Album · Echo and the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen by Echo and the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen is an album by Echo and the Bunnymen, released in 1987. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 103 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Lips Like Sugar”, on 69 lists with a best position of #2.
Echo & the Bunnymen's fifth album, the one that simply carries the band's own name, came out on Sire in July 1987, and it was hard won. A first run at the songs with producer Gil Norton, cut without drummer Pete de Freitas, got thrown out. The band then hauled the project through sessions in Germany, Belgium, London and Liverpool with Laurie Latham at the desk, a perfectionist who wanted every take just so, while singer Ian McCulloch was getting the star treatment and drinking hard.
What survived the ordeal swaps the lush strings of the earlier records for keyboards, a glossier, sleeker coat of paint over the band's post-punk shimmer. "Lips Like Sugar" is the jewel, all swoon and glitter and a chorus built for the back of the hall, and it has outlasted everything else here on rock radio. "The Game" and "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" were the other singles.
Critics couldn't agree on it. British record buyers could: it climbed to number four at home and went silver, though America only half took the bait. It was also the last album with de Freitas, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at 27, and that loss hangs over its polished surface now.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Echo & the Bunnymen on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lips Like Sugar#388 of all time | 69 | #2 | – | 1987–2026 | |
| 2 | Bedbugs and Ballyhoo | 25 | #25 | – | 1988–2014 | |
| 3 | New Direction | 5 | #37 | – | 1987–2003 | |
| 4 | The Game | 3 | #83 | – | 1987–2003 | |
| 5 | Satellite | 1 | #1347 | – | 2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.