SLCene Suggests: Psychedelic Furs at The State Room

PSYCHEDELIC FURS, THE STATE ROOM, Monday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m., $35

For far too many people, Psychedelic Furs are simply the band that lent the title (and title song) to ’80s John Hughes flick Pretty in Pink. That sells the British crew led by Richard Butler WAY short. After forming in 1977, they released a couple of excellent albums in their 1980 self-titled debut and 1981’s Talk, Talk, Talk–the album where “Pretty In Pink” first appeared. For the rest of the ’80s, the band was increasingly commercially successful–songs like “Heaven,” “The Ghost in You,” “Love My Way” and “Heartbreak Beat” were staples of so-called “alternative” radio–but the band split for most of the ’90s before reforming and started to tour regularly again at the beginning of the new millennium. I’ve seen Psychedelic Furs in the past few years, and Butler is still a fine frontman, and those ’80s tunes hold up remarkably well. In terms of a Monday night in Salt Lake City, it will be hard to do much better than this gig. Muscle Hawk opens the show.