The Test Begins...Now

I'm going to grab my shoehorn and break this baby in. From what I understand about music blogs, you're supposed to express some sort of opinion, generally about music. I'm not feeling inspired enough to write about something recent, so I'm just going to write a brief essay about The Cure's "Just Like Heaven."

Everyone knows it's a great song. That's a given. It'd be pointless to point that out, as I am currently doing. But what makes it great is that it perfectly captures the feeling of being in love. And if you think I'm being sappy, then fuck you. You can probably enjoy the song anyway, Scrooge.

The beginning of the song has a slow build--starting with drums, then a bass line, and gradually adding instruments every few bars, it's constantly moving. The bass line is repetitive through the song, but it might be one of the best parts of the song. It offers the backbone to the synthesizers, the great lead guitars, the piano, and most of all, Robert Smith's fantastic vocals.

It's an atypical song for such a great pop song. There's barely a chorus, and when there is a repeating vocal part--the "you-hoo"--there's still variation. And yet, the song never drags. Every lyric is evocative of another image that represents what love is all about. It's passionate, but it's not purely lustful passion. Smith is the perfect vocalist for this song; he's got that melodramatic delivery that ranges from soft whispers to almost whiny peaks.

Then, after verse upon verse of perfect imagery, the song ends somewhat abruptly. But the point is made with the final line, that the way you make me feel is just like heaven. It's like a good version of that Belinda Carlisle song.

There's only one song I could think of that may portray being in love as accurately, and that song is "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which I'd call the best pop song ever recorded. "Just Like Heaven" is the "Wouldn't It Be Nice" of the 1980s.

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And since this is my first on this blog, I'm just going to set a boring precedent and do a "now playing" thing for my posts.

Now playing: The Beatles - "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Now reading: Malcolm Gladwell - Blink