The Teardrop Explodes - Legacy of The Teardrop Explodes (and Reissues)

Legacy of The Teardrop Explodes (and Reissues)

Interest in The Teardrop Explodes would continue long after the band's demise. Cope, however, has always resisted pressure to reform the band. When asked in 2000 if the Teardrop Explodes would ever get back together, he said: "Would you ever return to having your mother wipe your asshole?" In the course of a 2008 interview which dealt with his more current activities (including outsider politics, Neolithic archaeology, shamanism and the promotion of Krautrock) he commented "Supposedly intelligent people say to me: "Don't you think you'd be more successful if you re-formed The Teardrop Explodes?" I'm doing all this stuff to keep myself invigorated every day, hanging out with people I believe are culture heroes, and you think I'm doing all this because it hasn't yet occurred to me to reform The Teardrop Explodes?"

In 1989, various Teardrop Explodes promos were included on Copeulation, a compilation of Julian Cope’s pop videos. In April 1990, Mercury Records released a Teardrop Explodes album called Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes. Recycling the original and rejected title of the Kilimanjaro album, it had been compiled by Balfe from the abortive third album sessions and the "You Disappear From View" EP tracks. In November of the same year erstwhile Teardrop Explodes manager Bill Drummond (without consulting Cope) released yet another Teardrops album, Piano, which compiled all of the early Zoo Records singles.

Cope’s response to the 1990 albums was mixed (and, in the case of Piano, wrathful), although he would subsequently concede that Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes "(wasn’t) as crap as it seemed in September 82." In all cases the press reception was highly positive. In August 1992, Cope was able to work on a retrospective under his own terms with the release of Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes which featured twenty tracks personally selected by Cope, including six by The Teardrop Explodes. In 2004, Cope's Head Heritage label issued another Teardrop Explodes compilation called Zoology: this featured sixteen rare and re-mastered songs taken from lost recording sessions, demos and live bootlegs and was packaged "in the Zoo Records tradition of clashing colours and rudimentary graphics."

In 1994, Cope published Head On, the first part of his autobiography. The book covered his childhood, his arrival in Liverpool and the entire career of The Teardrop Explodes. It concluded with the demise of the band.

In 2010, both Kilimanjaro and Wilder were reissued as multi-disc deluxe editions with bonus tracks. In June of the same year, Mojo Magazine gave The Teardrop Explodes their 'Inspiration' Award (previously won by the likes of The Clash, Blur, Björk, and The Buzzcocks). The magazine commented "We have a tradition of reuniting bands at the Mojo Honours List. The Specials in 2008 - with Jerry Dammers - is a case in point. And last year, Blur and Mott The Hoople made their first appearances in reunited form on a stage at the MOJO Honours List. This year, we're amazed that The Teardrop Explodes agreed to come and receive this award that celebrates their spirit of innovation and their impact. They were the great ambassadors of psychedelia in the '80s when the genre was all but dead. And you can hear their influence on Morrissey and Blur - to name but two acts that benefited from The Teardrops' epic post-punk sensibilities." The award was presented by Alex James from Blur. David Balfe, Gary Dwyer and Alan Gill all showed up to accept the award: Julian Cope ultimately refused to attend the ceremony.