Seriously I can't see how you'd deny that guitar riff.
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
^ this, for real
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
while I still dig "Mint Car" DJP can definitely take pride in ruining "Push" for me.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
#24 - Faith, 403 points, 16 votes
Faith, 1981
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kHNS7sW5Ss
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
With "Push" it's like they came up with a decent 2-minute instrumental demo, then recorded Robert trying out some vocal ideas over it. Then decided to play both back-to-back and call it a song, rather than just selling the instrumental to an advertising agency like they should have.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
But it's so much fun to sing along to!
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
"Push" = one of the two HOTD tracks I didn't vote for.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 17 August 2012 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
I have to assume they're coming, but if any of the HOTD "Greatest hits" cuts didn't make the top 25 after some of these album tracks I'd go full Mugatu.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
They're coming for sure.
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
#23 - Killing An Arab, 409 points, 17 votes
Killing An Arab (single), 1978
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh01Pil7vj4
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
LESS "PUSH" MORE "FAITH"
One of my brother's friends in college had a bunch of Cure bootlegs and taped live versions of "Three Imaginary Boys" and "Faith" onto a cassette for me in the summer of 1988; that bass line has been a total earworm for me ever since and led to me being obsessed with the idea of becoming a bass player all through high school
20+ years later, I'm finally learning how to play guitar; the seeds of that were planted by this song
xp: oh this is bad-ass too
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
My 10th grade English teacher was really confused as to why I wanted to read The Stranger for extra credit until I played her this song; the way the lyrics are directly lifted from That Scene makes for a chilling moment, both in the book and the song.
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
Okay, how come that's so low? The perfect first record imo.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
TS: The Cure's "Faith" vs George Michael's "Faith."
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:28 (eleven years ago) link
I would like to hear them cover each other's song
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
TS: who would use the worst faux coffee house beats
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
cure covering George Michael's "Faith" would make a lot of sense. I always thought GM's "Faith" sounded a lot like "Close to Me"
― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
I still remember playing the Standing On A Beach cassette and hearing the first notes of "Killing An Arab" and thinking "woah, this is super lo-fi" (I was familiar with KMKMKM and JW at this point) and then just being enthralled by the music/story
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
oh man: GM in "Freedom '90" mode could have covered "Close to Me."
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:38 (eleven years ago) link
Coming up to the really REALLY good stuff now.
#22 - Fire In Cairo, 414 points, 20 votes
Three Imaginary Boys, 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIqf67ovjAE
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce
this is a great song (not on my ballot tho, which when I look back at it makes me wonder if I didn't need serious amounts of Paxil as I was compiling it)
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
I like Fire In Cairo, but I never got why people like it THAT much. I mean, over "Killing An Arab"??
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
didn't vote in this (too much and I'm not THAT huge a fan to expend the effort) but pleased to see the results
I would have liked to see what Robert Smith's record collection looked like in the late 70s through the 80s - his range of influences has always seemed a bit inscrutable to me (Barrett, Bowie, probably some krautrock - altho the Cure doesn't really sound like any of those things in and of themselves)
― Shameful Dead Half Choogle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
he was a big pop fan too
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 16:50 (eleven years ago) link
I guess Bowie's pop too (in England)
A Nick Drake fan too.
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
i hope this is one of those polls where there's tons of non hits in the Top 20 but i guess they've had far too many great singles for that.
― piscesx, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
I can see Smith loving Drake's mopey englishness but I don't hear it much in his songwriting or guitar-playing really
― Shameful Dead Half Choogle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:07 (eleven years ago) link
I think I can guess what the highest album track will be. Is it too early for predictions?
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:12 (eleven years ago) link
I got Boys Don't Cry for Christmas in 1992, and sometime in the next month I had it on the family stereo while my mom was taking down Christmas decorations. "F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O" finally made her demand it be turned off.
I got over it pretty fast myself.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:13 (eleven years ago) link
do you mean just whatever top 40 stuff was current at the time in the UK...? This is one of the most curious things to me about Smith's ouevre, that he has very clear pop smarts for hooks, arrangements, song structures, etc. but they're filtered through this bizarre (or at least highly unusual) stylistic tics - his voice, odd instrumentation, broad swathes of digital reverb, strange effects, harsh synth and guitar tones etc. The pop angle was mostly dormant for a lot of their overly goth period (Faith, Pornography etc.) but it really came to the fore later obviously.
xp
― Shameful Dead Half Choogle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:15 (eleven years ago) link
Love love love this one
#21 - The Funeral Party, 433 points, 16 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLV1YwfIkGA
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
now that's an album track i'm glad to see everyone's behind
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:20 (eleven years ago) link
wow almost 20 more points than "Fire In Cairo" with 4 fewer votes
― da croupier, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:23 (eleven years ago) link
haha love this song, but not nearly as much as my dad does (it's his favorite Cure song, he used to make me play it on repeat)
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:38 (eleven years ago) link
the harmony on it really makes it IMO, which is probably why live performances of it tend to fall flat for me (ps Robert, in case you are reading this my falsetto is good enough to do your harmony parts, yr ppl should call my ppl, where "my ppl" is me speaking in a funny voice)
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:40 (eleven years ago) link
Didn't think this one would beat "Faith" and "The Drowning Man". I guess it's prettier.
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:44 (eleven years ago) link
Never really been a fan of this myself
#20 - Lullaby, 443 points, 17 votes
Disintegration, 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqxYy8OOTOE
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:49 (eleven years ago) link
?? Can see no argument for "Killing an Arab" over the much better "Fire in Cairo." "Cairo," like "Grinding Halt," has feeling and mystery; "Killing an Arab" has feeling but opens up to say "hey look I'm name-checking stuff from a book" -- plus "I'M ALIVE. I'M DEAD" is too on-the-nose as far as I'm concerned. Not saying it's a bad song, just that it's below the median for early Cure.
(To be fair, "Boys Don't Cry" is pretty lyrically on-the-nose too, but dude, those triplets!)
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:49 (eleven years ago) link
well... "Killing An Arab" is going to be pretty on-the-nose considering the lyrics are taken pretty much verbatim from the book, so that doesn't bother me
"Lullaby" is fantastic and, looking back at my ballot, I am astounded that I didn't vote for it
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:56 (eleven years ago) link
It's existentialist, man! (x-post)
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:57 (eleven years ago) link
"Lullaby" didn't make my ballot either, but it's a great great pop single.
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 17 August 2012 17:58 (eleven years ago) link
― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, August 17, 2012 12:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Why does it have to be one or the other? I love and voted for both.
― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
xp: I mean, it's super creepy, the video is wonderful, and it's in my vocal range; this shit should have been in my top 5
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
clearly I'm on a happy/poppy kick ATM, if I did my ballot now it would be all "The Walk", "Friday I'm In Love', "Boys Don't Cry", "The Perfect Girl", "Hey You!", "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "Six Different Ways", "The Caterpillar" etc
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 18:01 (eleven years ago) link
#19 - Lovesong, 461 points, 17 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU6wkCxDHCk
― nate woolls, Friday, 17 August 2012 18:13 (eleven years ago) link
totally dreamy song, not on my ballot, I can sing this one too
probably the 2nd-weakest song on Disintegration (after "Closedown")
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 18:15 (eleven years ago) link
Never cared for this
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 18:17 (eleven years ago) link
I'm still thinking about what Cure song my dad might like. Maybe "Plainsong" or something with Santana-esque shred guitar ("Cut"?).
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 August 2012 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
IIRC my dad really liked all of their albums up through Disintegration except for Pornography which he just thought was tuneless whining with no real songcraft; the closest he got to liking that album was "Siamese Twins" and even there the meandering vocal melody drove him insane.
― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Friday, 17 August 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link