Tampabay.com
SEPTEMBER 12, 2009

Ready for a little Pyschedelic Furs trivia?

In the Psychedelic Furs world, tunes like Pretty in Pink and Love My Way are considered their trademark tunes. But I don't buy in that. Give me the choice of any song to listen to, and I'll pick Heaven every time.

Lead singer Richard Butler and his younger brother Tim, who handles bass duties, are longtime veterans of the English punk scene, forming what would become the Furs back in 1977. They're still with the band today and currently touring the U.S. (They make a stop at Tampa's Ritz Theater with Happy Mondays on Sept. 28).

"The pace of our touring these days in far less frantic than in the early days," Richard Butler said in a pre-tour interview. "The tours were long, which is pretty much the norm. And certainly for this tour, those album promotion pressures are not an issue. I think we probably take better care of ourselves than we ever did previously."

"The business part of touring has never been anything that the band is personally involved in. We'd rather leave all those headaches to the long-suffering people that we pay to do that job!"

The Furs had five No 1. tunes on the college airplays charts during the '80s and '90s, and oddly enough Heaven wasn't one of them. Without the help of Google or the Web in general, can anyone name the tunes? I've already named two up above.

I know our longtime friend Christine up in Milwaukee is up to the task. How about it?

Join the discussion: Click to view comments, add yours

About the blogger

Relive the '80s music, movies and culture with Tampa Bay Times entertainment news editor Steve Spears. A teen during the greatest decade ever, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.

E-mail Steve Spears:
stuckinthe80s@tampabay.com
Visit the Stuck in the 80s Facebook page
Follow Steve on Facebook
Get '80s updates via Twitter

Advertisement

Follow us on Facebook

TampaBay.com on Facebook

Registration FAQ

Read our Frequently Asked Questions on how to register to comment on the site.