It's been almost 20 years since I first crashed with Suburbia on the radio. The first PSB song I remember, the song which made me ask "Who are these guys?".
All I can remember is that my heart used to speed up or change the beat everytime I had the chance to hit this song on the radio. Those were the times of the radio-tape recorders, in which we used to play the DJ mixing songs just pausing the tape and rewinding it half wheel back to make it sound as a "proffesional" megamix....
The sound of these guys were different. There was something different with them. Something that drove me to one of the three Music Shops that my home city had at that time to ask if they had ANY thing else about this band.
It's been 20 years since those days and I still CAN'T figure out what is so special about a band which seems to pay high taxes for smiling? or a band whose leading voice is just OK?
I remember while studying american english in NY, that there were a teenage group of korean girls playing the piano at the International House from Columbia University, actually they were trying to play the piano since they were just starting to take classes.
By chance, that day I had bought the PLEASE music book for piano so I got closer to the girls and after a brief argentine-korean presentation, I gave one of them the book. She chose a song and started to play it without knowing what the artist was.
As soon as she played 4 or 5 notes, yes, only 4 or 5 one finger notes, the other girls released an "ahhhhhhh ohhhh"......yes, they had realized they knew the song. It was SUBURBIA.
That is PSB at its essence. They dont need their faces on a cover, they dont need to look like hollywood stars, they need thei music on the air. The answer is written on their pentagramas. Simplicity, purist pop composers.
I really dont know what will happen once PSB past away, I dont know if they will be remembered as the best pop composers or "just" a brilliant band. I have the weird feeling they will never get the recognition they deserve.
Anyway, it's been 20 years so far, and I am still in love as the first day.
Who said that eternal love doesn't exist?
MartinR
Yes....
Brought a tear to my eye that did ! So true.....