The 80s wouldn’t have been the same without The Cure, and it’s no surprise that “Just Like Heaven,” released in 1987, became one of their most popular songs. Although it sounds like your typical love song, the band’s lead singer, Robert Smith, said there was something more complex behind the tune.
Smith explained that “the song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor,” and that some lyrics were actually based on his childhood memories of trying to learn and master magic tricks when he was young. Furthermore, Smith has said that “on another level, it’s about a seduction trick, from much later in my life.”
"Closing Time" by Semisonic
"Closing Time" is another one of those songs that basically became a trademark for bars that wanted to "politely" kick people out when it was time to close. And while it does make sense that this Semisonic song became synonymous with a 'last call' anthem, since it is about people leaving a bar at 'closing time,' it has another, entirely different meaning.
The band's drummer, Jacob Slichter, once said that "Closing Time," written by lead singer Dan Wilson, was about Wilson's "anticipation of fatherhood." Apparently, his girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and he meant for the song to be about "being sent forth from the womb as if by a bouncer clearing out a bar." However, the band quickly realized and understood that audiences would logically think the song was about a bar at closing time.
"Alive" by Pearl Jam
When you first listen to Pearl Jam's hit 1991 song "Alive," it sounds like an anthem of inspiration and perseverance against all odds. The band's legendary lead singer, Eddie Vedder, shouts out, "Yeah, yeah I, oh, I'm still alive," with his unique voice and a heartfelt passion that just makes you want to keep on playing the song on repeat. But when digging a little deeper, we learn that the song has a backstory behind it that very few know about.
As it turns out, the song was written by Vedder after he discovered, as a teenager, that the man he had believed to be his father all those years wasn't his biological father - who had actually passed away years ago. As Vedder explained to Rolling Stone magazine in an interview, when talking about the guy in the song (himself), “He’s still dealing with love, he’s still dealing with the death of his father. All he knows is ‘I’m still alive".
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams
Contrary to what many people might think, "Summer of '69" is not a nostalgic love tribute to the magical summer of 1969. The famous "Summer of '69" song, which was actually released in 1984, was not based on its writers, Canadian singer Bryan Adams and friend Jim Vallance's experiences as teenagers in '69, which should've been quite obvious to most listeners, since Adams was barely 9 years old in 1969.
Although the song does make some references to the musicians' personal lives, Adams explained that the '69 actually referred to the 69' position.
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
Despite its title, most people who've heard the 1994 Weezer song, "Buddy Holly," know it has nothing to do with the actual musician. In fact, after listening to the song's lyrics, "You know I’m yours, and I know you’re mine, and that’s for all time," most people assumed it was about an intimate relationship, a dedication of love. However, Weezer's lead singer, Rivers Cuomo, claims that's not the case at all: "It’s very platonic. Not a romantic thing at all."
And to be fair, after carefully listening to the song's lyrics, it becomes quite obvious that they're not explicitly romantic. Actually, they're almost purposely vague. Audiences just quickly assumed the song was romantic since it was about a guy singing a song about a girl. But in reality, that's all it is - simply a guy singing about a girl.