They are at once a band of the 1980s and a band that transcends the 1980s. More than many other new wave bands, The Psychedelic Furs’ music feels like it could just as easily have been recorded last month as it was three decades ago. Perhaps it’s because Richard Butler and Co. sound so different than their contemporaries. Part of it is Butler’s voice, which, to this day, has the perfect amount of scratch to it, yet still sounds pristine. Listen to “Heaven” live today and see for yourself how well Butler’s voice has aged.
Maybe it’s those hooks. Was there a band that used synthesizers better than the Furs to build their compositions? Cuts like “The Ghost in You” and “Love My Way” seem to prove not. Then there’s the John Hughes connection. The Furs re-recorded their track “Pretty in Pink” and it became a driver of Hughes’s legendary teen angst film of the same name. The song found new life with the latter version and lives on as a classic, like the movie.
Or it could be the iconic lyrics. Who doesn’t want to sing along to “Heartbreak Beat,” screaming from their guts “And it feels like love / And it’s all that we’ve got”? Whatever the reason(s), The Psychedelic Furs live on, much to our delight.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 9 p.m. March 17, starting at $27 plus tax and fee, 18+. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
