The birth of the Psychedelic Furs came in 1977 when London art college student Richard Butler grew tired of silk-screening, persuaded his younger brother, Tim, to buy a bass guitar, recruited a couple of pals and spent a year and a half playing Velvet Underground and Stooges covers in their bedrooms and at parties.
By the turn of the decade, with two additional members in tow, they’d been signed to a major label and toured America.
On their 1980 self-titled debut album everything was thrown in at once sonically, and according to Melody Maker; “Richard Butler achieves more in three minutes than F Scott Fitzgerald could in 300 pages”.
By the summer of 1981, they had toured America a second time, partied with Andy Warhol and The Rolling Stones, and released a brilliantly angry album – Talk Talk Talk (1981) – and one of the most stunning single tracks of the decade in Pretty In Pink, which was later used as the soundtrack to the 1986 John Hughes movie of the same name.
Produced by Steve Lillywhite, Talk Talk Talk gave the band their first US chart entry and made the Psychedelic Furs one of the most significant (albeit underrated) British rock bands of the 1980s.
In 1987, after five albums, the band took two years off to regroup.
Richard Butler
Vocals John Ashton
Guitar Tim Butler Bass Roger Morris Guitar Duncan Kilburn Sax, keyboards Vince Ely Drums
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On their 1980 self-titled debut album everything was thrown in at once sonically, and according to Melody Maker; “Richard Butler achieves more in three minutes than F Scott Fitzgerald could in 300 pages”.
