Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator. Originally coming to prominence in 1978 as the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes, he has followed a solo career since 1983 and worked on musical side projects such as Queen Elizabeth, Brain Donor and Black Sheep.
Cope is also a recognised authority on Neolithic culture, and an outspoken political and cultural activist with a noted and public interest in occultism and paganism. As an author and commentator, he has written two volumes of autobiography called
Head-On (1994) and
Repossessed (1999); two volumes of archaeology called
The Modern Antiquarian (1998) and
The Megalithic European (2004); and three volumes of musicology called
Krautrocksampler (1995),
Japrocksampler (2007); and
Copendium: A Guide to the Musical Underground (2012).