Profile of Julian Cope on Famous Like Me

Julian Cope (born 21 October 1957) is a British rock and roll musician and writer who came to prominence as singer of Liverpool (UK) pop band The Teardrop Explodes in 1978. He has since released many solo albums and is a founding member of the bands Queen Elizabeth and Brain Donor. In addition to his musical career, Julian Cope has written several books of nonfiction and autobiography.

His musical career began as bass player with a band known as The Crucial Three, which also featured Ian McCulloch (future guitarist and singer for Echo and the Bunnymen) and Pete Wylie. The band lasted for little more than 6 weeks, and disbanded without any public performances or formal recordings. Cope went on to form other short-lived bands before first achieving fame and success as the singer and primary songwriter of The Teardrop Explodes.

After The Teardrop Explodes disbanded in 1982, Cope returned to his hometown of Tamworth (UK) and soon began recording his first solo album, World Shut Your Mouth. This title was eventually used for a song of the same name, on 1987's Saint Julian, which became Cope's biggest commercial success.

Julian Cope was extremely displeased with his fourth solo album, My Nation Underground, feeling that he had been pressured by his management into recording something that did not represent his artistic intentions at all. He recorded his next album, Skellington, in secret over the course of one weekend, playing in the same studio used for My Nation Underground. His management had no desire to release Skellington, and Cope refused to record any other material while he feuded with them to try to get his new work released. In the course of this standoff, he began to write his first autobiographical book, Head-On, as an alternate creative outlet. Head-On primarily covered the years 1976 through 1982, focusing on Cope's time before and during the life of The Teardrop Explodes, and ending with the breakup of that band. This was followed a few years later by Repossessed, covering the years 1983 through 1989 and the recording of Cope's first several solo albums, as well as the writing of Head-On. These two books were republished as one volume in 2000, titled Head-On/Repossessed.

In addition to these two volumes of autobiography, Julian Cope has since written three other books of nonfiction. Krautrocksampler, released in 1996 and now out of print, covers the German krautrock musical movement. 1998 saw the release of The Modern Antiquarian, a large and comprehensive work detailing stone circles and other ancient monuments in the British Isles. The Modern Antiquarian was followed in 2004 with a study of similar monuments across much of Europe entitled The Megalithic European.

Julian Cope has settled into relative obscurity in recent years, preferring to release and promote his work himself, rather than working with a major record label. He continues to record new material both under his own name and with regular collaborators under the band names Brain Donor and Queen Elizabeth. Most of these more recent releases are available either primarily or exclusively through his web site, Head Heritage.

Julian Cope has performed live in the UK (including an appearance at the well-known Glastonbury Festival in 2003) and other parts of Europe in recent years. Due to his responsibilities to his family as well as his discomfort with air travel, he has not toured more widely in several years. In 2005, he dropped attempts to plan a tour of the United States because a work visa could not be secured through the INS.

He currently resides in Avebury, Wiltshire (UK) with his wife, Dorian, and their daughters, Albany and Avalon.

Album discography

• Kilimanjaro (The Teardrop Explodes -- 1980)
• Wilder (The Teardrop Explodes -- 1981)
• World Shut Your Mouth (1984)
• Fried (1984)
• Saint Julian (1987)
• My Nation Underground (1988)
• Skellington (1990)
• Droolian (1990)
• Everybody Wants To Shag The Teardrop Explodes (The Teardrop Explodes rarities compilation -- 1990)
• Piano (The Teardrop Explodes rarities compilation -- 1990)
• Peggy Suicide (1991, UK #23)
• Floored Genius ("best of" compilation of material with and without The Teardrop Explodes -- 1992)
• Jehovahkill (1992, UK #20)
• Rite (Julian Cope and Donald Ross Skinner -- 1993)
• Ye Skellington Chronicles (an expanded version of Skellington -- 1993)
• Floored Genius 2 (compilation of material recorded for BBC Radio sessions -- 1993)
• Autogeddon (1994, UK #16)
• Queen Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth -- 1994)
• 20 Mothers (1995, UK #20)
• Interpreter (1996, UK #39)
• Rite 2 (1997)
• The Followers Of Saint Julian (rarities compilation -- 1997)
• QE2 (Queen Elizabeth -- 1997)
• Leper Skin - An Introduction To Julian Cope ("best of" compilation -- 1997)
• Odin (1999)
• Cornucopea (various artists compilation of acts performing at Cope's Cornucopea festival -- 2000)
• Floored Genius 3 (rarities compilation -- 2000)
• An Audience With the Cope 2000/2001 (2000)
• Ambient Metal (L.A.M.F. -- 2001)
• Love Peace & Fuck (Brain Donor -- 2001)
• Discover Odin (2001)
• Rite Now (2002)
• Too Freud To Rock'n'Roll, Too Jung To Die (Brain Donor -- 2003)
• Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day (2003)
• Zoology (The Teardrop Explodes rarities compilation -- 2004)
• Live Japan '91 (2004)
• Citizen Cain'd (2005)
• Brain Donor (Brain Donor compilation -- 2005)

Singles

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