The Furs initially used Martin Hannett as a producer, but their initial self-titled album from 1980 was eventually produced by Steve Lillywhite. The LP quickly established the band on radio and was a top 20 hit in the UK. The album also found success in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. The US version of the album was re-sequenced, but failed to have as strong a commercial impact.
The Furs found success in the U.S. market with the 1981 release, titled 'Talk Talk Talk', which made its impact on the US album charts and received critical acclaim worldwide. In the UK, the album was a solid hit which spun off two charting singles, "Dumb Waiters" and the original version of "Pretty in Pink". The latter song served as inspiration for the 1986 John Hughes film of the same name, and was re-recorded for the platinum-selling soundtrack.
In 1982, the band was reduced to a four-piece with the departures of Morris and Kilburn. (Ex-Birthday Party drummer Phill Calvert would briefly join the group around this time.) The band's remaining members moved permanently to New York, where they recorded the album Forever Now with producer Todd Rundgren. This album contained "Love My Way", a breakthrough Top 40 hit in both the US and the UK. Ely left the band after this release, though he would return for the 1988 single "All That Money Wants" and the 1989 album Book of Days.
The Furs' 1984 release Mirror Moves was produced by Keith Forsey, and featured the songs "The Ghost in You" and "Heaven". Both charted in the UK, and "Heaven" became the band's highest charting UK hit at the time -- but inexplicably, "Heaven" was never released as a single in America. Instead, Columbia Records opted for "Here Come Cowboys", despite both international success and heavy MTV airplay on "Heaven." "Here Come Cowboys" failed to chart, but "The Ghost In You" was a hit on the US pop charts. The band had become popular in Canada as well, CFNY, Toronto's new wave radio station, listed Mirror Moves as the #1 LP of 1984.
By this time, the band had become somewhat of a staple on US college and modern rock radio stations. As well, they were building mainstream success, fairly consistently placing singles in the pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic, though they would "have more impact on future musicians than they ever did in the marketplace." In 1986, the band re-recorded a version of "Pretty in Pink", which was their biggest hit to that time in the US, and their biggest-ever UK hit.
Richard Butler later claimed that the success of "Pretty in Pink" caused the band to be pressured into entering the studio to record a follow-up release before they were ready. The result was Midnight to Midnight, an album which Butler characterized as "hollow, vapid and weak". A more overtly commercial effort than the Furs had ever recorded before, the album also featured the single "Heartbreak Beat", which was their highest charting top 40 US hit.
However, the Furs were dissatisfied with their new commercial direction, and subsequently returned to a rawer sound with "All That Money Wants", a 1988 track especially recorded for a 'best-of' collection. 1989's Book of Days saw a return to the old-school style and the temporary return of Vince Ely. 1991's World Outside was similarly more of a "back to basics" approach.
From 1988 on The Furs' chart success continued with three #1 hits on the US Modern Rock chart between 1988 and 1991.
The band splintered in 1991, with the Butler brothers going on to found Love Spit Love. After spending most of the decade apart, Butler, Butler and Ashton re-formed The Psychedelic Furs in 2000, and released a live album Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live, which also featured a new studio recording, "Alive (For Once In My Lifetime)." A DVD version of the performance included live versions of "Alive" and three other previously unreleased songs: "Anodyne (Better Days)," "Cigarette" and "Wrong Train."
Since then the Furs continue to tour the world along with former Love Spit Love drummer Frank Ferrer, ex-Information Society and World Party keyboardist Amanda Kramer and saxophonist Mars Williams who returned to the band after a stint in the late 1980s.
Showing the band's significant influence as a part of the new wave and post-punk movements, their songs have been covered by numerous other artists. Examples include Annie Lennox, Buffalo Tom, Icehouse, Powderfinger, Regenerator, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Danger
The Psychedelic Furs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Here in all of you
Put the place in cages
But don't label it a zoo
Get a girl inside your head
Get out of the way
Write yourself a postcard
There's danger, I believe it
Wake up, it's a fight
Love me now forever
War's on it's now or never
Mr. Clean Air just went past
Eating chewing gum
He doesn't want to see you
He gets sick when you come
Make yourself up once again
Kick out in a style
Ann don't let her sadness show
She paints on a smile
Danger, I believe it
Wake up, it's a fight
Love me now forever
The war's on, it's now or never
Always it is now
Love me, in the jail house
Pictures of the losers
Crying that's enough
Get a girl inside your head
Get out of the way
Write yourself a postcard
When there's nothing left to say
Love is hiding in the city
Hearing all of you
Put the plays in cages
But don't labor in a zoo
There's danger, I believe it
Wake up, it's a fight
Love me now forever
War's on, it's now or never
Now or never
The lyrics of The Psychedelic Furs' song "Danger" convey a sense of disconnection and isolation. The singer is searching for love and connection in the city but is met with cages and labels. The song paints a picture of a society that is cold and unwelcoming, with lines like "Mr. Clean Air just went past/Eating chewing gum/He doesn't want to see you/He gets sick when you come."
The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "There's danger, I believe it/Wake up, it's a fight/Love me now forever/War's on, it's now or never." This juxtaposition of danger and love creates a sense of urgency, as if the singer is fighting against something that could destroy them. It's a call to action to love now, before it's too late.
The lyrics also suggest that the society in which the singer lives is broken and in need of change. Lines like "Put the plays in cages/But don't labor in a zoo" seem to suggest that people are being suppressed and restricted. The call to "wake up" and fight for love suggests that there is hope for change.
Line by Line Meaning
Love is hiding in the city
Love is present in the city but it's hidden from plain sight
Here in all of you
Love can be found in everyone in the city
Put the place in cages
Society tries to constrain and control people's behavior
But don't label it a zoo
Even though society tries to control people, they should not be treated like animals in a zoo
Get a girl inside your head
Be obsessed with a woman
Get out of the way
Get control of your thoughts and actions
Write yourself a postcard
Express yourself when you have nothing left to say
When there's nothing left to say
When you have no more thoughts or words left
There's danger, I believe it
There is a real threat and potential for harm in society
Wake up, it's a fight
Realize the situation at hand and take action to combat it
Love me now forever
Love me unconditionally
War's on it's now or never
Conflict is imminent and it's time to act
Mr. Clean Air just went past
A person who is socially acceptable and respectable is present
Eating chewing gum
Engaging in trivial activities
He doesn't want to see you
This respectable person doesn't want to associate with people who are not socially acceptable
He gets sick when you come
This person finds the behavior of others revolting or wrong
Make yourself up once again
Change and reinvent yourself
Kick out in a style
Take control of your life and express yourself boldly
Ann don't let her sadness show
Pretend to be happy even when you're not
She paints on a smile
She puts on a facade or acts superficially happy
Always it is now
The time to act is always the present
Love me, in the jail house
Love me even if I am imprisoned or restricted by society
Pictures of the losers
Images of those who are not successful or popular
Crying that's enough
Their sadness and pain is sufficient evidence of their struggle
Hearing all of you
I am aware of the struggles and pain of everyone in the city
Lyrics © THE ROYALTY NETWORK INC., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: AUDRIE MAGGET, JAMES JASON POYSER, RASHAD SMITH, R.C. WILLIAMS, ERICA WRIGHT, PATRICK HART, LAURENCE PETER HOLLOWAY, CORIN BISHOP, NEIL WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ghostshadow Shadowghost
Danger and Love My Way are my favorites !!
Spike Burst
" Love is hiding in the city Here in all of you"
Piel
Saxo desquiciado, pedazo de canción
Haeuptling Aberja
I loved the Furs from when they first started and still do. I actually got to work with them here in the States as a stage technician on their 3/23/83 show at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.
I was madly running between my ancient, incredibly hot, arc-light spotlights and the sound cables I was gaffer-taping to the concrete floor of the fookin' acoustically perverse gymnasium the Furs would soon be playing in when this skinny fellow in shades sitting in one of the folding chairs we had hastily assembled interrupted my endeavors by saying, "Can I help you, mate?"
It was Richard Butler himself. I recognized him immediately, but I was so under the gun with getting this absurd arena ready for the show that I actually said, "Yeah, man. If you could please just stand on this cable while I tape it down, it would help a lot."
Butler laughed, stubbed his fag out, and proceeded to help me tape those cables by stepping on them as I taped them to the floor all the way to the back of the arena.
Along the way, I got to pick his brain about the disease of Thatcherism and much else, to which he responded with a great deal of surprise and candor, as, apparently, this was not exactly what he had normally encountered in America.
And that night the Furs played Danger. In the 40 years since, that song has never been more relevant than it is right now, in 2023.
Lasky Labs
I feel so bad for that saxophone and it's player. Cause DAMN he made it SCREAM!
Mad props to then anyways.
Burton Rivera
This is for a friend who needs to learn
F ox
Now should just add aeroplane to fn album
evolutionary transgression
I'm looking for the Ed Thacker single mix with the Barney Bubbles sleeve.
Burton Rivera
Don t play leapfrog.
With a Unicorn.....