I Used to HATE this Song By a Favorite Band...This is WHAT CHANGED MY MIND... | Professor of Rock
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ย. 2023
- Coming up… The Cure were underground for years making music that the outcasts embraced but then all of a sudden in the late 80s they started getting played on mainstream radio… and then they had a #2 hit with Lovesong from their 1989 classic Disintegration. After that The band that was everybody’s secret became mainstream and then they released today’s song. Robert Smith and the Cure put out a catchy sing-along classic that had half their fans screaming sell out! Friday I’m In Love hit #1 on the Alternative airplay chart and crossed over to the pop charts. To many, it was just a feel-good happy ditty but when the band had been the harbingers of doom for over a decade it was hard to fathom… Today’s story raised the question is it called selling out or is mainstream popularity the unavoidable price for reaching new audiences? We’ll find out next on Professor of Rock.
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor, Zenni
GET ZENNI Glasses HERE: imp.i279709.net/vn5gLd
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Tom Stokes, Walter O. Wright II, Moon Comix, Scratchers J Scratcherton esq, fakeaorta, Mark Thompson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out my Hand Picked Selection Below
Professor's Store
- Van Halen OU812 Vinyl Album amzn.to/3tLsII2
- The 80s Collection amzn.to/3mAekOq
- 100 Best Selling Albums amzn.to/3h3qZX9
- Ultimate History of 80s Teen Movie amzn.to/3ifjdKQ
- 80s to 90s VHS Video Cover Art amzn.to/2QXzmIX
- Totally Awesome 80s A Lexicon amzn.to/3h4ilrk
- Best In Ear Headphones (I Use These Every Day) amzn.to/2ZcTlIl
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Out The Professor of Rock Merch Store -bit.ly/ProfessorMerch
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Out Patron Benefits
bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan
Help out the Channel by purchasing your albums through our links! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you, thank you for your support.
Click here for Premium Content: bit.ly/SignUpForPremiumContent
bit.ly/Facebook_Professor_of_...
bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of...
#classicrock #rock #80smusic #thecure
Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you enjoy classic rock and pop from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, you’re going to love this channel. Make sure to subscribe below to get the stories straight from the artists themselves. And if you click up here you can see our brand new merch. We also have a Patreon where you can access rare content and exclusive interviews. Consider supporting us either way, as it really helps us keep this channel alive.
Back in 1988, The Cure had their first US Top 40 hit with Just Like Heaven from their 1987 album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. It also reached the top 40 in the UK, France and New Zealand. Just like Heaven proved to be a perfect song and was accessible to a larger audience from a band who had toiled for years in the underground. Then in 1989, Disintegration featured The Cure’s all-time biggest hit Love Song, which peaked at #2 on the Hot 100, held at bay by Janet Jackson’s #1 hit Miss You Much. Still, Disintegration would reach #12 in the US and sell 3 million copies worldwide.
Then in 1990, The Cure released a collection of remixed hits with the LP mixed up. This collection bore one new song, Never Enough which was released as a single. Never Enough rose all the way to #1 on the US Alternative Airplay chart. With all of that momentum, there were undoubtedly high expectations for The Cure’s next album. Their notoriety was growing and they were primed to expand beyond their core fanbase.
Meanwhile, the musical landscape changed dramatically in the late 80s going into the early 90s. Mainstream music seemed to be degrading. Boy bands and overproduced dance music ruled the day. While these songs were catchy and marked a certain moment, I mean whenever I hear C +C music and Right Said Fred it definitely takes me back to a certain place, but it’s a destination I’m not sure I want to spend a lot of time visiting. As the 80s wrapped up and 1990 began. Music was having an extreme identity crisis. They were still stuck in the 80s, but not the good 80s.
Emerging out of this musical identity crisis, Alternative (the catch-all handle for music genres not getting mainstream airplay), began ascending to the forefront of the public’s awareness. And college rock bands like Jane’s Addiction, The Replacements, and R.E.M. started gaining commercial - บันเทิง
Poll: Who is your pick for the best frontman or woman from New Wave?
Cindi Lauper
Lux Interior of The Cramps. NOBODY comes even close.
Richard Butler of the Psych Furs
male: Sting, David Byrne.
female: Chrissie Hynde, Deborah Harry.
Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke
What makes “Just like Heaven” so good is that it is able to make you feel both happy & sad at the same time.
I actually had the opposite reaction when the Wish album came out. I was 22 at the time and had been an avid follower of the Cure since my early teens and when Friday I'm in Love came out I was ecstatic that people were finally hearing what I had always loved. Let's not forget, this allowed for people to finally get into the Cure and introduced them into the world of Melancholia set forth by the music and maybe in the process, even cure them of some repressed teen emotions knowing that they were not alone.
Yep, that was me. ❤
Me too. This song makes me happy whenever I hear it. Sellout it is not.
Boys don't cry was a pop song and that was one of the earlier ones.
@@Magnum3144 absolutely agree! I’d spent ages trying to get everyone I knew to love The Cure as I did. Their popularity made my job easier.
Totally agree. I was 14 when Friday I’m in Love came out and at that time, really the only way of hearing new music was radio. That song becoming a radio hit was how I first heard of The Cure and made me a fan ever since. Funny though, it’s one of my least favourite songs of theirs now but I will always be grateful for it!
The Cure have always expressed the full range of human emotions in their music. Love Cats, The Caterpillar, In Between Days, Close to Me, Catch, Just Like Heaven, and Mint Car are all upbeat poppy songs. I've always seen the band's diversity as one of their strengths. They probably get more attention for the morose material because there are a lot fewer artists who have the guts to put out something like Disintegration or Faith, but I personally think both sides of the band are great.
This diversity is not strenght
Just Like Heaven???
The Cure never sold out. They managed to make a few commercially viable songs. Robert Smith is a musical genius.
Agreed. I loved Friday and all the others before that.
Really? When you compare Pornography, Faith, disintegration or bloodflowers to Lovesong, Friday im in love, lovecats etc one May Say they sold out
@@Watcher4111 rubbish. The Cure made songs however they felt. Robert Smith is a pop song writer and those poppy songs are pure Cure songs.
@@Watcher4111Robert Smith has been writing songs on both sides of the Pop Spectrum since the inception of the Cure. The Cure and Depeche Mode are probably the only two bands capable of writing pop hits and obscure dark songs.
So agree.❤
_Disintegration_ is one of my desert island albums. One of the few really great albums from the late 1980s. "Same Deep Water As You" is a melancholy masterpiece.
Boys Don't Cry still haunts me.
Facts
I wish I could say that. Seventeen Seconds is my favorite.
Their best song, in my opinion.
Couldn't agree more 🙂
The Cure had plenty of poppy singles prior to Friday I’m in Love, such as Lovecats and Inbetween Days. Robert Smith is always somewhat ambivalent about these poppier songs retrospectively, but they help to show the range and versatility of his song writing
Yeah this video is wrong.
@@reinforcedpenisstem Japanese Whispers was my introduction to The Cure and it was pretty poppy compared to other stuff I was listening to at the time, and the gateway to loving all of their work.
Let's not forget about Boys Don't Cry
@@MalMotorDedo That released in the 90s
@@reinforcedpenisstem no sir, it was released as a single in 1979 alongside Plastic Passion. Robert re recorded the song with new vocals in 1986 tho
My four gospels of alternative, 1986: New Order, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, and, of course, the Cure. Even then fellow Cure fans carped about the band "selling out" with the poppy "Head on the Door" album., and the danceable single "In Between Days." Truth is Smith & the Cure always wrote upbeat pop songs, even when they cultivated a dark and gloomy image. "Seventeen Seconds" and :"Pornography" best exemplify the doom Cure. Some of their happy pop songs appeared on obscure b-sides and bootlegs. Songs such as "Do the Hansa" and "The Snow in Summer." But not always. "The Lovecats" is chipper, playful, and whimsical. It was their first UK top 10. As with "Friday," Smith was ambivalent. Everybody wanted more Lovecats, so Smith said he hated the song and wouldn't play it. It is unfortunate Smith didn't want to embrace his cheery side. I saw my own reflection in the Cure's music. I was depressed, nervous, and and sad a lot of the time, but I had great episodes of joy, playfulness, and wonderment as well. My biggest objection to so many "goth" bands is they're dark all the time. And that gets tedious and boring. So, bless you and your pop song--loving heart, Mr. Smith!
A HUGE new wave fan here, and these bands are like the holy trinity of all that.
Great comprehensive comment. I would only add that in 1979 I saw a bunch of kids playing a great pop tune called Boys don't Cry and then found out they were called The Cure.
@@paulgee6111 The first Cure song I ever heard was "Grinding Halt," which appears in the movie "Times Square" (1980). I didn't know it was the Cure, though. I wouldn't actually hear the name until '83.
@@maxshea1829 The first Cure song I heard was Subway Song; my brother had it on a mix tape. I was a fan from that point on.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 echo and the bunnymen are the best 80's band
Here in the UK, if you are listening to one of the many nostalgia radio stations we have here, you are guaranteed to hear "Friday I'm In Love" at least a dozen times a day. In fact it's probably the only Cure song you are guaranteed to hear on mainstream radio. With the occasional spin of "In Between Days" or "Close To You" if the station is feeling particularly edgy.
A friend introduced me to The Cure in 7th grade when he lent me his cassette of Standing On A Beach. I bought myself a copy as soon as I gave it back to him and still have that tape in my collection today. Because it was over 90 minutes in length, it gave my walkman a tough time and made the motor slow down when it got to the ends of each side. As for 'Friday I'm In Love', I had already gone through the 'jocks are listening to my music' experience with Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy The Silence' and 'Personal Jesus' so I just marked it up as another small victory for the goths and weirdos like me and my friends.
Standing on A Beach was my intro to The Cure too, in 1987, I think. I was 16 that year, just getting into goth/college rock. I still have that cassette too. 🖤
The cure has definitely grown on me in the last little while and what I have noticed is how fantastic Robert Smiths guitar playing truly is and how iconic it is to the bands sound
I agree. Have you ever seen them live?
It surprises people when they find out he recorded the solo on "Edge of the Deep Green Sea". But check out his work on the Banshees Hyaena - he plays some wild stuff on there. "Bring me the head of the preacher man" and "Blow the house down" are brilliant.
@@zoeherriot yes hyaena is a fantastic album I totally forgot about that one thanks for mentioning that
@@georgemathie8123 Have you heard Robert's (small) cameo on the Crosses song "Girls float / Boys Cry"? It was released a few weeks ago. Very cool vibe.
@@ProfessorofRockI was never into them in high school. But by the time I was in my 30s, I started to really listen to them. Live, they are great. I've seen Robert try to look at everyone in the crowd in the eyes that he could see. Awesome
Just Like Heaven is just as upbeat, just as catchy, and came out years earlier, and was also very popular, you were just too young to know. By the time you got into The Cure, they were WELL KNOWN, a pretty big band by then.
I'm a big fan of The Cure, and have listened to them for years. My bestfriend whom I have known since middle school was also a big fan. We even went to 3 of the concerts together. Last one was front row center for the Bloodflowers tour. Still have the t-shirt. When he got married I was his best man. Our friendship is still strong to this day. At his wedding his first dance with his wife was Love Song. Right after....you guessed it Friday I'm In Love. That was the best memory of this song, and our long friendship we have.
Old friendships are pure gold! It's great that you get it!
I was introduced to The Cure by "Friday I'm in Love" on MTV and liked it, along with their other pop songs that got airplay! But it years and years later when I truly discovered how greater they were and how much more different their albums were from the mainstream hits they had!
Lovely summary of how "alternative" appeared in the mainstream. I remember being totally shocked, watching the transition unfold. All my college radio sounds were out in the open- it was wild!
I remember the flack that the Cure caught for Friday. Personally, I didn't cry sellout but I remember thinking, wow, this is just WILD... because it was such a departure in many ways...
As always, thanks Professor!!
The Cure obviously got the last laugh, they are still touring today and still a major concert draw. 80s nostalgia is an industry all its own.
Exactly!
I agree. The 1980's in retrospect was the last decade of true optimism and positive vibes. Also, songwriting was better back then. Grunge brought cloudiness with meets of sun in the early 90's. Today, strong songwriting and originality is almost gone. That's why many of us, myself included, are looking back at artists we may have missed, those we underappreciated, and those we cherished. I was a Cure fan via Souxie & The Banshees and found early 80's tracks via MTV and Star Hits magazine's import mail order record ads. Also, our lone indie record store. Been a solid fan since 1987 once I got into the music store business and saw them live in 1988 for the first time, the lone Black guy as far as I could see in the crowd. No matter, it was awesome, and I'm a musicologist/musician anyway. 😂
@@seanswinton6242Saying something there. Us OG's remember when there was hope and optimism in the air. But you can't always live in the past. Like Family Guy said, you make your own 80's.
Saw them this summer in Atlanta at the same spot I saw them on the Wish tour (though the old arena had been rebuilt) and they are every bit as magnificent 😍
I have to get tickets to see them someday.
One of my older brothers introduced me to The Cure in the later 80's. I was smitten immediately and I listened to Standing On The Beach pretty regularly. I think I enjoyed every song on there, and it led me down a path into a lot of the alternative music I otherwise might've missed😊
Thanks for sharing!
Great place to start. They’re so unique, like no other band.
this was my first Cure album on CD, in 1990, after I had bought Disintegration on tape a few months before
I love The Cure. I was in a mall today and I heard two different Cure songs played. Their music is still around and I hope they tour in 2024. I’ll be there if they do ❤
Ten yrs ago already, Nov. 1, 2013, my dog, Friday, was PTS. So this is very timely. It was a sad period, many personal struggles, but this older Pommie mix brought me joy. Since this was his given name when I found him, living on the streets of LA w/his person who was homeless, I kept it along w/the dog himself. So this will always be my sweet boy's song. (RIP, Friday💕🐾🌈)
Anyway, The Cure was some of the music that got me through highschool in the '80s. Their songs were atmospheric, deep, and moody, but not all were emo. Besides, you can't have dark w/o light and vice-versa. By the time Wish came out, I was a jr/sr in college. The bands that last change w/the times, and I'd moved on as well. As one who suffers from depression, I've lived long enough to know that it may descend upon me every decade for periods of time. So I have to find happiness otherwise. In the words of LedZep: "Everybody Needs the Light".🕯️
"Friday, I'm In Love" has always been on of my favorites songs. It's such a feel good song and gives me a rush every time. Number 1 in my mind for the year!
I saw The Cure on their Wish tour in ‘92, with Cranes opening. Great show! Everyone was chanting Simon! Simon! over and over. He was just being a straight up Rock Star™️ on stage, and the audience responded. Robert claimed to be confused by the shifting adoration that night.
Thank God for the versatility and Pop sound of the Cure… my band covers Friday I’m in Love and Just Like Heaven… for Friday, we use an electric mandolin… I don’t care if we think this was a sell out… what I do know is that when we play these two songs our 40 - 50 somethings always crowd the dance floor… thank you, Professor… This episode was just like heaven!!!👏🏻🍻
Man you just took me down memory lane with all the mentions. Even with right said fred and such. Reason i watch and follow you. You typically give some love to other genras other then rock. Thank you.
"OK, I just wanna warn you that when I wrote this song, I was listening to The Cure a lot, so............(Fellow Adam launches into "Somebody Kill Me")"
This episode reminds me of how much I love pre-grunge alternative. I'm sorry, but after the Seattle scene took off all alternative sounded the same. But in the 80's you had post-punk alternative range from the Violent Femmes to The Furs, Echo to J&M Chain, REM to the Replacements. And that's just to name a few! Man, all those rock bands had a unique flair and music has missed unique flairs since then.
When you said C&C Music Factory, it caught my attention...The nostalgia on your channel is off the charts. Cheers, Professor!
I've never been a fan of the Cure, but that doesn't mean I don't have respect for them. They have their own sound. They are new wave icons. They deserve some love professor.
Great job Adam. I always like your Cure content. I loved the quote from Ben!
Friday I'm in Love is a favourite of mine. To me, it's a story of a person falling in and out of love. As upbeat as it was melancholic.
Is this a reupload?
I'm having hard déjà vu's here!
Love all the storys and the way you present them, thanks!
The Cure gave us “weird” kids a voice. 🕸️🕷️ Saw them back in the 80’s after high school and fell in love with them. I don’t think they sold out with Friday, but I was a young mom when Wish came out so my point of view at that time was different then when in high school. BTW, Disintegration is pure fire. 🔥🔥🔥
Right there with ya!
Love them to death but it took South Park for me to listen to Disintegration for the first time! They said it best, Disitigration is the best album ever! Wish was a major thing for me! Love the whole album just so much!
@@nathanclarke2777 Both are among those rare albums that I can listen to front to back, without skipping a single song. Not many bands can pull of multiple albums like that! Queen's on the list, but I'm struggling to think of others off the top of my head.
For me almost every Depeche Mode and Linkin Park album are like that!@@thing_under_the_stairs
Definitely the best band for those who are introspective.
I was a small child when the Cure was in the underground. I've always loved Friday I'm in love.... I don't think I ever knew anything else from the cure. This came again on the radio the other day. I still enjoy like I did back then.
This one hits closer than most, you capture what we all felt back in that “being John malkovich” decade (which is a reference to the 7 1/2 floor because 1987-1992 was a unique and truncated decade). How upset we were when everyone was singing these alternative tunes. This is a product of people who love music, then and now. I must say though, from all your influences and recognition of diamonds in the rough (level 42, etc) I’m surprised (it seems) you never found the progressive and jam music of Phish and Dead. Was a natural progression for many music lovers of that time. Perhaps you will do a video on something from this genre in the future!
Interesting perspective. Wish was the album that actually got me into The Cure. I'm 52, so I was a little bit of a late bloomer with the Cure... I didn't listen to them a whole lot growing up in the 80s (aside from hearing a few songs on the radio). But when Wish came out, I was working at a record store and we played it all the time. I loved the album and then started making my way backwards, exposing myself to the rest of their catalog. Fast forward 30 years, and now the Cure is one of my all-time favorite bands. The funny thing is, I actually really liked Friday when it first came out... but now it's the one song of theirs I seldom listen to.
I’ve felt that “Friday” has been overplayed, but this video has made me appreciate it more.
The Cure, New Order, Joy Division . and DM are my favorites!
The Cure has been playing poppy songs since "Boys Don't Cry," so there was no surprise, just broader acceptance as alternative music started to go mainstream in the early 90's.
am i the only one who still remembers all the words to all the cure songs loved that band as a outcast myself they was a band along with all the other outcast bands from our time growing up that gave us our place in life and made us feel accepted no matter how wierd the world thought you where lol
Even when singing a happy song like "Friday", Robert Smith always sounds like he's on the verge of breaking into tears at any moment. I wasn't very familiar with the Cure at the time, but my band was already covering "Just Like Heaven", and "Friday" got me to listen to them a bit more. I had a full concert video of them that I did watch at least a few times, captivating from start to finish.
I am stoked that you mentioned my favorite band, Mudhoney!
Just saw these guys in May in Albuquerque and what an amazing show!! RS interacted so well with the crowd! I was bummed I never got to see them in the 80’s but it’s never too late! (See what I did there? 😉) So happy to have seen them recently!! ♥️
Better late than never!
they have been putting out great shows for decades!! seen many a tour by them, and hope to see many more!! such a huge body of great songs!!
It wasn't unusual though. The Cure released "Let's go to bed" less than 6 months after Pornography. The thing that I loved was going to the Wish tour in 1992 - and seeing all the people that came to the concert to see Friday I'm In Love - and get absolutely slammed back into their seats when they broke out the drop D tuning for "End" off the same album. It was an apocalyptic sound (you can find it on TH-cam - from the video Show). I remember seeing the nervous glances between the teenage girls sitting in front of me before they sat down. :)
The thing that makes the Cure transcend genres, is that they always write these songs with integrity. Friday I'm In Love is not my usual style of music, but the production and quality of musicianship on that song absolutely makes it worth a listen. The guitars on the track are beautiful, and it's so layered and textured.
I was a kid when this song released, so it was my exposure to The Cure, and then their song for The Crow soundtrack. It wasn't until later in my teens that I was reaching out and exploring music that I learned they'd been around so long. B/c of that, I see each album as distinctly different from the other and I don't follow so many people standing against this song. With no internet and no interest in magazines or newspapers, that level of opinion never registered.
I've listened a bunch of Cure songs a bunch of times, but this is still my favorite. Thanks for bearing thru this and giving great quotes from the creators
I had just been getting into the cure at the time when this came out, I attributed the song's happiness to Robert experiencing the manic phase of bipolar depression. I appreciated it for what I took as its artificial happiness.
I will never understand why any fan... of any music.... would not want other people to share in the joy of their favorite band. Music is meant to be shared by everyone, and it is one of the few rarities that can bring different people together in its delights.
In addition, why would you not want your favorite band to have success? Is it not everyone's dream to be able to make a living doing what they enjoy? PoR for example?
I don't get it either. I'm a huge Nick Lowe fan, I've loved him since the 80s. He's a great songwriter, performer, and all around nice person who produced a lot of classic albums by other artists, such as Pretenders first album and early Elvis Costello albums. In fact, Lowe wrote Elvis's first hit, "What's so Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?".
I rarely meet people who have even heard of Nick Lowe, and that makes me sad, because I think he deserves more fame. He was a big deal in the British punk scene, though he isn't punk, and he was Big in Japan back in the 80s.
Nick is such a funny guy, with crazy experiences. I would love to see Adam interview him.
BTW, Nick married Johnny Cash's stepdaughter, Carlene Carter, who had an album that wasn't bad (for Country). Nick got to be close to Johnny, who was his idol long before he joined their family for a few years. Nick wrote, "The Beast In Me" for Cash.
Typical hipster attitude. When they would talk in their little circle about how they loved xxxx and the "mainstream" was just too dumb to appreciate it it made them feel superior. Then when it reaches the masses that superiority is taken away. Just your basic elitist mentality.
Exactly. Music unites; it brings people together. What is wrong with that?
I had no idea about the history of the band. I love the Cure songs shown here. I had Mixed Up on CD. I'm very grateful that The Cure found broad commercial success. I'm also very glad that the professor decided to cover The Cure. These songs bring back so many memories of the late 80's and early 90's. The Cure is a permanent part of the Gen-X soundtrack. Thank you.
I was a senior in high school when "Friday I'm In Love" came out, and I absolutely loved that song, as well as the entire Wish album! In fact, that was the second Cure album I bought on CD (the first being "Staring at the Sea - The Singles"). I looked forward to hearing it, especially on Fridays, because it had such a feel-good vibe to it, and let's face it, we all looked forward to the weekend in high school!
They started doing upbeat songs back at least as far as Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. That album had both Why Can't I Be You & Hot! Hot! Hot!, both of which were very upbeat pop songs.
I wasn't into the genre before Friday, I'm in Love. After hearing it, I started seeing what else the band had out there. Good stuff!
Thanks for including the Replacements! Underrated. Everyone loves the Cure though. Deservedly so!
I love The Cure and I love this pop song! It's still one of my favorite songs to play along with on the guitar. It's actually a tricky little song to play with the lead part.
Wow do I know that feeling, like your friend said what's next a Christmas album, lol. But like you said I view it differently as an adult than I did in my younger years when one of my favorite bands had a huge hit with a song that wasn't the music I loved from them. But you have to admit it's a great song even if it was a pop single. Great episode professor. More Robert Smith wish he would give you an interview perhaps one day
I started high school in 1990 and alternative music of all types spoke to my feelings. I think Friday I'm in Love is a perfect pop song, but I understand why my contrarian friends don't like it LOL.
I've never understood liking, or disliking, something because of how other people react to it. My collection of, and taste in, music ranges from global smash hits to jam sessions at a local try out, hundreds of years of composition history and just over a hundred in recorded history across innumerable genres and subgenres. I too was occasionally teased and mocked as a child and teenager esp. over "old" or "weird" music but I like what I like and have always been resolute in that. Fortunately I have cultivated a group of friends that have similarly broad tastes.
Just happened upon your channel yesterday, and I love your content. I'm a Gen X audiophile. Great stuff.
I remember kind of liking it when it came out, and I was 9 or 10. I was always the weird, quiet kid, btw...only becoming more popular in high school.
My favorite uncle - who was more like a much older big brother - was a big fan, and he HATED this song.
I never really understood why. Thanks to you, now I do.
Hey! Ya got Numan on the rack behind you. Excellent!
The Delta Center show in 92 was my second time seeing them. My first was in 89. A friend and myself, barely 16, made our way to Denver to see them on The Prayer Tour.
I knew of the Cure, had friends that were diehard Cure fans, but never gave them a second thought throughout the 80s. Until Friday I'm in love. Wish was the first album of theirs I bought and I found that I really liked the album as a whole. It was full of great tunes. That prompted me to look into their other albums and I now consider them one of my favorite bands.
As a side note, I worked for a Mormon grocery chain and I remember Friday being added to the store playlist within months of the song's release. This was a playlist that never had songs on it less than two years old. My coworkers and I had noticed its addition and thought that to be curious...
Honestly I'd never heard The Cure until this album came out, I was just starting high school. But it got a lot of radio play so I heard it everywhere. It kind of sparked my action to start listening to our local college radio station Album 88 at Georgia State University, one of the oldest and at that time largest (in terms of its signal, you could hear it pretty much from Macon to Chattanooga, from Birmingham to Greenville SC, huge for a college station) where I ended up discovering a lot more New Wave and other overlooked artists. Really expanded my musical tastes going forward.
What was the station called? Did it have a name?
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 The name of the station was in my comment - Album 88 (88.5 on your FM dial).
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Their motto was "Left on the dial, Right on the music."
@@nothanks3236 That’s a genius motto. Love it!
Bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode would have been bigger and better had they added guitar rock to their music.
Professor, you need to do a show highlighting the alternative era before grunge (87-91). I think we missed out on a lot of good music.
Maybe do Touch Me, I’m Sick by Mudhoney?
I would disagree today!! back in my youth, I was all about guitars, but depeche mode wrote oh so many great songs! they DM is big enough, selling out arenas and playing new music, they aren't on any nostalgia tours.
Friday I'm In Love is my favorite The Cure song. It's a fun feel-good, catchy, pop song. It was a breath of fresh air when compared to the horrible, dark, gloomy, depressing, Grunge Movement. I hate Grunge.
Adam, it seems I am a couple of years older than you. I saw them the summer before my sophomore year, on the Prayer tour for Disintegration. (Sept 1989) and it was life changing! We definitely have similar stories of growing up being bullied for our music and very similar (very eclectic) tastes. We would have definitely been tight in high school, haha! I completely agree with you about this one. It enraged me to hear the guys who had shoved me and my friends around for years, calling people horrible slurs and being genuinely awful all of a sudden singing along with something that had always been OURS! YES, I absolutely yelled 'SELLOUT" at this song every time the video came on. I do love WISH, but this song is still just a weak spot in The CuRE's catalog for me. It's just fluff with no substance. Anyway, love the channel. Keep up the awesome work! Cheers! L
Love the Cure, love your t-shirt. Saw The Cure in the early 90’s in Sydney, Australia . Fantastic concert closed with a 20 minute rendition of A Forest.
WOW!!!! Love A Forest!
A Forest is one of the most eerie songs I’ve ever heard.
I wasn't surprised by this at all. I was already bemused that my daughter was into a band I knew from when she was born. Compared to another weekday Cure song , 10:15 Saturday Night, I already thought of the band as pretty poppy.
I am so old I remember an earlier Friday celebratory hit: - The Easybeats - Friday on My Mind from 1966, when I was about as old as my daughter was listening to The Cure.
"Friday I'm In Love" has always been one of my life-songs. If l were to be stranded on a deserted island with a handful of tunes, this would be one of them.
It's an interesting transition for when a band that was a voice for the underground listeners "sell out" to mainstream. I still consider it great music that allowed the band to be known in a better capacity in the modern day! I also can't recall just how many times my parents put on this tune haha. Cheers
THanks RC32!
To be fair, it happens to a lot of bands. That doesn’t mean the songs are bad though. Cheers to you, RC32. Rock on 🤘
There was a satirical TV show in the UK called "The Mary Whitehouse Experience" that took the piss out of the Cure, saying that they couldn't even make a happy song sound upbeat, and did sketches with them imitating the band (very well) and doing upbeat songs in the style of the Cure. Robert Smith heard about this and, as is typical of him, guested on the show for the fn of it. This was around the time Friday I'm In Love came out and I think may have been something to do with it.
I remember when "Friday..." came out, and the first time I heard it, I was waiting for the depressing lines... but they never came! Half the Cure fans wondered: "What were they thinking?", and the other half thought: "Hmm... makes sense."
I’ve always had the philosophy that it’s not an alternative bands fault if they become popular. I never saw this as a sell out, just people finally appreciating good music. I’ve never been a fan of this song but I find it tolerable. I was at the same concert at the Delta Center and this wasn’t the one I wanted to hear them perform but it was the one I remember best. There truly is no other band out there like The Cure.
It's Friday, I'm in Love is still very much a cure song. It's only selling out if someone said "do this" and the band said, " it sucks", then they were told "You'll make lots of money" and the band said, "Well, if we can get lots of money, then sure!" That is selling out. Trying something new, or having a little departure you want to try, because you want to try isn't selling out, it is exploring, living, growing.
My sister introduced me to The Cure in the mid 80’s. I couldn’t stand Friday I’m in Love but I actually like it now. Maybe because it’s better than most music now. I just saw them this summer in concert and Robert Smith still sounds amazing.
Boys Don't Cry is just as radio friendly as any Cure song,,Robert always had a thing for goth-pop ditty's.
I got married almost 31 years ago, on a Friday in November. My friend made the playlist, and Friday I'm in Love was one of my favorite songs in it.
Disintegration is a perfect album from start to finish and few albums can claim that.
1st came across the cure when they released Friday I'm in love as a single. Been a fan ever since. Brilliant band. Great info as ever professor 👍 👌 👏
I remember hearing this song for the first time while driving in my car when it came out. I was surprised and listening for the twist in the lyrics too! I did think they might have sold out as they were listing the days of the week...until near the end when Robert does one of his characteristic echoey wails and the guitar gets trippy. I thought oh ya, they're still the Cure. So glad this song introduced pop fans to them!
If you hear Friday and dont immediately dance and sing, you are dead.
I prefer dark Cure but this song just does the damn thing!
I have listened to Wish more times than any other Cure album. I have a deep love for it. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea is my favorite, followed by Letter to Elise & To Wish Impossible Things. And yes I liked Friday I'm in Love from the beginning.
I was at that same Cure show at the Delta Center! Good times! 😍
I personally love Friday I'm In Love, as well as some of The Cure's darker songs. I love the song Disintegration, Burn (from The Crow soundtrack) and Love Song.
There's another version of Friday that I highly recommend. To my knowledge, they've never actually done a studio recording of it, but the British band Scars On 45 has a version of it that I've only been able to find on TH-cam. It's a very sweet, almost melancholic version.
(2) Scars On 45- Friday I'm in Love - TH-cam
I will take a look! Thanks.
@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 hope you like it!
I am today years old when I learned this song was from 92. I always figured it was from the mid 80s. Wow.
Robert writes songs about deep feelings, ranging from sad, depressing, and morose to upbeat, joyful, and happy. People that feel things deeply are likely to connect with his style. That being said, Friday I'm In Love is also one of my least favorite Cure singles!
Thanks, Adam. This song reminds me of my twenties when Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" was popular.
Love The Cure. I actually never listened to their older stuff until I saw them on Mtv. I had most likely heard their music but didn't know who it was. But after seeing the Lovesong video, it was on. Had to hear it all. Friday I'm in Love is a great song. Different, but great
I started listening to the Cure when I wound up in Italy for four years and and in New Jersey shortly after and I was really into the alternative scene. When Friday I'm in Love first came out, it was one of those "What the Hell" moments, and it took me a few years to actually get into it. My wife thought it was pretty funny because I'd leave the room when this came on the radio, I just couldn't stand it at first. Oh well, we all wind up changing a little bit over time.
Funny, I never thought the Cure had sold out with Friday, partly because they'd already turned poppy in the mid eighties, maintaining a certain darkness and melancholy , of course, but also including at times a certain humour and dose of teenage angst.Not really so underground in the UK in the mid eighties. Friday I'm In Love has a certain adolescent euphoria which is not totally incongruous with In Between Days for instance or Just Like Heaven, and a similarly great, catchy guitar riff. Because Friday's yrics are so simplistic and the video has Smith barely smiling, I just thought he was being ironic . He is British, after all! And also making a deliberate artistic decision to do the opposite of what everybody expected after songs like Lullaby. Undoubtedly , it introduced the Cure to a wider audience and it is a great pop song.
Go listen to Pornography and Friday im in love in a row and Say they didnt sell out
The Cure's second, third and fourth albums between 1980 and 1982when Pornography was released had indeed been vey sombre affairs, to the point that they themselves got into a very dark mood and almost broke up. After touring as Siouxie and the Banshees' guitarist in 1982, Robert Smith was convinced to reform the Cure with a new line-up which produced more chart-friendly music ( The Walk was that line-up's first single, then stuff like Love Cats, Caterpillar, etc)... still had a dark edge but also a more poppy feel. That was what I meant when I said the Cure had turned poppy in the mid eighties. Between Pornography and Friday there was almost a decade. It's true that their 1989 album had been dark, but I to me seeing the Cure's poppier side again in the esrly nineties wasn't a huge surprise. As I said before, I also thought he was being ironic with Friday's lyrics!
Simon Gallop doesn’t get enough love when best bassists of all time lists are made.
Amazing video as always. Just CUREious...is there a factual reference for the New Order line? Does Smith say this in an interview? Or is it fan speculation? There are several "Blue Monday" songs by other artists. And Monday is usually blue at face value. Often Peter Hook is the smack talker rather than Smith.
I love that song just like heaven which was played in that movie Judas kiss with Carla I can't remember her last name but she played in the movie sucker punch. In my opinion pictures of you is my #1 favorite Cure song but I do love just like heaven and I love burn by the cure from the movie the crow which has a lot of great songs in it. You should do a show on the soundtrack of the Crow time baby 3 from the band Medicine is my favorite song on the Crow movie soundtrack. Have a great day.
My favourite The Cure song was Close to Me. Hit No. 7 in Australian charts.
I loved the song. But then again, I never cared what others thought.
And when will you do a Love and Rockets or Siouxsie and the Banshees story?
I think Robert Smith knew he could write a pop song and songs that The cure fans would love. Good for him.
"Close to Me" was the song that got me into The Cure. Bought "Head on the Door" which I played a lot. I bought the next two albums but then drifted away into a different genre of music. Guess I need to go back & revisit their catalogue. 🙂
I didn't have the same experience as you with the "in crowd" singing "Friday I'm In Love", but I can see how that would turn up another level of hate if you didn't get along. Like many Cure fans at the time I was still in the mood for another "Disintegration" type album to come out. Wish does have a lot of melancholy songs so I wasn't disappointed, I think some of my reasoning with "Friday I'm In Love" has to do with comparing it to "Love Song". "Love Song" is the happy song on "Disintegration" but it has a way more endearing feel.
I had just moved across country away from family and friends to try to become a pro musician. Living in poverty in a new city just coming out of a bleak and lonely winter, I was so excited for a piece of who I left behind. The Cure was a favorite of my high school years, and my friends and I had an amazing time seeing them on the Disintegration Tour. Anyway, I love the album. It’s a very important record that came out at a pivotal time in my life. RIP Heidi. 💔
Didn't discover The Cure until Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me came out. Thank you Doc West!
In the the ‘80s I was in my 20s, and I really appreciated The Cure. When they came out with Friday I’m in Love, I never thought it was significantly different from their other songs or that they had sold out. That premise seems flawed.
This was my first introduction to the Cure, but it was the album I found in the discount rack at Grey Whale in Logan, Utah in 1994, my sophomore year that caught my eye. I had no idea that Friday was the big hit it was until I got older, at 15 I just thought it sounded cool and I liked the cover art and it was affordable for like $10, so I bought it. It has always been my favorite until I found Mixed Up. Letters to Elise was always my favorite, often the song I listened to when my teenage relationships crashed and burned. I had no idea anyone knew who the Cure were among the kids at school who mostly listened to boy bands, gangster rap, R & B, or rock music. Though I love a broad catalog of music, The Cure felt like my own music, my secret alone, it surprised me years later to discover there were many others at school including my husband now who felt the same way. Something about their music and Robert Smith’s vocals just makes you feel like it’s your own private musical soundtrack.
I was in college when this song came out. I was getting into alt bands like Erasure and Information Society, but the Cure had always been too dark to me. I didn't think much of the song, as it reminded me too much of 'Happy Days' in its theme. I do remember having a conversation with a goth friend who hated it. She said she wouldn't listen to anything that played on a pop station. I haven't heard from her since college, but I'd be curious to know her thoughts about it now.
I never bought any of The Cures albums but I was very aware of and liked most of their singles (not this one tho😅) but I was really into The Crow, the comics and the movie, and I loved the song off The Crow soundtrack. Was that an album track too? Where does that song fit in the hearts and minds of Cure fans? Just curious... thanks for ANOTHER awesome vid - I will now go and listen to a bunch of The Cures music and just vube out - thanks for keeping the music alive!