Behind the Songs: Soap Commercial

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Soap Commercial."

Richard Butler (on producer Martin Hannett): "His forte is getting really weird sounds. He made a tape loop for us when we were doing 'Soap Commercial.' It was about 14 feet long. It went around a stand that the speaker was on and right into the tape room which was right over the desk. No, it might not have been 'Soap Commercial'... (WCUT-FM Radio 1981)

John Ashton: "When I first got to America I realized there really was a Channel 9." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Interviewer: "After The Psychedelic Furs came out in the UK, you did a couple of tracks ["Susan's Strange" and "Soap Commercial"] with Martin Hannett."

Richard Butler: "We tried out Martin Hannett because I really liked the way that the John Cooper Clarke album sounded."

Interviewer: "Rather than Joy Division."

Richard Butler: "I liked Joy Division, but it was more to do with John Cooper Clarke – another obvious Bob Dylan wannabe! So we tried Martin Hannett out but we didn't like it. It was too murky."

Interviewer: "Was there any personal conflict there?"

Richard Butler: "No, not at all. We just didn't like the sound of it." (iJamming! 2001)

John Ashton: "We got to work with Martin Hannett right around the Talk Talk Talk period when Steve [Lillywhite] wasn't around. We got to cut some tracks with Martin Hannett which ended up being on the domestic issue of the first album. I think it was 'Susan's Strange' and 'Soap Commercial.' These songs replaced 'Blacks/Chaos/Radio' and they were produced by Martin Hannett." (Everyone Loves Guitar podcast 2021)

Interviewer: "What are your favorite classic Psychedelic Furs songs to play?"

Rich Good: "'Soap Commercial', 'Sister Europe', 'Dumb Waiters', 'Only You And I', 'Alice's House'… Honestly, there's not really any I don't like playing." (Post-Punk.com 2022)

Interviewer: "Martin Hannett also did some production work on that first album?"

Tim Butler: "Yeah, he produced 'Susan's Strange', and, what was the other one he produced? I've forgotten the other one, oh, 'Soap Commercial', which weren't on the English version of that album, because on the English version of that album we had a track called 'Blacks/Radio/Chaos', it was like a long jamming track, and CBS thought it sounded like it was racist but it wasn't. So on the US copy of that album, we put 'Susan's Strange' and 'Soap Commercial' on it." (The Collapse Board 2024)

Photo: Andrew Douglas