– Teardrop Explodes – Live At My Father’s Place – March 5, 1981 – WLIR-FM –
Teardrop Explodes, live in concert at My Father’s Place from 1981 tonight. Since we ended up Sunday with a concert from Missing Persons at the same venue, in September of 1981, I thought I would toss this one in the mix as an example of what was going on in the UK at around the same time.
New Wave was coming thick and fast, but The Teardrop Explodes were trying something a bit different; they were representing the state of Post-Punk, while adding a dose of Psychedelia to the mix. Starting in 1978, Teardrop Explodes were one of the pioneering bands of the Post-Punk movement and were a major influence on a number of bands who came along a few years later.
Fronted by Julian Cope, who eventually went off to a noteworthy solo career, Teardrop Explodes became not only a pioneering band in the Post-punk Movement, they were also instrumental in rejuvenating Psychedelia, a genre which was thought to have been long-dead.
This concert, from their first North American tour, gives New York audiences a chance to hear what was being excitedly received in the UK and what they had known about for some time. They had released their debut album Kilimanjaro in October of 1980 and America was slowly picking up on it.
It was also significant in that Julian Cope would meet his second wife during the tour. By all accounts, it was a very successful tour, and in direct contrast to the following U.S. tour, which was termed chaotic. But by then, tensions within the band were starting to cause strain and it would lead to the eventual breakup of the band.
But for now, this is The Teardrop Explodes as audiences heard them in March of 1981. Luckily, they were broadcast live by Long Island station WLIR-FM, and preserved a bit of history in the process.
