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A recent comment string about Liverpool makes me wonder: What are the other great (or just very good) Liverpool bands? I can only think of one—Echo and the Bunnymen—but surely Dullblog readers will chime in with their favorites….
Well, Elvis Costello goes at the top of any such list, if you ask me. And if you consider him a band.
Then The Searchers.
I’m amazed at the number of one-hit ’80s bands who came from there–and hits I like: Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (“Forever [Live and Die]”), The La’s (“There She Goes”), Frankie Goes to Hollywood (“Relax”).
Billy Fury!
2nd The Searchers. And The La’s.
Gerry and The Pacemakers were more than a one-hit wonder. (How Do You Do It?, I Like It, It’s Gonna Be All Right, Ferry Across The Mersey, You’ll Never Walk Alone – The Kop Choir theme song). They even played The Ed Sullivan Show.
Although they did not become internationally well known, The Remo Four was a sharp Liverpool instrumental outfit. George Harrison though enough of the them to employ The Remo Four on his Wonderwall soundtrack.
FGTH wasn’t a one hit wonder, at least not here in Europe. They alsa had “Two tribes”, the B-side “War” and “The Power of Love” (released the year before the Huey Lewis song as well as the Jennifer Rush song, popular title in those days). Their album “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” was a welcome relief in the otherwise dull eighties.
Boy George ;-).
Wholeheartedly second Roger on Frankie Goes to Hollywood–they were a BIG deal in 1984-86. I first heard “Relax” at Medusa’s, a now-legendary cradle of house music.
I saw OMD in concert (with Dire Straits, I think?) in 1985. And Flock of Seagulls was a Liverpool band, so says Wikipedia.
I probably listened to Manchester bands more–The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order–but all in all, quite a bumper crop for the 80s, and that’s not even mentioning Elvis C.
Although they only had the one big hit, The La’s one and only studio album is a real classic.
The Coral deserve a mention, too, especially for their album Butterfly House, possibly my favourite album of the last 15 years or so.
On the subject of Scouse one-hit wonders, The Lotus Eaters’ The First Picture of You is a great song. A Flock of Seagulls’ Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Who else? Well, The Teardrop Explodes had their moments (cf Reward). So did The Farm (cf Groovy Train).