I love Julian Cope. He’s a singular talent who admirably does not do what is expected of him. Despite possessing a dazzling knack for crafting perfectly realized pop (evident on singles like “World Shut Your Mouth,” “Trampoline,” “Charlotte Anne,” “ Beautiful Love,” “Try Try Try” and countless others), he’s often way more prone to indulging his adoration for the pointedly inaccessible and wildly esoteric.
After about twenty years of writing, recording and performing more conventional post-punky pop with both his original band The Teardrop Explodes and via his solo career, Julian pulled out all the stops and started releasing music that owed precious little to those earlier records, opting instead to dabble in a wide amalgam of styles including drone-laden experimental post-rock, ironic ersatz heavy metal, metronomic Krautrock homages and the like. It was like he was going out of his way to distance himself from that which had won him his initial success and renown.
I tried to keep up, but after a few unwieldy and — sorry, Jules — frankly unlistenable projects, I kinda fell off. I’d pick up a new single or album of his every now and then (I’ve been meaning to check out his 2017 album, Drunken Songs, which he composed after discovering the joys of alcohol years and years after the fact), but his signature magic was often sorely missing — although I did quite enjoy the pugnacious title track to 2007’s You’ve Got a Problem With Me.
Regardless of wherever his musical muse might be leading him, I will always remain a fan. He’s also a tirelessly entertaining author.
I was fortunate enough to see Julian perform twice — once on the tour for the watershed opus Peggy Suicide and then again, some years later, at a solo-acoustic show circa 1995’s 20 Mothers. In both instances, not only did he fucking rock — as that’s what he does — but he was a hilarious raconteur. Which leads me to the clip below.
While I don’t believe he’s ever officially released it, Julian Cope has been performing a song called “Cunts Can Fuck Off” for some years now. I managed to track down this live video — filmed at London’s legendary Roundhouse in 2017 — that finds him explaining the backstory of the song.
Enjoy.
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