Alan McGee postulates in the Guardian why Echo & the Bunnymen are ever the bridesmaids of rock. I think he nails it pretty well. After the orchestral majesty of Ocean Rain, the band simply dried up creatively. It really took three years to follow-up that masterpiece with an utterly deflated, self-titled throwaway? Even still, “Lips Like Sugar” was a hit, and the band was poised for the level of stardom lead-singer Ian McCulloch not only expected but felt he was owed. And with an ego Bono only dreamed of, McCulloch wasn’t afraid to let anyone know. But after drummer Pete DeFrietas died in 1989, it was simply never to be. And now, after years of tumult and line-up changes, the band is a shell of its glory days, putting out respectable, if somewhat benign, records to little fanfare.

So here’s a glimpse of the band at its creative and commercial peak, playing “Nocturnal Me” off Ocean Rain live on the old British show The Tube: