Saturday, September 12, 2015

For Simone, Jimmy, Josie, Julie, Isaac, Christina, and everyone else in Hollywood - My views on the Psychedelic Furs

I've blogged in various places for over a decade, and during that time I have expressed many incontestable truths.

Clifford is a big red dog.

Joan Jett loves rock and roll.

"Pleasure, Little Treasure" is the worst song of the 20th century - even worse than "Macarena."

But I don't think I've gotten around to one of my other truths.

It's time.

Why now? Because my cousin Simone, her husband Jimmy, her friend Josie, an unrelated tweeter named Christina, and Loren's girlfriend have all converged on the Hollywood Bowl to see the B-52s (formerly known as the B-52's) and the Psychedelic Furs.

So it's time for another incontestable truth - the Psychedelic Furs are the worst band of the 20th century - even worse than Los del Rio.

Now it's hard to say that, since the Furs were one of the bands that emerged from the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, and had some interesting musical backing (for the most part). But for me, the whole effect was ruined by Richard Butler's voice, a voice that makes Bob Dylan sound like an operatic baritone. Take "Love My Way" - interesting instruments, but Butler ruins it for me.

To be fair, others have described Butler's voice differently.

As front man for the Psychedelic Furs, Richard Butler made a permanent mark on the music world with his instantly recognizable voice, which was – and is – dark and melancholy but always full of emotion.

But they are wrong. Yet I could survive hearing a Furs song, since everything else on the records was always top notch.

But then, you see, this movie came out, and you had a song that was terrible on every level.

First off, Butler was singing it again - if you can call that singing.

At the same time, the music went down a few million notches, with the most irritating repetitive guitar solo during the chorus of the song.
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And the chorus itself - here it is, in full:

Pretty in pink
Isn't she
Pretty in pink
Isn't she


As part of my exhaustive research for this post, I made a harrowing discovery - the soundtrack version of "Pretty in Pink" is actually a remake, and the movie itself was based upon the original version of the song, which was recorded BEFORE "Love My Way."

Now I'm wondering if the original version has all of the same irritating features found in the soundtrack version.

But I'm afraid to find out.

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I actually like the voice of the male singer from the other band on the bill, Fred Schneider. His is another "instantly recognizable" voice, and one that has been instantly parodied.

Fred Schneider Gets A Day Job from thepit-nyc on Vimeo.

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