Synopsis

Echo & the Bunnymen perform "Lips Like Sugar" in a stark recording studio, presented through grainy black-and-white images that emphasize the band's brooding stage presence. As the performance progresses, the setting takes a surreal turn: the musicians appear to be transported from the studio into a brightly colored science-fiction landscape reminiscent of Star Trek. There, they are pursued by two women in flamboyant space suits, transforming the performance clip into an eccentric chase through an imagined futuristic world.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1987 to promote the band's self-titled fifth studio album and the song's July 1987 single release.

• Its opening section uses a minimalist, grainy black-and-white visual style, while the final sequence abruptly shifts into vivid, deliberately theatrical science-fiction imagery.

• The video received regular exposure on MTV's alternative program 120 Minutes, helping "Lips Like Sugar" become one of Echo & the Bunnymen's most recognizable songs in the United States, even though it did not chart there.

• Ian McCulloch initially regarded the song as too commercial and unlike the band's earlier material. He later took a more favorable view, arguing that the strength of the song outweighed its more synthetic production touches.

• "Lips Like Sugar" became a major late-1980s signature track for the band and has subsequently been covered by several other artists.