more of the arena-ready stylings of contemporaries U2 and The Simple Minds. I might have been scared off by the entry in the Trouser Press Record Guide, “The dull and insipid guitar/keyboard/string bombast of Gods Own Medicine (1986) proceeds from a horrible amalgam of Led Zeppelin, Yes and Echo & the Bunnymen.” It’s enjoyable in a shameless classic rock inspired way as The Cult. Children (1988) actually employ’s Led Zep’s John Paul Jones as producer. Gene Loves Jezebel is fairly similar, but with the vocals a more acquired taste, full of pre-Perry Farrell yelps and squawks.

Furniture are one of those lost bands dug up by Cherry Red and reissued in 2010. Their song “Brilliant Mind” was featured on the Some Kind Of Wonderful soundtrack, which featured unusually obscure artists, even for John Hughes, including Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Blue Room, Flesh For Lulu, Lick The Tins, The Apartments and March Violets. The singer uses a deep baritone that’s somewhere between Peter Murphy and Stephen Merritt.

UK Albums

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy (WB) 85
The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace (Beggars Banquet) 85
U2 – The Unforgettable Fire (Island) 84
Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain (Sire) 84
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead (Sire) 86
XTC – Skylarking (Geffen) 86
The Woodentops – Giant (Rough Trade/Columbia) 86
Screaming Blue Messiahs – Gun Shy (Elektra) 86
New Order – Low-Life (Factory/Qwest) 85
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops (Linn/Virgin) 84
The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall (Beggars Banquet) 84
Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden (EMI) 88
My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything (Creation) 88
The House Of Love (Creation) 88
The Cult – Love (Beggars Banquet) 85
The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & The Lash (WEA) 85
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Your Funeral . . . My Trial (Homestead) 86
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey (Mute) 88
The Church – Heyday (Arista) 86
Love And Rockets – Express (Beggars) 86
The The – Infected (Epic) 86
Talk Talk – The Colour Of Spring (EMI) 86
The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Elektra) 87
New Order – Brotherhood (Factory/Qwest) 86
Died Pretty – Free Dirt (What Goes On/Aztec) 86
The Chameleons UK – Strange Times (Geffen) 86
The Alarm – Declaration (IRS) 84
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes (Sire) 84
The Pogues – Red Roses For Me (WEA) 84
The Sisters Of Mercy – First And Last And Always (Elektra) 84
The House Of Love – The German Album (Creation/Renascent) 87
The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come (Sire) 87
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (WB/Blanco Y Negro) 87
Hunters & Collectors – Human Frailty (IRS) 86
The Cure – The Head On The Door (Elektra) 85
The Smiths – Meat Is Murder (Sire) 85
Hoodoo Gurus – Mars Needs Guitars (Elektra) 85
INXS – Listen Like Thieves (A&M) 85
Killing Joke – Night Time (EG) 85
The Chameleons – What Does Anything Mean? Basically (Statik) 85
Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth (Mercury/Fontana Jpn) 84
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – From Her To Eternity (Homestead) 84
Shriekback – Big Night Music (Island) 86
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Tinderbox (Geffen) 86
The Alarm – Strength (IRS) 85
The Jazz Butcher – Sex And Travel (Glass UK) 85
The Go-Betweens – Spring Hill Fair (Beggars Banquet) 84
The Jazz Butcher – A Scandal In Bohemia (Glass) 84
Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen/Two Wheels Good (Kitchenware UK/Epic) 85
Love And Rockets – Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven (Beggars Banquet) 85
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Kicking Against the Pricks (Homestead) 86
The Pogues – If I Should Fall From The Grace Of God (WEA) 88
The Mighty Lemon Drops – World Without End (Sire) 88
The Sugarcubes – Life’s Too Good (Elektra) 88
The Woodentops – Wooden Foot Cops On A Highway (Rough Trade/Cherry Red) 88
The Church – Starfish (Arista) 88
Orange Juice – Texas Fever EP (Polydor) 84
U2 – The Joshua Tree (Island) 87
The Housemartins – London 0 Hull 4 (Elektra) 86
Wire – The Ideal Copy (Mute) 87
The Cult – Electric (Sire) 87
That Petrol Emotion – Babble (Polydor) 87
The Sisters Of Mercy – Floodland (Elektra) 87
Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot (Virgin) 87
The Wedding Present – George Best (Reception) 87
My Bloody Valentine – Ecstasy/Strawberry Wine EPs (Lazy) 87
The Lucy Show – Mania (Words Music) 86
Public Image Ltd. – Album (Elektra) 86
That Petrol Emotion – Manic Pop Thrill (Demon) 86
Julian Cope – Saint Julian (Island) 87
Close Lobsters – Foxheads Stalk This Land (Fire) 87
Crowded House (Capitol) 86
Julian Cope – Fried (Mercury/Fontana) 84
Felt – Forever Breathes The Lonely Word (Creation) 86
Echo & The Bunnymen (Sire) 87
INXS – Kick (Atlantic) 87
The Blue Nile – Hats (A&M/Virgin) 89
The Cure – Disintegration (Elektra) 89
Love And Rockets (Beggars Banquet) 89
The Dukes Of Stratosphear – 25 O’ Clock (Geffen/Ape House) 85
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – The Firstborn Is Dead (Homestead) 85
Felt – The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (Cherry Red) 84
The Icicle Works – The Small Price Of A Bicycle (Beggars Banquet) 84
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Automatic (WB) 89
The The – Mind Bomb (Epic) 89
Shriekback – Oil And Gold (Island) 85
The Go-Betweens – Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express (Beggars Banquet) 86
Furniture – The Wrong People (Stiff/Cherry Red) 86
Section 25 – From The Hip (Factory) 84
Ultravox – Lament (Chrysalis) 84
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Hyaena (Geffen) 84
The Stone Roses (Silvertone) 89
The Wake – Here Comes Everybody (Factory) 85
The Go-Betweens – Tallulah (Beggars Banquet) 87
Simple Minds – Sparkle In The Rain (Virgin) 84
The Triffids – Calenture (Island) 87
The Sound – Heads And Hearts (Statik/Renascent) 85
The Bluebells – Sisters (Sire/London) 84
The Blue Aeroplanes – Tolerance (Velvel) 86
The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional (Hot/Rough Trade) 86
The Fall – Bend Sinister (Beggars Banquet) 86
The Triffids – In The Pines (Hot/Domino) 86
Peter Murphy – Should The World Fail To Fall Apart (Beggars Banquet) 86
The Waterboys – The Fisherman’s Tale (Ensign) 88
The Wild Swans – Incandescent 81-86 (Renascent)
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Barbed Wire Kisses (WB) 88
Wire – A Bell Is A Cup Until It is Stuck (Enigma) 88
The Mission U.K. – Children (Mercury) 88
The Mission U.K. – God’s Own Medicine (Mercury) 86
Gene Loves Jezebel – Immigrant (Relativity) 85
The Cure – The Top (Elektra) 84
The Smiths (Sire) 84
New Order – Technique (Qwest/WB) 89
The Lucy Show – …Undone (A&M) 85
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Junk Culture (A&M) 84
Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves (Columbia) 84
World Party – Private Revolution (Gold Rush) 87
Depeche Mode – Some Great Reward (Sire) 84
Cocteau Twins – Treasure (4AD) 84
INXS – The Swing (Atco) 84
Gene Loves Jezebel – Discover (Geffen) 86
Cocteau Twins – Victorialand (4AD) 86
Prefab Sprout – Swoon (Kitchenware/Epic) 84
Aztec Camera – Knife (Sire) 84
The Jazz Butcher – Fiscotheque (Creation) 88
Shriekback – Jam Science (Arista) 84
Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll (4AD) 88
XTC – Oranges And Lemons (Geffen) 89
The Mighty Lemon Drops – Laughter (Sire) 89
Orange Juice – The Orange Juice (Polydor) 84
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Easy Pieces (Capitol) 85
The Mighty Lemon Drops – Happy Head (Sire) 86
Felt – Me And A Monkey On The Moon (Cherry Red) 89
The Creatures – Boomerang (Geffen) 89
The Jazz Butcher – Big Planet Scarey Planet (Creation/Genius) 89
The Wedding Present – Bizarro (RCA) 89
Flesh For Lulu – Big Fun City (Statik) 85
Robyn Hitchcock – I Often Dream Of Trains (Yep Roc) 84
The Blue Aeroplanes – Bop Art (Abstract UK) 84
The Colourfield – Virgins and Philistines (EMI/Cherry Red) 85
The Godfathers – Hit By Hit (Link) 86
Hoodoo Gurus – Blow Your Cool! (Elektra) 87
The Screaming Blue Messiahs – Totally Religious (Elektra) 89
Hoodoo Gurus – Magnum Cum Louder (Elektra) 89
Orange Juice – Texas Fever EP (Polydor) 84
Love And Rockets – Earth, Sun, Moon (Beggars Banquet) 87
Flesh For Lulu – Long Live The New Flesh (Capitol) 87
Robyn Hitchcock – Element Of Light (Glass Fish) 86
Heaven 17 – How Men Are (Virgin) 84
The Housemartins – The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death (Elektra) 87
Big Audio Dynamite – No. 10, Upping St. (Columbia) 86
Lime Spiders – The Cave Comes Alive! (Virus) 87
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – Mainstream (Capitol) 87
The Blue Aeroplanes – Spitting Out Miracles (Velvel) 87
The Verlaines – Ten O’Clock in the Afternoon (Flying Nun) 84
Gene Loves Jezebel – The House Of Dolls (Geffen) 87
Verlaines – Juvenilia (Flying Nun/Homestead) 87
Hunters & Collectors – Jaws Of Life (Epic) 84
Felt – The Splendour Of Fear (Cherry Red) 84
Talk Talk – It’s My Life (EMI) 84
Hunters & Collectors – Fate (IRS) 88
The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death (Epic) 88
Modern English – Ricochet Days (Sire) 84
Peter Murphy – Love Hysteria (Beggars Banquet) 88
The Psychedelic Furs – Book Of Days (Columbia) 89
Big Audio Dynamite – Megatop Phoenix (Columbia) 89
Screaming Blue Messiahs – Bikini Red (Elektra) 87
The Associates – The Glamour Chase (WB) 89
Killing Joke – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (EG) 86
The Lime Spiders – Volatile (Caroline) 88
The Godfathers – More Songs About Love & Hate (Epic) 89
Killing Joke – Outside The Gate (EG) 88
The Psychedelic Furs – Midnight To Midnight (Columbia) 87