The Teardrop Explodes

The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward", the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s.

Along with other contemporary Liverpudlian groups, The Teardrop Explodes played a role in returning psychedelic elements to mainstream British rock and pop. They initially played a modernised version of lightly psychedelic, late 1960s-influenced beat-group guitar-pop sound, sometimes described as "bubblegum trance", which was typified by their debut album Kilimanjaro. Gradually assuming a more electronic direction, the group diversified into more experimental areas with their second album Wilder and would extend this into their posthumous third album, Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes.

In addition to their musical reputation, The Teardrop Explodes (and frontman/main songwriter Julian Cope in particular) had a reputation for eccentric pronouncements and behaviour, sometimes verging on the self-destructive, resulting in the band's breakup in 1982. Cope went on to a solo career, while keyboard player and co-manager David Balfe continued as a record producer, became an A&R man and eventually founded Food Records. Other members included sometime Smiths producer Troy Tate, Paul Simpson (later of The Wild Swans) and drummer Gary Dwyer.