When you think about Liverpool, England, the first band to come to mind (in about a nanosecond) is The Beatles. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were all born in the port city and together they formed perhaps the greatest rock and roll band of all time.
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But the region isn’t home to just one standout rock group—far from it. Here below, we wanted to explore a trio of bands from Liverpool that have since made waves and musical headlines post-The Beatles. Just as Seattle isn’t only a grunge town, Liverpool isn’t just home to the former Mop Tops.
[RELATED: 3 Beatles Songs That Will Make Any Listener Tear Up]
Echo & the Bunnymen
Founded in Liverpool in 1978, Echo & the Bunnymen enjoy both cult and mainstream status. A beloved band by those who knew the scene in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the group rose to popularity thanks to songs like “The Killing Moon” and “The Cutter,” the latter a Top-10 song from the album Porcupine, which itself was a Top-5 album in the region upon release in 1983. Playing dreamy, new wave music, the group’s lead singer Ian McCulloch sounds like the night creeping in and thanks to that ethereal sense, he has become a favorite of rock fans ever since his band hit the scene. Today, the band boasts 13 albums, including the latest, The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon, which was released in 2018.
A Flock of Seagulls
Another new wave band from Liverpool that formed in the late 1970s, A Flock of Seagulls hit the scene in 1979. The group’s best known song is “I Ran (So Far Away),” but they boast several more hits and even won a Grammy Award in 1983 for their 1982 track “D.N.A.” With a shimmering sound that was part of the Second British Invasion (famously, The Beatles were part of the first British Invasion in the 1960s), A Flock of Seagulls, which has released seven albums to date, will live on forever thanks to their hit single below.
The Wombats
This Liverpool-born band formed about 25 years later than their port city counterparts above. Nevertheless, The Wombats have enjoyed success in the 21st century thanks to their energetic indie rock sound. Fronted by Matthew Murphy, the band has sold over 1 million albums to date and garnered tens of millions of streams. Taking from what made previous Liverpool-born bands successful, The Wombats, who boast five albums to date, sped up the jangly guitar sounds and infused their rock music with feverish intensity, like on the song here below.
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