The album mentioned a lot in the excerpt here as the Bunnymen's classic- "Ocean Rain", truly deserves this description. When I was 14 in 1984 a friend gave me a copy of this album and also "The Smiths" and I loved them both (almost) equally. Of course the Smiths won my heart forever but who wouldn't lose out given that opposition?
Anyway I urge all readers to seek out this album, I think most of you will be glad you did.

....... The Smiths were better. I would easily put The Bunnymen in the top ten bands, not thirty, but i would have The Smiths as number 1.
Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Ocean Rain and What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? can compete well with The Smiths, but they have done some dodgy albums such as The Game, which is at a standard The Smiths could never stoop to.
Also Morrissey is a better lyricist and The Smiths had beter musicians, even though i think Will Sergeant is a god.

the smiths are and will always be the greatest of all time no one even comes close.

from several interviews and articles i've read, it seems like mr. mcculloch has some kind of insecurity that causes him to constantly compare himself to morrissey. he overcompensates and looks foolish. he's not as famous as morrissey (speaking for the united states), he hasn't had as many hits, and most importantly he doesn't share morrissey's coolness factor. morrissey is irredeemably hip through all generations, while mcculloch is kind of a dork. still, i like the ocean rain album and a few other songs. some of echo's early material is overrated though, i think. "the back of love" makes me cringe. -jesse christopherson

came back with 'nothing lasts forever' in 98 which did quite well in the uk. then they wrote the official english world cup song (which johnny marr claims they nicked off him). despite massive publicity and a-list celebs (spice girls), the song did really badly in the charts.

EATB came back in 99 with another (well received) album which bombed. they got dropped from the record label. they got a new deal this year but the single (flowers) failed to make the top 40 and no-one bought the album which was savaged by the critics.

so, for someone who's become such an incredible failure, he's got a hell of a big mouth and simply doesn't deserve to be compared to the genius of steven patrick.

I'm sorry to say this, but this is just a crock
of shit. At the time, in the UK, the Bunnymen
and other bands like the icicle works, the fall, the farm all had quite a small following.

They all received relatively encouraging NME reports, but compared to New Order and
The Smiths, these bands were were decidedly 3rd rate - it does not take a genious to work this it out.

Strangely, New Order never really had that
many UK sales - at least in the early days. Blue Monday was a great seller of course. A great
disco record at the time, and possibly
the start of remixing and remixes and so on.

The Smiths - from start to finish - were
the UK's number 1 band for many years. In Johnny
Marr's own words - not mine - "no one could touch us, for a while, we were the best."

No one could argue with those comments, even
a neutral. The rest of the bands who are
making comments today appear to be a little jealous of the position that the Smiths achieved. After all, The Smiths, only got to where they were through a lot of hard work, great music, talent, and of course - Morrissey's black rimmed hospital glasses !

Hazard,
England.

Ian McCulloch reminds me alot of Napoleon. He, like McCulloch, had what is commonly known as short-man syndrome. Feeling completely inferior to the much larger Morrissey, he often barks in a high pitched bitch that no-one is interested in hearing. Him trying to slag off the Smiths is quite laughable.
Morrissey would never dignify him with a response.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.Somebody`s jealous because they`ll never be considered as great a songwriter as Morrissey because no one can even begin to touch the great Mozzer.The Smiths and Morrissey are the greatest ever and were far and away superior to Echo and Bunnymen.This is the reason they have more influence than Ian and Echo.-Tibby

i love echo and the bunnymen, listening to them today actually. i think they have made many a classic and would definitely hold them up there in probably the top 20 or so...but i think ian is being a bit of an ass by claiming so much. if he wants a direct morrissey comparison, lets look at the success of their solo careers...ouch, ian...oh, and while i bought "flowers", how many other people did in this country? ooh...it isn't good to claim things like that ever...especially when there is little but opinion to back it. personally i think depeche mode had more of an impact than new order or echo, all three being favorites of mine. i put echo up there with the psychedelic furs as one of those bands that had a few hits, a decent cult following, inspired some great music as well as make it, and has managed to keep putting together albums despite line up changes and trend changes. from the looks of it though, i would have to say from seeing them live and what not that the furs have a much more pleasant attitude about their success. to me, they seemes like extremely nice guys, especially richard butler. oh well, ian is a rock star...

Ian, really! You sound just like Liam Gallagher- "We're the best. Better than (insert better band's name)." The both of you should stop thinking so highly of yourselves, it only makes you look foolish. Your band is nice and all, but the Smiths are tea AND cake. And if there were so many Smiths copycat bands around as you claim, perhaps that is because imitation is the highest form of flattery. Just a little something to help you sleep at night while you wrestle with your Morrissey jealousy.

I don't own anything by Echo and the Bunnymen, but I probably should, because I do like them. Especially their early stuff.

However, Mac just appears to be talking rubbish. For my money, the Smiths and New Order were both far more important than E&tB.

Maybe I'm just being stupid here, but it seems to me that his argument as to why E&tB are more important than the Smiths is that the Smiths spawned loads of copycat acts (which, if it needed saying, are/were all inferior). By this logic, wouldn't that make the Beatles the least significant group ever?

oh! come ON Ian. Even Pete Wylie's Mighy Wah! were better then Echo and the Bunnymen. I mean ESPECIALLY the Mighty Wah!. Of McCulloch, Wylie and Cope, only Wylie really had a very big hit (Story of the blues) and he's still the only one with anything to say. Mike Joyce joined the Mighty Wah! for Wylie's last album, so for that reason alone Wah! trounces Bunnymen.

But Morrissey's Smiths were far and away more exciting than any of them. Ta Wah!

I just don't remember any other band trying to be like The Smiths. God, that was a long time ago, though.

I didn't become a Morrissey fan until 1988, so I didn't pay attention either. However, looking back, I can't think of anyone like The Smiths. Echo, for some reason, reminded me of Jesus and The Mary Chain. I think it had something to do with his voice. I mean, as far as New Order, they are originals, and no other band could be like them, but I think they spawned bands like Dead or Alive, The Communards (Sorry if that's not spelled right), and the like...

OH well, I'm probably wrong, though.

The Smiths were, and still are, the best band since The Beatles...sorry, Liam.