Over 40 Years of Authentic Connection with Fans
Lately, it seems as though no field or artistic medium is safe from generative AI. With streaming platforms like Spotify having to crack down on AI-generated musicians popping up on their platform, many users have been left feeling duped and cheated out of authentic musicality and the usual feeling of discovering a new artist.
On the flip side, however, many artists are continuing the same practices that have proven successful for them for upwards of 40 years. With artists like Goose and Sabrina Carpenter, who draw inspiration from 20th century legends The Grateful Dead and Christina Aguilera, respectively, it’s clear that there is still a strong desire to go about music the way artists did long before AI.
New wave ’80s rockers, The Psychedelic Furs, give a whole new meaning to the tried and true practices of the 20th century. Brothers Richard and Tim Butler, along with a whole rotation of fellow band members, released seven albums between 1980 and 1991, then did not release their eighth album until 2020, 30 years later. Even with such a gap, however, their fans never abandoned them.
The Psychedelic Furs Went 30 Years Without Releasing An Album
In the ’80s, The Psychedelic Furs were dominant. Their first five albums all peaked in the top 30 of the UK albums chart, and each one steadily climbed higher than the last on the Billboard 200 chart, with their highest charting album in the US, Midnight to Midnightpeaking at number 29.
They brought a distinct new sound to the alternative rock scene, with Richard Butler’s distinct, multi-faceted vocals instantly endearing their music to fans worldwide. Their upbeat alternative sound fit in nicely with the pop music MTV boom of the ’80s and the lingering rock sounds that continued evolving after the ’70s.
After their 1991 album, World Outsidethe brothers took a short break to form their spin-off band Love Spit Love, only to reform the Furs in 2000. Their reformation, however, looked vastly different from that of most artists, because they didn’t get back together with an album.
In fact, it took another 20 years for them to release Made of Rain, the first album post-hiatus, released a total of 29 years after their last record. They did not get back together for nothing, though, as The Psychedelic Furs have been consistently touring throughout the 21st century.
They Sound Just As Great As They Always Have, Even In Their Late 60s
The connection shared between an artist and their fans, in many cases, truly cannot be overstated. The artistry and emotion in the music is what draws fans in, but it’s the interactions and glimpses beyond the albums that keep the fans coming back.
Last weekend, I saw The Psychedelic Furs in Detroit for the second time. The first time I saw them had to have been 20 years ago, long before they were released Made of Rainand my memories of that show were few and far between. What I did remember, however, is Richard Butler’s voice, and how he sounded exactly the same as he did on the album recordings.
I can’t speak to what it was like when they were in their prime, but seeing The Psychedelic Furs perform live in 2025 was a lot like seeing them perform live in the early 2000s. Richard Butler’s theatrical dance moves, Tim Butler’s impossibly dark sunglasses in an indoor theater, and hit song after hit song ringing out for the crowd to sing along, their live shows are as classic as they come.
The setlist contained a nice variety—they played three or four tracks from the 2020 album that blended seamlessly in with ’80s hits like “Pretty in Pink,” “Heaven,” and “The Ghost in You.” Their energy could’ve been felt for a mile outside that theater; it was abundantly clear that these men, who were approaching 70, simply loved what they did, and had no plans of calling it quits any time soon.
Richard and Tim Butler Set An Important Example For Artists Today
For 20 of the 29 years between World Outside and Made of Rain, when The Psychedelic Furs were no longer on hiatus, their fans remained deeply devoted; they didn’t need a new album to reinvigorate their fanbase once they got back together, because they had their live shows to sustain their success.
The Psychedelic Furs have demonstrated firsthand the importance of live music, and how a live show can strengthen and exemplify the connection between artist and fan more than any other interaction ever could. Tim and Richard Butler have been performing their music on stage for their fans for upwards of four decades now, and for more than half of that time, these shows have had very similar setlists.
So many artists today could benefit from taking a page out of The Psychedelic Furs’ book. If the music is what it’s all about, then there is simply no better way to connect with one’s fans, multigenerationally nonetheless, than by performing it live on stage for an audience full of them.
It was incredibly surreal for me to see this band live for the second time, this band who is responsible for one of the earliest memories of live music I have, and who, at this moment, is the most recent memory of live music I have, 20 years later. That feeling exists solely between humans—myself and the Butler brothers—and could hate be replicated by an AI “artist.”