imagine a world in which echo & the bunnymen had blown up BIG instead of U2

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fans of both of these bands, and many ILXors, are well aware that there had been a long and unfriendly rivalry b/w these two bands. lord knows that ian mccullough thinks that his band should've blown up HUGE, whilst bono & co. would be relegated to cooking vinyl.

let's imagine that mr. mccullough's wish had been true!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

McCullough makes onstage phone calls to his dealer during E&tB's POT tour.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

There would be fewer charity singles (though probably not less charity), good-hearted arena bands would stick with springsteen as template (though the 90s may well have had all those ironic arena moves anyhow) and Jim Morrison poster sales would be way up, as would be men's haircuts.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

one thing that would've remained the same -- coldplay would still have emerged & become popular.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

& would still suck donkey balls.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

instead of 'free trade now' he'd have a little flower drawn on his hand.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

It's a fun game of pretend, but the reasons E&tB are better than U2 are precisely the reasons they did not become as huge: more oblique, grandiose in a Romantic rather than Messianic way, cussedness, bad at playing industry politics.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

echo and the bunnyment = most hated ILM band
U2 = cult fave of Alex in NYC

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

People would be able to spell McCulloch's name properly, and we'd have been spared Electrafixion.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Gosh yes, I do know how to spell his name, I was unconsciously copying Eisbär.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

this is generally true, yet being just like U2 does not NECESSARILY predict world-wide success. if it did, we'd all be talking about The Call nowadays.

p.s.: i've never been good at spelling the guy's last name. :-(

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

Also, I bet McCulloch wouldn't have been involved in that godawful England World Cup song with the Spice Girls, Space and Ocean Colour Scene if he'd been allowed a messianic world-conquering complex like Bono.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

I'm hoping he wouldn't have done that pointless cover of "People Are Strange" either.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

i imagine that the "turning point" would have been the unforgettable fire -- instead of being the gateway to even bigger things for U2, it would've instead lead to obscurity and a lifetime of relegation to 120 Minutes video-status. in other words, they would be thought of as a slightly-more dynamic/successful Icicle Works or something.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

The turning point would be Bono being overheard cracking Ethiopian jokes to Larry before they went on at Live Aid.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

echo and the bunnyment = most hated ILM band

That cannot be true.

U2 = cult fave of Alex in NYC

I do like a lot of U2 (up until Pop, really). That said, the Bunnymen are a thousand times more interesting. I cannot see them ever being embraced on a scale comparable to U2.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

Alex, the point was that's how things would be if U2 and E&tB's situations were reversed.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

being embraced on a scale comparable to U2 WAS their goal, though.

xpost

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

Rusted Root is probably more hated than U2, though...

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

so U2 is second most

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

It's the Moz vs Bono debate all over again. Do you want a pompous, self-involved, affected singer or a pompous, gregarious, affected singer to achieve world dominance? As insufferable as Bono can be, his pronouncements are a thousand times humbler than Ian Macca's.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

Alex, the point was that's how things would be if U2 and E&tB's situations were reversed.

Oh, I see. Sorry, I'm more of an idiot that usual today. Carry on.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

That's okay. I've just remembered why you're stressed. ;)

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

"The Cutter" > "New Year's Day"
Ocean Rain > Unforgettable Fire

These are true statements to me, even if sales and popularity never bore that out.

The question in my head is, had it happened like that, and 1984 saw E&TB soar and U2 lose themselves for a year or so (basically, the opposite of what happened...) would that E&TB self-titled grey album have sucked so bad? Would they have made a "Rattle & Hum" style film about their US tour with New Order?

― Hutlock (Hutlock), Sunday, 5 June 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Ian McCulloch's ego would have got even more out of control even more quickly then it actually did and consequently the rest of The Bunnymen would probably have chucked him out even quicker than they did.

Ian McCulloch would then have had a fairly successful solo career and E&TBM2 would have been bigger then they were - but neither would have become as big as U2 have.

This would probably have been a good thing all 'round.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Sunday, 5 June 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

http://www.stereointeractive.com/ILM/FrankenBono.jpg

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Sunday, 5 June 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

Excellently done. Lock thread, etc.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 5 June 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

brilliant, steve.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 5 June 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

McCulloch would have become hopelessly addicted to cocaine and ruined his career. Oh, hang on...

― snotty moore, Sunday, 5 June 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

all this just makes we want to listen to Teardrop Explodes and think of other alternate universes.

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 5 June 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

i don't think that the self-titled grey album was THAT bad -- it had "bedbugs and ballyhoo" and "lips like sugar," after all!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 6 June 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

yeah, imagine if julian cope had blown up big instead of U2. he also hates bono.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 6 June 2005 04:24 (twenty years ago)

that would mean that my nation underground would've actually been GOOD.

though i find julian cope to be an even less likely superstar than ian mcculloch.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 6 June 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

That's the beauty of it. He would pile up all the furniture against the door and send paper airplanes to the paparazzi from the window. We NEED this kind of superstar.

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 6 June 2005 04:29 (twenty years ago)

i think cope would handle superstardom much better than mcculloch. or at least he'd be more entertaining!

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 6 June 2005 04:52 (twenty years ago)

That McCulloch/flag photo is truly amazing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 June 2005 05:35 (twenty years ago)

bland songs vs annoying songs.
these bands have goo singles but not good albums.
liked u2 until "october"

― errol, Monday, 6 June 2005 06:26 (twenty years ago)

It would never have happened. U2 are a democracy as a band, so they work together to craft memorable and melodic song in a variety of soundings. But Echo was just Ian MacCullum acting like a drill sergeant, telling them what to do and more dry ice and wasting time doing interviews where he called Bono a sweating Tyrolean mountain goat when he should have concentrate on writing more good songs like Killing Time and Never Ever. So the Bunny Men drift into Doors cover version obscurity, where is Bono is at least a Rich Melodic mountain goat :)

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 06:45 (twenty years ago)

Will Sergeant vs Dave 'The Edge' Bald-geezer is an interesting battle of the axemen. Adam Clayton vs. Les Pattison maybe not quite such a gripping contest though.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:34 (twenty years ago)

But Larry Mullen Jnr would win out over Pete Defreitas on account of he looks where is going on the motorways, and is therefore alive :)

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:38 (twenty years ago)

Bono is at least a Rich Melodic mountain goat :)

Does John Darni3ll3 know about this?

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 6 June 2005 07:58 (twenty years ago)

Depends at which stage it happened. I mean, imagine "Nothing Lasts Forever" being their huge breakthrough hit. I am not sure whether most ILM posters would appreciate that :)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:03 (twenty years ago)

"Nothing Lasts Forever" could apply to Pete Defreitas, who certainly did blow up BIG when his bicycle crashed... :)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:06 (twenty years ago)

A cheap shot, but, like Jack Ruby, I couldn't resist.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:06 (twenty years ago)

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