The Waterboys Announce Dennis Hopper Inspired Concept Album

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper includes collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple and Steve Earle.

The Waterboys return in 2025 with new album, Life, Death And Dennis Hopper. Arriving April 4 via Sun (pre-save here), the sixteenth long player from the British greats is a concept album inspired by the late, great Dennis Hopper.

“The arc of his life was the story of our times. He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol,” The Waterboys frontman Mike Scott said in a press release.

“He was part of the counter-culture, hippie, civil rights, and psychedelic scenes of the ’60s. In the ’70s and ’80s, he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.”

The 25-track album also includes a wealth of collaborations from a wide range of artists including Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and Taylor Goldsmith.

Lead single ‘Hopper’s On Top (Genius)’ will be released this Friday, January 10.

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Produced by Scott and his bandmates James Hallawell and Brother Paul Brown, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper charts the life and death of the acclaimed actor.

It follows The Waterboys’ 2022 album, All Souls Hills, which The Art Desk called “a fun record, a grand record, and a fairly impressive place for a band 40 years into their existence to be.”

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper arrives February 4 and is available to pre-save here. Check out the album artwork and tracklisting below.

Life, Death And Dennis Hopper

1. Kansas. (Feat. Steve Earle)

2. Hollywood’55

3. Live In The Moment, Baby

4. Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights

5. Andy (A Guy Like You)

6. The Tourist (Feat. Barny Fletcher)

7. Freaks On Wheels

8. Blues For Terry Southern

9. Memories Of Monterey

10. Riding Down To Mardi Gras

11. Hopper’s On Top (Genius)

12. Transcendental Peruvian Blues

13. Michelle (Always Stay)

14. Freakout At The Mud Palace

15. Daria

16. Ten Years Gone (Feat. Bruce Springsteen)

17. Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (Feat. Fiona Apple)

18. Rock Bottom

19. I Don’t Know How I Made It (Feat. Taylor Goldsmith)

20. Frank (Let’s Fuck)

21. Katherine (Feat. Anana Kaye)

22. Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper

23. Golf, They Say

24. Venice, California (Victoria)/ The Passing Of Hopper

25. Aftermath