The Crucial Three - who's your favourite?

[Crispy Ambulance]

All very different but all contributed some great songs during the early 80's and beyond.

Cope - off his nut but classics with Reward and Treason and Passionate Friend. Some of his solo stuff wasn't bad either (World Shut Your Mouth, Trampoline, China Doll, etc).

McCulloch - great voice and stage prescence. From the rawness of Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here to the sublime Ocean Rain.

Wylie - least successful of the 3 but responsible for early classics as Somesay and Seven Minutes To Midnight to the hits (Story Of The Blues and Comeback, both painting bleak scally pictures and filled with venom at what was happening in his city).

Who's your favourite and why?

 

[Pevenseagull]

1 vote so far in this poll (mine). For number of great songs, voice and inspiration for my student haircut there can be only one.

 

[Tarpon]

After today I need a distraction like this. Probably given it more thought than they warrant but it's Mac isn't it if only for the voice?

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Copey because he's properly mad and not only a singer but a suberb writer with an infectious enthusiasm whether he's writing about Krautrock, stone circles or his own autobiography or anything else much for that matter.

 

[Bigsul]

Julian Cope by a country mile. Capable of the catchiest pure pop classics and 45 minute psychedelic drones. Superb writer and always, always interesting. Have a look at www.headheritage.co.uk for revolutionary musings and music reviews. And read HEAD ON, tis wonderful.

Whilst Julian can be a bit of a knob at times, Mac is almost always a knob. Obnoxious, boastful and still living off the back of the undoubtedly brilliant Echo and The Bunnymen catalogue. Not much else.

Wylie is amusing.

 

[Trufflehound]

Wylie without a doubt. Had this discussion with a mate quite recently.

I loved all three in the day, but the Teardrops and the Bunnymen rarely get a run out the stereo these days.

Not so Wah! in its various forms.

Come Back still gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it.

And Better Scream has pretty much never been bettered and has lost none of its edge over a third of a century later. Probably the first name on the teamsheet for my Desert Island Discs playlist. That and The Chameleon's Don't Fall, but hey! you weren't asking about Mark Burgess...

 

[tinycowboy]

I don't have strong feelings, so I'm going by my record collection: 1 Wah single, 3 Teardrop Explodes singles, 3 Echo and the Bunnymen albums. Mac wins.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Going for Cope on this one. Basing it on his solo albums as much as Teardrop Explodes. Bouncing Babies is a brilliant song and albums Fried and Peggy Suicide are good too. Got a soft spot for Wah- also known as The Mighty Wah, Shambeko say Wah amongst others.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

I don't know what anyone's talking about.

 

[Joe Gatting's Dad]

Who?

 

[Flex Your Head]

Wylie without a doubt. Had this discussion with a mate quite recently.

I loved all three in the day, but the Teardrops and the Bunnymen rarely get a run out the stereo these days.

Not so Wah! in its various forms.

Come Back still gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it.

And Better Scream has pretty much never been bettered and has lost none of its edge over a third of a century later. Probably the first name on the teamsheet for my Desert Island Discs playlist. That and The Chameleon's Don't Fall, but hey! you weren't asking about Mark Burgess...

Absolutely this. Better Scream and 7 Minutes To Midnight are just fantastic, and I think Pete Wylie always had more 'edge'... whatever that is.
Julian Cope had some great stuff and is always entertaining; Echo & The Bunnymen had some fantastic singles but were one of the dullest bands I ever saw.

Plus, if Ms Minogue had married Pete, she'd be Kylie Wylie.

Now, did someone mention The Chameleons?

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Some seriously great hair styles here

 

[bernster]

cope by a mile,far more depth and variety,pure pop greatness to off his head weirdness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20CjiDsvYvM

 

[Vegas Seagull]

All 3 were second rate , hardly crucial then & lost in the sands of time

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I loved them all.

But for a while now I just haven't been able to shift 'The Story of the Blues' from my head - it haunts me with its beauty and brilliance.

So Wylie.

 

[Kumquat]

Bill Drummond for me. But of the three you mention, Cope unquestionably. He was a real outsider in Liverpool (think he was fron shropshire or somewhere) but a real character. The Nicklas Bendtner of music.

 

[The Modfather]

Good thread. Close between all three but McCulloch just edges it for me.

 

[brakespear]

McCulloch by some distance out of those three.

 

[pork pie]

None of that shit!

 

[Dick Head]

Crocodiles. That is all.