The Killing Moon, Echo & the Bunnymen

Listening to it right now.

I got really into this song a few months ago. I heard it on an episode of Billions. It seemed like a recent song, not an oldie from 1984.

That's a good point, R2. It doesn't sound 80s at all. When I first heard it I thought it could've been from any time in the 90s to now.

This is the version I always think of.

This was the only Bunnymen song I ever actually liked. They really gave the Smiths a run for their money with this one. (In fact - I stand corrected - they were ahead of the Smiths with this masterpiece. "Killing Moon" was released on January 20, 1984, and the Smiths self-titled debut album, which had not yet achieved the turgid/romantic sounds that Morrissey/Marr eventually embraced, came out exactly one month later, on February 20, 1984).

I've never heard of any other songs of theirs. If this is the only good one, well that's ok as it's a great one, but I'd be interested if anyone has any other songs of theirs they like, that they might recommend.

I've never been able to get into Nouvelle Vague, they seem like a novelty that pushed it too far... but I don't say this to be mean, I would be very interested in being proved wrong (I always am with music, you can never have too much of it in your life).

This is one of my favorite songs ever. It's beautiful and utterly haunting. Ian McCulloch's voice just melts me. I'm also a big fan of their debut album, "Crocodiles".

This song is like mainlining melancholia and breaks my heart every time I listen to it. Some of the phrases are just so perfect: “fate, up against your will,” “Your sky, all hung with jewels,” “The killing time, unwillingly mine,” but a few. And it blends so perfectly with one of my favorites films, Donnie Darko. In the original release it opens the film with Donnie awaking after sleep walking (or really sleep bike riding) and perfectly introduces his whole family and sets the mood for the film.

Wait, I've seen Donnie Darko, a couple of times! How is it I didn't know about this song before now? Weird.

In the director’s cut of Donnie Darko it appears in the Halloween party scene as the premonition to all that’s about to happen as the runaway train of the climax begins, and is just as effective and heartbreaking. If anything the song itself serves perfectly as a complete theme for the whole movie.

I need to watch it again. As I said, I've seen it a couple of times, but I remember very little about it. A creepy rabbit, Jake Gyllenhaal nearly masturbating under hypnosis and Drew Barrymore screaming at the sky.

Echo & The Bunnymen were on my heavy rotation playlist back in the day. The Killing Moon, Lips Like Sugar, The Cutter, Bedbugs and Ballyhoo, Bring on the Dancing Horses, etc. Those were the days!

This is a good article about its origins.

"The Killing Moon" is a great song. So is "The Killing Jar" by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

In my mind I always pair it with The Church’s Under the Milkyway, itself very melancholy and celestial in name. It was also used in the Donnie Darko original release where Killing Moon ended up in the director’s cut.

^Ahh this explains why I wasn't aware of "The Killing Moon", the version I saw definitely had "Under the Milky Way"

I was having a dream about shelves of poetry books, I’m a librarian, so not as weird as it sounds, but in the dream I was making up titles about all these poetry books and collections as the dream went on. It was a somewhat long dream, cycling back and forth in time as they do, but when I finally awoke the last book of poems was called “The Killing Moon” and I needed to hear the song right a way. It’s the home stretch of Halloween, which this song evokes, so that’s perfect too.

Love this song. Should have been a bigger hit. Mid 80's alterna pop/rock was the shit. Talk talk is another band in a similar vein that I love.

This is such a brilliant song. Instantly takes me back to the time but still sounds modern with haunting lyrics.

You've never heard this song?

It was used in Gia too when she walks out on a modelling shoot to get drugs. I thought it was used quite effectively.

I second or third “Bring on the Dancing Horses” and also like “Nothing Lasts Forever” by them.

I heard these thanks to asking Spotify to make me a radio station based on Roxy Music.

"Lips Like Sugar," and "Rescue" are also great songs.

[quote] I heard these thanks to asking Spotify to make me a radio station based on Roxy Music.

If you don’t mind me asking. How old are you?

R24 I’m 36. So I was in middle school for grunge, and by the time I hit high school everything was bubblegum pop. I stumbled across Jesus & Mary Chain in college thanks to Lost in Translation, but then got diverted into a long Laurel Canyon phase. I listened to a lot of glam rock during lockdown and have been exploring 70s/80s UK music since then.

Eclectic like me. I’m 36 also.

R36 One of the silver linings of living in the algorithm age!

I only got into the bunnymen in 1987 when they released their last album as the original quartet. They broke up in 88 and Pete de frietas, the drummer, died in 89. I missed their heyday when they released their 1st 4 albums. It is only in the last 3 or 4 years that I have really gotten into all their 80s albums and have a newfound appreciation for them.

The killing moon is a great song but it is one of those songs that I really have to be in the mood for. It has such a melodrama vibe to it and that is not a feeling I usually want to deal with. But as previous posts have mentioned, it really is the perfect blend of lyrics, music and atmosphere. Mcculloch always gangs on about how it is best song ever.

My favorite bunnymen song is probably the cutter. Ocean rain is actually my favorite song off of the album rather tkm. Stars are stars, my kingdom, heads will roll, back if love, etc. Just listen to their 1st 4 albums, so many great songs. Caveat that sometimes the album cuts can be hard to get through. It took me a long time to love heaven up here.

Lastly a plug for Ian mcculloch's first solo album, candleland. If you can get your hands on the version with b sides, even better.