Music Analogy

“The final years of the 1970’s saw the emergence of a new style of pop music that would
continue in popularity into the early 1980’s. This music was known, by its fans at that
time, as New Wave” (http://www.erols.com/alloyd/adam2.htm). “New Wave” had a
particular style that utilized the synthesizer as a main instrument. The synthesizer was a
machine that electronically produced music. It gave a certain artificial and metallic feel to
the music. The Cure and Erasure, bands formed during that period of time, were some of
the bands that implemented the synthesizer into their music. Though both bands fit into
the category of “New Wave” the feel of their music is somewhat different. To explain the
difference I would have to analyze their songs. Two examples of their music that I will
analyze are “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure and “Always” by Erasure. The song
“Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure had a 4/4 meter. The song began with a pickup by the
guitar and led into a backbeat by the drums. The synthesizer played a continuous riff
providing the “tinging” artificial sound and there’s also bass in the background. There
were also sounds towards the end of the song that sounded a lot like the “theramin.” The
beat subdivisions seemed to be triplets because the song seemed to swing and the other
subdivisions didn’t match. The correct sequence and lengths of the sections in this
particular song can be best labeled as I8+8 A8 B8 C6 B8 Solo8 B8 C6 D8+8 A8 B8
Solo8 Solo8. The labels A and B are to distinguish the two different verses, the label C
stands for the chorus and the label D symbolized the new section (the bridge). The vocals
within this song have a deeper and a more wailing kind of voice than that of the band
Erasure. The song “Always” from Erasure also had a 4/4 meter, but unlike The Cure the
song did not start out with a pickup and instead of the guitar the song began with the
synthesizer. There didn’t seem to be any other distinguishable instruments besides the
synthesizer and the drum, though I did seem to hear the use of the theramin for the eerie
effect. There were also these clicking sounds, but I’m assuming the synthesizer made it.
The groove of this song was more harmonized and brings to mind the music of the early
Beatles. The subdivisions of this song were 8th notes. The sequence and lengths of the
sections for this song can be labeled as I8 V8+8 C8+4 V8+8 C8+4 CFADE. The label V
symbolizes the verse of the song and the label C symbolizes the chorus of the song.
Although both these bands are categorized under “New Wave”, the feel of their songs is
very different. While Erasure’s song had a more “spaced-out” feel to it, The Cure’s song
seemed to have a faster beat and seemed to be less eerie. I think the difference was from
the bands’ distinct way of using both the synthesizer and the theramin. While Erasure
used the synthesizer throughout the song, as the main instrument, The Cure used the
synthesizer along with other instruments. Therefore, The Cure’s piece was less “artificial”
and the beat fit in more with the category of rock and roll. But the category of “New
Wave” music is not always associated with the artificiality of the songs, thus The Cure’s
interesting way of manipulating the vocal pitch of the vocals (a kind of a deep wailing
sound), the “eerieness” of the music stands out.