Crocodiles

File under: Bands that i think are talented and make fine music, whose influence I recognize and appreciate, yet have absolutely zero interest in listening to.

I'm 87% sure the autor of this list realised halfway thought that he didn't know 1001 albums and added just random English music.

This album lands squarely in the “I feel like I should like this” camp. However, for reasons I can’t articulate, I just don’t find it that compelling

An album I just don’t care about, it’s been weeks since I’ve had an enjoyable listening experience with an album. Somebody please help me

This is a seminal album for me. In 1980 I was 18 years old and and was deepening a musical rebirth. Shedding the shackles of classic rock and discovering the joys of alternative rock. Melody Maker and NME were the bibles of my religious awakening. That's where I read about Echo and the Bunnymen and how I was lead to their first album. From the moment the rumbling bass and drum that introduces Going Up, I was hooked. I have the original Canadian release which does NOT include Do It Clean as the second track which is fine by me; I think the ne two punch of those two songs back to back as my introduction to Bunnymen may have caused my head to explode. I won't go into a track by track lovefest, just suffice to say that the album gets stronger and stronger and kick started my now decades long love of British alternative/ post punk music as well as indie/alternative music in general. 5 🌟

Crocodiles by Echo & the Bunnymen (1980) If you’re looking for meaningful lyrics, disciplined poetic cadence, creative melodies, elaborate chord structures, skillful performances, and fine vocals, you should look elsewhere. This Liverpudlian group’s debut release has a steady and competent sound, but it lacks variety on almost every level. I’m looking for artistry here and not finding it. Ian McCulloch’s lead vocals are too often stuck on one note, with easy intervals begging to get back to the home tone. It’s what a non-singer does when forced to write a song he has to sing. While the themes are dark, they neither shock nor provoke empathy. All we get is assorted amateur adolescent angst that could be assisted by amphetamines. It’s a sad album that provides its only musical variation on the final track “Happy Death Men”. If this record has a highlight, this is it, but it’s more of a lowlight. The lone lead solo guitar work is found on this track, and listening to it goes a long way toward explaining why there isn’t more of it. Guitarist Will Sergeant has a very narrow comfort zone, and he has the good sense to stay within it. It seems to me that in a title track about “Crocodiles”, it seems that one could find some actual crocodilian images that might give some meaning. But nope. The listener is pretty much on his/her own. In the song “Rescue”, they ask: “Is this the blues I’m singin’?” No, I don’t think so. More like the blahs. 1/5

I never really listened to Echo and the Bunnymen much because their name and fans were off putting, but this record is really fantastic. Cue regret for not tuning in earlier, as this would go splendidly alongside the cure, new order, joy division, the smiths. Really great, moodly rhythmic rock record. 4*

Post-punk is one of the worst genres of music I've ever heard. A scourge upon mankind, a plague upon good taste, an offense to good taste.

A truly miserable album which is what makes it so perfect.

This album has the feel of a high energy anti-establishment punk album of the 70's, heard through the haze of heavy sedatives. The tempo is slower, the gritty effects are traded for rich and mellow reverbs, but the bite is everywhere and just beneath the surface. Check out the track "All That Jazz" to hear what I mean. This is a great album and pair perfectly with works from groups like the Clash. I'm surprised that I never really listened to this group, but I know I will be now!

Whoever made this list had a raging hard-on for British boy bands from the 80s. That being said, this band was one of the slightly better ones. I probably won’t remember it though.

I remember listening to some of this band's later work when I was in college, and I'll never forget their video for 'Bring On The Dancing Horses' (a song from a later album) that always reminded me of Equus, a great play (no idea if the band intended that). This album, their debut (I think), is great. Nice mash-up of rock, post-punk, new wave -- this is all my best guess; I often mess up all these subgenres -- and I like the strong bass lines.

Turns out, I like this band

I really enjoyed this album. It’s definitely post-punk with that early goth sound. It has the dark, moody atmosphere of bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus, but with more energy that highlights the punk influences and the new wave sounds bleeding into the music. Since this is their debut, I’m excited to move through their catalog and see how they progress from here.

What a fantastic album. Loved Rescue. This is the sound of my youth, being played at parties by countless cover bands, along with Oingo Boingo, B-52s, REM, U2

9/10, really fun 80s rock while I really liked their first album, the stuff that came after was undeniably better still a damn good start for a band tho

Good album. Really build momentum. I think the sweet spot is Monkeys, Crocodiles, and Rescue. Band sounds good. Good harmonies, crisp vocals, and cohesive new wave sound.

(3/5) It's like The Cure was a little bit happier. Heavy on the treble and reverb as is common in the era, this was a passable 35 minutes of early 80's New Wave/Brit pop. I think I liked it a shade better than The Cure, hence the '3', but I'm probably not coming back to it. Standout tracks were "Crocodiles", "Rescue", & "All That Jazz". The rest was just sorta there and blended into each other..

This is a new listen to me. What awaits from the band with the great name, Echo and the Bunnymen. Seems they were bigger in the UK than the US, which is why I have never heard of them. Let's see what the day has in store. Looking back from 2026, I hear The Cure, but you know, if they had slightly more bounce in their step. Still, we’re in quite moody territory, brooding on dark thoughts. It does it well though. Deep bass lines and guitar parts that fold over them. I enjoyed it. What this project is showing me is that apparently I enjoy the sparse Brit-punk sound. It may never, or very rarely. strike me as 5-star outstanding, but its familiar enough to sit with for a turn or two. Also, this is a band I can hear covering The Doors on some cult classic movie somewhere down the line.

This was fine, would likely not relisten

I had to look.. there are 3 Echo and The Bunnymen records on this list. At least 1 too many.

I love Echo and the Bunnymen so this was an easy listen.

Hei tää on ihan super! Miks en oo ikinä kuunnellut näitä? Curee/JoyDiv kategoriaa mut kepeetä ja kivaa!

This is what they call ‘right up my alley’. Its new wave, its got that punch and its structurally interesting. It might be my taste but theres nothing ive got to critique. I could listen to this easily and i think a 5 is in order.

Crocodiles I’m not sure what prompted me into it, but I bought the Bed Bugs and Ballyhoo best of around A-Levels and I remember being very keen to see them at V97. It was before (How Does it Feel to Be) On Top of the World, so it can’t have been that, it was most likely their Evergreen album from that time. Despite really liking them I think I’ve only really listened to Ocean Rain, so it's great to listen to this properly. It has all of the elements of what makes them great, and there are some excellent songs in their melodic post-punk moody style, and it’s notable how much of a 60s influence runs through it despite that post punk mood, much like many Liverpool bands from the 80s onwards. Guitar and bass-wise there are obvious comparisons to The Smiths, in the jangliness and disco-influence, and although this is a little bit before The Smiths, I think Will Sergeant is probably a bit overshadowed by Marr and other contemporaries, but he really is an excellent guitarist Going Up, Monkeys, Crocodiles, the excellent Rescue, Villiers Terrace and All that Jazz are the real standouts, and I quite like the Doorsian Happy Death Men, but it does dip in a few places, Stars Are Stars, Pride and Pictures on My Wall not quite catching light for me. But it is a very good album by a great band, which I think adds up to a 4. 🐰🐰🐰🐰

Know the band name but not their music…loved this. A lot. Thinking this might be a huge influence on numerous bands including the replacements…will definitely listen again.

I'd only vaguely heard of this one, and only in reference to The Cure. Almost immediately I saw the resemblance, and at times it even felt as though the singer were imitating Robert Smith. While reviews and critics point out their vastly different approaches and styles to the same genre of music, I had trouble finding those differences, perhaps in a good way because I do appreciate the occasional Cure excursion. All around decent early 80s art rock album with as few low points as it had high points, it's a 3.5/5 that I may revisit but don't care to round up for now.

Pretty cool chilled out punk type music, I'm not really sure how to describe it and it reminds me of something but I can't but my finger on it. A lot of the songs have a similar vibe but there is a nice variety and I think I like the album as a whole. It seems like a cohesive work. The vocals are the only thing that kind of wears on me, not that he is bad but it seems dramatic at times. Might just be a product of the period it came out though.

I’m at a 2.5; I’d prefer to keep it there, but I’ll bump it down to a 2 on account of me being utterly desperately bored by the end of it. Here’s the good news: I think there's only one actively bad track in "Happy Death Men". Here’s the bad news: there is one actively good track in “Pride”, and I would maybe extend that out to 3 at most, with “Stars Are Stars” & the title track loosely clicking to my ears. The other 8 tracks on this album are… well, I genuinely don’t remember a damn thing about them other than that they sounded kinda nice. I have notes I wrote while listening, sure, but most of those notes end with “that was OK” or “that was alright” or “it sounds good but it just never hooked me”, or some variation of words that sugarcoats what I was trying to avoid feeling throughout this album: bored. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s THAT boring, but… it does get pretty damn boring by the end. This album hits a quota of “it sounds kinda nice” on every single track, and just coasts on that quota for the most part, never elevating at all. Even in the tracks themselves, there’s a painful amount of repetition to the instrumentals that sticks more and more the longer you listen to it. It doesn’t help that a lot of these tracks are just way, way too loosely written, trying to capture vibes that sort of exist, yet never really gather the imagery to feel anywhere near as compelling as they want it to be. It’s frustrating, because I think “Ocean Rain” IS compelling, and while I’m willing to give some leeway on account of this being a debut album, this just doesn’t fucking do anything to stick out. Instrumentally, I can praise “Ocean Rain” for having a lot of musical prescience & sounding way ahead of 1984 at points, but this album is only loosely ahead of its time, slowly reverting back from the R.E.M. vibes it has early on to typical late ‘70s / early ‘80s post-punk fare, with just a touch of instrumental work that at least feels a little unique. If the lyrics aren’t hitting, the instrumentals feel stale, and the vocal work just sort of bounces off for the vast majority of an already kinda long 38 minutes, then I can’t in good faith bump this up to a 3. I don’t think it’s as low as a 2, but this album genuinely never hits a higher gear to justify it, no matter how much I’m trying to find something. I don’t think it’s THAT bad in terms of individual tracks, but as one collective album, it just drags on. The ceiling is a 3, but I’m stuck on a 2, and one that I can honestly say might not be worth being on the list. P.S.: Maybe I should’ve just listened without regard for the lyrics, but that’s just against all of my musical sensibilities. Besides, I still think that for as nice as the instrumentals feel, that sense of stale repetition would’ve still bitten at me deeply. I really just didn’t vibe with it, man. My first 2 since “Maverick A Strike” in November. Alas.

my main thought is that theyve got way more of a Pep In Their Step than i expect from a band in this style! i'd genuinely describe a lot of the guitar lines here as "bright", and, in fleeting moments, even "sweet." it's still quite an emotionally loaded record too...there is ofc weight and cryptic darkness in just about every moment. but where most of this type of post punk is for the stormiest days of winter, this is way more of an autumn night i think. there's a Dream quality that doesn't quite cross over into full nightmare mode. kinda scratched an itch i didnt even know i had...maybe i should return to this in a few months

The 5 first Bunnymen albums with the original line-up are perfect and were essential part of my teenage soundtrack. Crocodiles starts mysteriously with 'Going up', ends up even more mysteriously with 'Happy death men' and is filled with great rock, post punk tunes in between. Great stuff!

Super debut from a great band.

Another classic debut album. This is great. In my opinion one of the grossly underrated band of that era.

Самая красивая челка в музыкальной индустрии. Красивый дебютный альбом, который с каждой песней круто разгоняется. Крокодилы, коровы, кролики, люди-кролики. Всем респект! Бесконечно люблюююю

❤️❤️❤️

Easy to give it a five—When I was a college dj, I played this too often. Hearing it away, i remember why.

Easy rating. One of my faves and a go-to for some great memories. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them live back then. Not interested with whatever iteration the band continues. We still have the 1st 2 (okay, maybe 3) albums.

music is love

Wow, very tight

wait dzaan momewona

I can’t think of a reason to knock it down from 5* Epic post punk deliciousness

Very few people realise that this was actually written and produced by UK music legends, Houmous & Chutney. 4.9 5/12 Crocodiles

Hmmm, I think I'm goth now? All it took was some driving, prominent bass lines without too many frills; a steady and unambitious drumbeat to match; some jangly, shimmering, but not overly complicated guitar that layers on more darkness despite sounding bright; lyrics that aren't afraid to be gloomy without being ironic or shocking; and emotional grandiosity that isn't theatrical or lamenting. It's a formula that got repeated (and, sure, improved upon) by bands with a bigger reach in the decades that followed, but this album had to have been a huge influence on the Cures and Interpols of the world. As a bass player, I love a band where the guitar takes an occasional backseat to the rhythm section, and this album has a ton of those moments. Usually those are when the band sounds its most brooding...and clearly "brooding" is what they're going for here. Will Sergeant is restrained to the point that his guitar creates more space than it fills, so he's definitely still the lead musician here, but you only hear from him every so often and he rarely resolves a melody. It's psychedelia without the showiness, funk without the syncopation, and blues without the ... well, without the blues, if that makes sense. (It doesn't.) I listened to it twice. "Do It Clean," "Rescue," "Stars Are Stars," and "Villiers Terrace" were my favorites.

Classic post punk. One of my favorite bands to come out of that period. Didn't get the acclaim like The Smiths.The Cure and the Psychedelic Furs but definetly in my top five and this album, and Ocean Rain, are two of my favorite albums of all time. Every song a banger.

fajny do autka

No need to listen to this album as I have done so a hundred times before , seen the bunny men live a few times and this is their best album by someways. This album is in my top ten of all albums

2025-10-05: Another dose of absolute enjoyment after the previous albums. Am I that volatile in my listening experience?

Some debuts stumble around in search of identity, but Crocodiles confidently crawls out of the shadows. Immediately stylish in its songwriting and atmosphere, you'll know after the first three tracks if it's an album for you. The music's not as angular as Wire nor as nihilistic as Joy Division, but somewhere sharply in between. It's got enough teeth to grab you immediately and it's moody enough to put on when you want to inhabit a gloomy feeling. In its era, this is a five-star record, yet on the bradytelic timeline of the music of actual crocodiles, it may only be four stars in the night's sky.

Loved this way more than I expected to.

It's a cold October day in 1984, you're driving down to the South of England. You rummage through the unfamiliar car and find a tape from 4 years before and you put it in. You finally see the sign for Brighton as the end of Happy Death Men plays. A fitting song.

Deep and rocking tracks with emotive vocals and

Can't really be objective with this album. It is one of the first post-punk albums i ever heard and I LOVED it from the opening drum flourish to the opening crescendo of Going Up; WOW! I was hooked. I realize the album has its flaws (Happy Death Men), but so moany great songs. Villiers Terrace, the title track (Me i'm all smiles, I got my Croc-O-diles), Rescue, All That Jazz, Monyeys, Stars are Stars, Pictures on My Wall. I know I was onto a band that would become a part of me. 5 stars (though if being objective it would 4.5, but I can't)

Increíble que este álbum sea el debut de los Echo and the Bunnymen. Este nivel de genialidad se alcanza como al cuarto o quinto álbum, si es que se llega alguna vez, y al escuchar Crocodiles parece que estamos escuchando a una banda más que experimentada. Pronto le daré una segunda vuelta y le seguiré con el resto de los discos de Echo y los conejombres.

Again not a bad choice love echo.

Just great.

100% my thing.

This is #day313 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… here's to post-punk classics again. It's crazy to think this came out 45 years ago. What makes this band stand out in the '80s scene is the psychedelic element in their music. While, say, The Chameleons (one of my favorite bands from the genre) leaned more into goth rock, ethereal wave, and dream pop, the Bunnymen embraced full-on psychedelia, though not without a trace of new wave and punk roots. The instrumentation on the debut is raw and tight: jagged guitars, metronomic drums, and a bouncy bassline. Very much in the vein of Jeopardy by The Sound (another all-time favorite). This is deep autumn music, for wet November days, when the trees are stripped bare... Straightforward, stark, beautiful in its own right. This is a 5 out of 5. Looking forward to #day314.

Was super exciting

A dark and ethereal classic.

Love the guitar work, some of the best post-punk I've heard. Also like the fact that it's short and straight to the point without any dud tracks or anything that seems like filler

Perfection. Plain and simple

Solid

This list of albums you MUST hear before you die was put together by someone who really loves British post-punk, huh? I also enjoy British post-punk, so I'm not mad about it.

Superb. The best bunnymen album.

There’s a buldge in my pants now

Det er jo dem med The Killing Moon. Troede de var et one hit wonder band. Okay det lyder af Joy Division. Samme mørke stemning og til tider det industrialiserede lydbillede som JD også havde på deres debut fra året før. Det her er mega fedt 🖤 Nyt yndlings album. Weekenden skal vist bruges på at lytte mere af deres diskografi

There were two reasons I didn't listen to this band in the 80's. First, it wasn't heavy metal. Second, their name is silly. In the early 90's I had a roommate that gave me RHCP Freaky Styley. Turns out it was just the cover, it had an Echo and the Bunnymen album inside. I was truly surprised at how much I liked it. I don't remember which album it was, but I know it wasn't this one. This album is good but I think they have better. But that's all subjective innit. This is the style of British New Wave I like. I'll probably dive into the rest of their discography today. Solid.

I am a fully signed up Bunnyhead (?) and this is as perfect a debut album as you could ask for. Ian Mcculloch is exactly who Jim Morrison might have been had he grown up in Liverpool in the late seventies, and one of music's best frontmen. De Freitas and Pattinson are a dream rhythm section, as 'angular' as other new wave bands but with a drive and melodic aspect others lacked. Will Sergeant created a guitar sound all of his own, enough said. Have I gone on about how unjust it is that U2 conquered the world while the Bunnymen, the finest of the post new-wave big 3 with them and Simple Minds, did not. It is unjust. The songs? Flawless apart from possibly Happy Death Men which does sound like something they knocked up in the studio in half an hour. 4.9999999. 'Heaven Up Here' is even better.

Kinda reminds me of Grunge

One of my all-time favorites (I very slightly prefer the first three Echo albums and the way the songs play with dissonance to other stuff by them but love their whole career). Villier's Terrace piano part and the Happy Death Men trumpets stood out to me in this listen through. That and Will Sargeant! He's such as virtuoso, doing rhythm guitar things that invite bits of more minimal space into the songs along with unexpected lead guitar licks all over on this album.

Excellent album from start to end.

I love the story from Bill Drummond about seeing the giant rabbit head in the twisted tree that supposedly noone else had noticed at the photo shoot. I can't see anything else. This record is so good my microwave died.

Echo and the Bunnymen is a classic too, very good mix of rock and new wave 😊 5/5

Really enjoyed this one

early 80's new wave fan girl here

This sounds like all those unidentified 80s songs people find on old cassettes, but if they were actually good. Cozy and romantic but also futuristic and ominous.

I really like this, I’ve never heard of this band before but it feels similar to The Talking Heads.

I was surprised to see I rated the other Echo album (which I rated 725 albums ago) 3 stars, even though I'm sure Spotify has put a few of their songs on random playlists for me and I enjoyed them then. Just the same, I really enjoyed the Crocodiles album as well. So maybe that's evolving taste, maybe it's evolving rating standards and maybe Echo And The Bunnymen need the listener to be in an appropriate mood to hit just right. Because this album really did hit just right. More of a 4.5 rounded up, rather than a clean 5, but a very good album just the same. I particularly enjoyed the textural depth of the instrumentation.

It's an interesting album and band.

Again another superclassic 5-star album, just like their second, third and fourth album, which presumably are included on the list as well.

Plagued with sadness and misery, this is a standout album of the Post-Punk era

Already one of my all time favourites!

"Crocodiles" is the debut album from Echo and the Bunnymen with two songs, "Pictures on My Wall" and "Rescue," on the album previously released as singles. This is quite an album. The music is described as post-punk and neo-psychdelic with imagery of darkness and sorrowfullness. Yes, that's all there. To me, the sound is sort of similar to Joy Division's "Closer" and Gang of Four. The band includes Ian McCulloch (singer), Will Sergeant (guitars), Les Pattinson (bass) and drummer Pete de Freitas whom they added after they signed to a label and were encouraged to add a drummer. One of the first things you notice is how prominent each of the band members are. They all make major to contributions to the songs and album as a whole. McCulloch's lyrics are dark and appear very personal. Given the imagery and personal nature leaves a lot of these songs open for interpretation. The lyrics and music match perfectly creating a great dark and somewhat haunting mood. "Going up" starts the album with Pink Floyd type echoes. Check neo-pyschedelic. It builds with a solid rhythm section and sort of a slash-like guitar. "Do It Clean" has great drumming and absolutely great guitar in the middle. I have no idea what this is about, cleaning your room, doing cocaine??? My favorite song on the album is "Monkeys" with just a great guitar intro and chorus. The bass and drums create a great atmosphere. It sounds like the bass is carrying the melody. My guess it's about a change needed in a relationship. The second side starts with their second single "Rescue" and probably their most recognized song on this album. Another great guitar intro going into the melody. Tremendous catchy vocal chorus. Definitely one of their best pop-type songs. The first single was "The Pictures on My Wall" and appears to have a more keyboard-focused chorus. More echoes. Neo-pyschedelia checked twice. The music is a great match for the lyrics which express a state of despair and paranoia. Joy Division and Roxy Music typically get a lot accolades for the best-ever debut albums and rightfully so. But, this is also just a great debut, worthy of a listen and being on this list. They would also have a few other outstanding albums later on in the decade.

What a belter and a soundtrack to my youth!

very cool

5/5 - New wave? The Smiths? This hit the spot :D

Very cool

Nice, loved it. I want more songs like these

No está a la altura de Ocean Rain, pero bueno, qué puede estarlo. Sin embargo, bastante bueno.

Enjoyable listen. Took me back to my youth. A range of good songs and a couple I remembered enough to sing along to.

Ok so I loved this band in high school and was familiar with many songs on this album. Definitely a walk down nostalgia road considerable memories and emotion listening. Semi distracted by lack of bass. Why did this mix this with so much treble? I never noticed when I was younger because I never had a good enough speaker system. As for rating I wanted this to be a 4; I wanted to like it more than I did. What was most telling came after the album. Spotify delivered a string of songs from similar artists - New Order, the Damned, Psychedelic Furs - some of which I’d never heard that I enjoyed considerably more than the album. Apparently I’m craving “dark wave” music in my life. This is the 2nd or 3rd time that’s happened and left me questioning if this record should be a 3. In the end I’ll stick with original impression. But I’ll be listening to the others for next several days. 4/5

Surprisingly good - at first I thought it was very "any pub band" but it's more like "a great band that I saw in a pub once and now are playing festivals, good for them"

I like the use of random instruments like the xylophone and organ and bongos? That aren’t consistently used in the album but like randomly only in certain songs. It felt a little experimental. I HATE their big song Lips like Sugar. I think it was overplayed on 80s on 8 (the Sirius xm station that my dad would play constantly) but I didn’t hate this album. Not my favorite but I can appreciate it

Quality album.

Not my favorite EBN album, but still a good listen

Awesome debut, perfect mix of post punk and goth. Some of my favorites of theirs are on here. They had their formula down right from the start. Rating: 4.4

Though I have never listened to this album straight though, I was familiar with a good portion of the tunes. I really enjoyed this one.

I imagine that this album, released 3 years before Murmur, was on heavy rotation for Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills as they were developing their own sound. What a debut. Equal parts Joy Division, Cure, and Smiths.

One of the great post-punk albums of all time, and while this band would go on to produce more celebrated albums, a strong argument can be made that this is their best.

Had listened to Ocean Rain and Heaven Up Here before, but had never listened to their debut before. Less of the gothy vibes, but still very enjoyable album.