For the month of October, I’m selecting a song each day from the decade that has the most meaning to me: the 80s. It was the decade that I grew up in. The period of time where I discovered my love for music — and explored many different genres. For the next 31 days, I’ll highlight a handful of songs that I truly loved and that were representative of the decade. #31DaysOf80sSongs
I’ll never forget how Trent Reznor described The Cure at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He mentioned that the band managed to create a world for their fans to get lost in. I second that. Step into that world and you’re guaranteed to experience and feel things that you haven’t before. Step out of it and suddenly things feel banal. It’s hard for me to listen to other things after listening to a Cure album. Nothing else seems to measure up. One of the early tracks captures the unique musicality of the band. The song is called “Play For Today”.
The song is dark, brooding and urgent. Tolhurst is the one driving it. From the first snare hit, he almost sounds like the Joy Division-era of Stephen Morris. The guitar starts with those beautiful harmonics before falling into Smith’s characteristic strums. Gallup’s bass line is simple and moody, and everything I love about The Cure. It’s less ornate than the bass player before him. And Hartley’s synth just hums along in the background. “Play For Today” was a template for The Cure moving forward. It’s all about creating layers of simple, moody instrumentation. Never in excess. Always just enough.
“It's not a case of aiming to please. You know you're always crying. It's just your part in the play for today.”