Our lives at 45 rpm

Seventh in a series on one Dullard's collection of 45s

Song: "The Killing Moon"
Artist: Echo and the Bunnymen
Year released: 1983
Highest U.S. chart position: Unknown

For many so-called alternative bands of the early 1980s, the alternative image was as important as the music. So it was for Echo and the Bunnymen, whose image was entirely dependent on the high hair, fair complexion and pouty lips of singer Ian McCulloch.

The alterna-chicks of the day, moving on from earlier crushes on Nick Rhodes and Adam Ant, needed someone with a darker side, a true "artist" with the correct combination of sophistication and introversion. Among the choices, the vampire girls preferred Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy, and those who were less bloodthirsty went with McCulloch.

For all the imagery and adulation, McCulloch and his band put together a decent string of albums in their heyday. (Echo officially still exists, though it's hard to understand why.) The highlight was the "Ocean Rain" LP, which included "The Killing Moon."

Like the rest of the album, "The Killing Moon" is heavy on orchestration and subtle on percussion, as drummer Pete de Freitas throws away the sticks for brushes. With a pinging piano and squealing guitar, the whole thing sounds like it was recorded in the watery cave featured on the "Ocean Rain" LP cover.

The lyrics are typical McCulloch, gloomy yet not goth, with a flair for the romantic. The chorus doesn't convey much meaning, however, despite the singer's repeated intonations:

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him

In the end, "The Killing Moon" is not the place to find lyrical profundity. It's best appreciated as a confection that is forgotten the instant after it is consumed.