Relentless Earworms » 1970s, Alternative Rock, New Wave » 10:15 Saturday Night – The Cure
10:15 Saturday Night – The Cure
Few songs strike me as frenetic, constrained, manic and morose as “10:15 Saturday Night” by The Cure. The original version from their 1979 release Three Imaginary Boys is simple concise madness.
It doesn’t sound like a pop song or anything that should ever have become popular. But that little song that led to The Cure being signed to a record contract in 1978 is deservedly on most Cure fan’s greatest hits lists.
The version I’m posting here is a live rendition from a CBS program and features a modern-day version of The Cure. Trust me, it’s nothing compared to the original. YouTube won’t allow me to embed the version but waste 3 minutes of your life and watch the original video of “10:15 Saturday Night” from 1979. Watch now!.
Buy “10:15 Saturday Night” from Three Imaginary Boys
You’ll see a young and nearly unrecognizable Robert Smith fronting this post-punk band in all its innocent glory. Smith later evolved into the king of mope rock. But here he’s just a teenager with a guitar. No makeup. No black baggy clothing. Just Smith, the song and the three-piece original version of The Cure. Classic darkness.
Matt Thurston, thanks for introducing me to this song years ago. It never really leaves my head for long.
Modern Version of “10:15 Saturday Night” by The Cure
Written by Waterdog
I'm an obsessive music collector, cataloger, commenter and trivializer. Sometimes I'm even a listener.
Filed under: 1970s, Alternative Rock, New Wave · Tags: 10:15 Saturday Night, 1979, The Cure
You’re welcome.
10:15 Saturday Night is something of a minimalist classic, isn’t it? Like minimalist painting, the “empty space” between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. It also has a kind of existential vibe, musically and lyrically. Maybe Smith was dabbling in existentialism, (or maybe I’m just reading into it myself). In any case, another track from the same record, Killing an Arab, is also an existential ditty, based on The Stranger, by Camus.
Had Smith kept this rather pedestrian look, would The Cure have achieved the same degree of fame? I doubt it. I wonder if he still likes his official look? Or is it at best a “uniform” he feels forced to wear, or at worse a noose around his neck?
Also, if Elvis is the King of Rock, and Michael is the King of Pop, and Aretha is the Queen of Soul, and James Brown is the Godfather of Soul… isn’t Robert Smith the Godfather of Goth? Is there a better candidate? One could make an argument for Peter Murphy and Ian Curtis, maybe. Certainly Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop, and especially David Bowie influenced the Goth look and sound, but none of them would be described as “Goth” artists. I see them more as early influences of Smith’s, the same way Elvis had his influences.
In any case, a great song. The Cure never wrote another one like it.
Robert is definitely the Godfather of Goth. Some peg him as the King of Mope. Lyrically that may be true. But I’ve often heard an undercurrent of, well, joy in his music. Maybe not joy. But definitely not slash-your-wrists-life-is-sad music either.
Agree that 10:15 Saturday Night is a one-of-a-kind Cure gem.