Editing Echo & the Bunnymen (section)

===''Ocean Rain''===
The band kicked off a hectic year of touring in 1984 with their first dates in Japan, in January, followed by a month-long round of dates in the United States beginning in March. April-May saw them playing concerts in Europe and the UK, followed by the second and more extensive leg of their U.S. tour during August-September, concluding with a show at the famed [[Greek Theatre (Los Angeles)|Greek Theater]] in Los Angeles on 9 September. The band then immediately undertook an intensive two-month UK tour, beginning in Dublin on 15 September and concluding at London's [[Brixton Academy]] on 24 October (their last concert of 1984).

Following a PR campaign that proclaimed it "the greatest album ever made" according to McCulloch,<ref>{{cite AV media notes | title = Ocean Rain | others = Echo & the Bunnymen | year = 2003 | first = Max | last = Bell | type = CD booklet | publisher=[[Warner Music Group|Warner Music UK]] | id = 2564-61165-2 }}</ref> 1984's ''[[Ocean Rain]]'' reached No.&nbsp;4, and today is widely regarded as the band's landmark album.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Echo and the Bunnymen to perform classic album | url = https://www.nme.com/news/echo-and-the-bunnymen/32961 | magazine = NME | date = 5 December 2007 | access-date =23 May 2008 }}</ref> Single extracts "[[Silver (Echo & the Bunnymen song)|Silver]]" (UK No.&nbsp;30) and "[[Seven Seas (song)|Seven Seas]]" (UK No.&nbsp;16) consolidated the album's continued commercial success. In the same year, McCulloch had a minor solo hit with his cover version of the [[Kurt Weill]] standard "[[September Song]]".

After the release of ''Ocean Rain'', manager Bill Drummond announced that the band was taking a year off to write material for the next album, but at the end of 1984 they replaced him, reportedly because they were unhappy that the band wasn't making enough money. Drummond was succeeded by [[Duran Duran]] tour manager Mick Hancock.

Echo & the Bunnymen resumed work with a tour of Scandinavia in April 1985, performing cover versions of songs from [[Television (band)|Television]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Talking Heads]] and [[the Doors]]. Recordings from the tour emerged as the semi-bootleg ''On Strike''. On 21 June, they performed a headlining set at that year's [[Glastonbury Festival]], where they premiered two new songs from their next album.