A thousand wasted hours a day

I was just listening to the JV Club podcast with Jen Kirkman, and in it they talk about the music that influenced them as teens, and shared how much they loved The Cure's Disintegration album, which of course made me want to pull out my Cure playlist. Something about those long moody guitar intros take me straight back to high school.

The first The Cure song I remember hearing was In Between Days, still one of my favorites. I was in middle school. I immediately went out and bought Standing on a Beach, which was a greatest hits compilation that included that song. The real superfans, the ones who dressed like Robert Smith, looked down their noses at my Johnny-come-lately fandom - they owned Pornography on vinyl and I just had a cassette. But whatever, their last name was not the same as the name of the band so they were probably just jealous. And I'm pretty sure they didn't have to buy their album twice because they wore it out.

My first non-compilation The Cure album was Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, and it remains my favorite to this day. Sure it has some catchy poppy numbers like Why Can't I Be You and Just Like Heaven, but it was the moody If Only Tonight We Could Sleep and A Thousand Hours that really spoke to my angst-ridden teenage soul. And continues to speak to my inner 14-year-old.

   A thousand wasted hours a day, just to fill my heart for a second. 
   A thousand hours just thrown away, just to feel my heart for a second.

I mean, these lyrics were written specifically for angsty teenagers, right? Plus I love that the album cover was a giant pair of bright red lips....wait, is that where my red lipstick obsession first started?! (OMG, did I just have an epiphany while writing this?)

I know Disintegration is the favorite album of quite a few people, and I love quite a few songs from that album, but it's not the one I pull out to play from beginning to end on rainy days. That honor belongs to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, the album that reminds me of the girl I used to be.

   Yeah I know who you remind me of
   A girl I think I used to know
   I'd see her when the days got colder
   On those days when it felt like snow
   You know I even think that she stared like you
   She used to just stand there and stare
   And roll her eyes right up to heaven
   And make like I just wasn't there
   And she used to fall down a lot
  That girl was always falling again and again
  And I used to sometimes try to catch her,
  but never even caught her name