According to Cope, the three friends first talked about forming a band on McCulloch's 18th birthday, 5 May 1977, during the Clash's White Riot tour date at Eric's; "By the end of the evening, we were a group.
A Shallow Madness featured the original Teardrop Explodes line-up of Julian Cope, Paul Simpson, Dave Pickett and Mick Finkler, plus Ian McCulloch.
[5] The Teardrop Explodes's 1981 album, Wilder, features the song "The Culture Bunker", which references Cope's former band with the lines "...waiting for the Crucial Three...wondering what went wrong."
[7] Further animosity was stoked when "Passionate Friend" by Teardrop Explodes was released, a reference to Julian Cope's former girlfriend, Ian McCulloch's sister.
Pavement dedicated a song to the Crucial Three in their live performance from Brixton Academy, London on 14 December 1992, featured on Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe.
The Ed Ball project the Times mentioned the Crucial Three's name in the lyrics of A Girl Called Mersey, a tribute to the Liverpool's scene, co-written with his guitarist Richard Green.
The memory of the Crucial Three was revived in 2004 by BBC Radio 2 DJ Mark Radcliffe whose show featured a nightly quiz of the same name, until it ended on 5 April 2007.
The title of Dag Nasty's song "Crucial Three" off of 1987's Wig Out at Denko's is a reference to the band of the same name, though the lyrics focus entirely Cortner's personal relationship struggles in adolescence.