Today, Ian McCulloch (front-man for Echo & the Bunnymen) turns 50. After the brief existence of the Crucial Three in 1977, with Julian Cope (who would go on to form the Teardrop Explodes) and Pete Wylie (Wah!), McCulloch formed Echo & the Bunnymen in 1978 with Will Sergeant (guitar), Les Pattinson (bass), and, originally, a drum machine. Drummer Pete de Frietas joined on drums in 1979, the same year they released their debut single, “The Pictures on My Wall”.

Proving an important addition to both the post-punk and neo-psychedelia scenes, as well as sounding not particularly like anyone else around, they released a string of brilliant albums through the 80’s- Crocodiles (1980), Heaven Up Here (1981), Porcupine (1983), Ocean Rain (1984), and Echo & the Bunnymen (1987), after which Ian McCulloch pursued a solo career (1989’s Candleland is highly recommended) and the band released Reverberation (1990) in his absence and after the death of de Frietas.

McCulloch collaborated with Sergeant as Electrafixion for 1995 album Burned, with the remaining three members recording Evergreen together as Echo & the Bunnymen in 1997, Pattison has since left the group and the two have gone on to release What Are You Going to Do With Your Life (1999), Flowers (2001), Siberia (2005), with an upcoming release for 2009, The Fountain, set for later this year. Critically acclaimed and widely influential (to the shoegaze scene overall, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, and countless others), the contributions of Ian McCulloch and his band have been vitally important to rock music as a whole.

Stream “Heaven Up Here” from the official Echo & the Bunnymen site below!