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)

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)

Rich Good (on being asked what were his favorite classic PFurs songs to play live): "'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)

Tim Butler: "[Martin Hannett] 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 [The Psychedelic Furs] 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