"๐ฐ'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฐ'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐"
"Another Hit of Showmanship", the newest single from The Struts, is a song and a sign of the times. It's vulnerable, stripped, and an open look at the world of musicians in a time when everything is uncertain.
The cover of the single subtly notes "The year the Earth stood still". With the global pandemic of COVID-19 shutting down almost all social interactions as we knew them, it truly feels as though we have entered into a Twilight Zone where the earth is standing still and progress is hard to attain. We're facing racial tensions across the United States, with opposing sides grabbing each other by the throat and making the future of the country equally as uncertain.
Questions are arising in the minds of people all over the world: Where are we headed? And when, if ever, will we find a sense of normalcy again?
Collectively, we find ourselves longing for that Time Beforeโข.
The Struts give us a little throwback to that time in the musicality and sound of this new single. With an opening and tune that embraces and wraps itself in the warmth and comfort of 80s New Wave, it feels as though the spirit of The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love" possessed the Struts. And yet, in the lyrics, Luke Spiller doesn't speak in the romanticized way of the 80s. Now is not the time for a sugar-coated look at the world. It's a time of confusion, and the lyrics reflect that entirely.
"I don't feel human, I can't decide... I'm feeling clueless... these words are useless."
For a musician and a showman, it's easy to see why a lockdown quarantine and a world of tension would cause such emotions. Bands thrive on the stage, with the heat of the lights and the buzz of the amps, the roars from thousands of fans singing every word back at them. But none of that exists right now, and no one can tell when it will again.
Jock jams and anthems are no longer being played through jumbotrons and stacked speakers in a stadium or arena. Songs are being played through phones and Bluetooth speakers in the safety of a quarantined household. Anthemic songs don't ring out like they used to, so The Struts, who have repeatedly succeeded at penning and producing monumental modern-rock anthems, took a different approach.
They wrote a song that acknowledges how bewildering and isolating these times are. They wrote a song that isn't meant to be played through the stacked amps. They wrote a song that isn't meant to be shouted from the rooftops. The Struts wrote a song that plays through a tinny phone speaker while wrapped up in a blanket, staring out the window and wondering where the world is going.
The Struts wrote a song that validates every concern we have in such a time, and yet still injects a sense of hope.
"All I need is another hit of showmanship and I'll be all right."
Much like Bon Jovi's underrated "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", "Another Hit of Showmanship" says Yes, I see your struggles. I feel them too. But all we need is to hold on, and then things will be okay. Just hold on.
Hold on. Because although we're cross-eyed and blind, we will get that hit. And when we do, we will all be alright.
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