‘Strange Attraction’: The Cure song inspired by “chaos theory”
The Cure are undoubtedly one of the most unique bands to have emerged from the creativity pool of the 1980s. Having formed in the latter part of the previous decade as part of the post-punk explosion, the band’s sound has evolved from their more vicious roots into something moodier, gloomier and altogether brighter.
For this reason alone, The Cure remain one of the most pivotal groups of Britain’s illustrious rock ‘n’ roll past. The group have developed a trademark sound that continues to play tricks on itself, forever masking the dark and morose within candy-pop flavours while the sugary sound is drenched in the sweat and tears of gloomy goth rock.
By the time the band reached the 1990s, The Cure were now firmly in control of their output, rarely doing anything that didn’t align with their values. While other groups would have pandered to the commercial success that the Robert Smith-led band had gained with ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ and ‘Love Cats’, the Crawley-based band were intent on forging their own path.
1996 would see The Cure release their album Wild Mood Swings. With a shift in personnel as Boris Williams quit and Jason Cooper and Roger O’Donnell joined, the album is caught between two styles and perhaps landed at the wrong time for the group having to follow Wish, one of the band’s best LPs. But while the record felt messier than most of The Cure’s clearer visions, it did possess one song which typified the band.
The tune is deeply woven with several dark threads, warning the audience not to forgo dedication in the name of obsession. But, in typical Cure fashion, Robert Smith and his band deliver the message in a unique way, using the language of “chaos theory” to share an otherwise standard love song.
Chaos theory suggests that the seemingly random occurrences of daily life can slowly form into a pattern of behaviour from which we are able to determine the outcome of life itself. A plaything for pop theorists across university student unions in the Western world, the theory is best summed up by the “butterfly effect”, which suggests that the gust of one flap of a butterfly’s wing can cause unstoppable damage by the time it reaches the rest of the world.
As Smith noted in 1997, ‘Strange Attraction’ is “a song using the language of ‘chaos theory’ to tell a story of miscommunication… I have often endured whole correspondences as a non-participant. My answers are often, unknowingly, contained in my songwords… songwords such as ‘Strange Attraction.’ Rather aptly, considering the subject matter, there was no video made for this single.”
Watch The Cure perform ‘Strange Attraction’ on Conan O’Brien’s late-night show back in 1996.
