She turns herself ’round and she smiles and she says
“This is it, that’s the end of the joke”

I was twelve when the Pretty in Pink movie came out in 1986, and I actually fell in love harder with Richard Butler’s voice on the song of the same name than I did with Andrew McCarthy’s irresistible grin. (And that’s saying something. Andrew McCarthy’s grin is pretty irresistible.) It was the first time I had heard the Psychedelic Furs, but it only made me want to hear more.

In the years since, I’ve become a huge fan of the Furs. Speaking of Richard Butler’s voice, I can listen to it for hours, and if you ever get the opportunity to see the band live, I have one word for you: go! And while I’ve grown to like some of their songs more than Pretty in Pink, you never forget your first. Plus, I love the Pretty in Pink movie, and there’s just something about hearing the opening notes of the song that bring you right back to 1986 and watching Molly Ringwald’s character Andie getting ready for school in the first scenes of the movie.

Pretty in Pink (the song) was originally released in 1981 as a single from the Psychedelic Furs’ second album Talk Talk Talk (a great album by the way). The original reached No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart. Although Talk Talk Talk gave the Furs some initial success in the United States (it was their first album to chart on the US Billboard 200), the song Pretty in Pink didn’t chart in the United States until a re-recorded version of the song was included on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. In 1986, that version reached No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.

There are several 7″ releases of Pretty in Pink out there. The original released in 1981 has Mack the Knife as the B side. The B sides of the 1986 release vary – some have a dub version of Pretty in Pink as the B side; some have the US remix of Love My Way as the B side. All of them will make you fall in the Furs all over again.