Ugh, Day one of a new year. By this point we've already broken our new year's resolution, if only to recover from the hangover we're enduring to last year's last minute binge. Congratulations to you if you actually come through and accomplish your goals for 2015. Plenty of bands have made a promise, or "The Promise" to be specific. Here are a few examples:
"The Promise" by Arcadia (1986)
Arcadia was what happened when everyone in Duran Duran decided that they wanted to do something without Simon Le Bon. The group put out one album during 1985, hypothetically realized that their first act was the major cash cow, and called it a day. "The Promise" was the third single to be released from that album, So Red The Rose, somewhat surprising considering it seven-plus minute length (although the instrumental sections were trimmed down to less than five for radio play). The band was also skeptical of keeping promises, noting "sometimes we make promises we never mean to keep."
"The Promise" by When In Rome (1988)
Definitely the most popular promise to be made during this list, new wave band "When In Rome" made its sparkling debut in the music industry with "The Promise," a single that went to no. 1 on the U.S. dance charts. Unfortunately, the band didn't have the same level of success as new wave was dying out around the time this track dropped. As a result, this band only had one album release before it called it quits. Although this sounds like a more optimistic approach to promises, examining the lyrics reveals that Clive Farrington isn't promising any thing beneficial to his beloved...he's promising that she'll fall for him.
"The Promise" by Tracy Chapman (1995)
If your mother was listening to less mainstream fare than Sarah MacLachlan during the '90s...she was probably listening to Tracy Chapman instead (although the latter singer-songwriter still took her 1995 album New Beginning to triple-platinum status). This is what we imagine a song called "The Promise" should sound like. Chapman promises that as long as her cohort in the song "can make a promise, if it's one you can keep," she'll always come back to them. We feel she's more likely to keep her resolution this year.
"The Promise" by Bruce Springsteen (1999)
This track comes from The Boss's 1999 album of extras titled 18 Tracks, although it had been lingering around since he released Darkness on The Edge of Town and the E Street Band had even performed the song live before it finally saw the light on this compilation. A word of warning: This is one of the most depressing songs in the discography of a guy who's written plenty of depressing songs. Springsteen sings of the promise as a metaphor for the dreams of youth, dreams that come undone as life goes on. One example is the Dodge Challenger he builds by hand but ends up selling when money runs short.
"The Promise" by Girls Aloud (2008)
Perhaps while you listening to the previous entry by Bruce Springsteen, you thought one of two things: "Lord this is depressing! I need something more upbeat!" or B) "Lord this is a well-written song but for some reason I would really prefer something much more sloppy!" You're in luck on both counts here: Girls Aloud was a pop group that came about on the tails of the Spice Girls during the early 2000's and, while its earlier albums were worthwhile, by 2008 it had run out of gas or was Out of Control as its last album notes. This repetitive tale of dropping out opt a marriage for a better man is grinding at best due to abused '60's-style pop touches.
"The Promise" by In This Moment (2010)
We have a very split opinion on In This Moment frontwoman Maria Brink. On one hand, she's one of the better pure voices in metal. Then again, the band's songwriting very often panders to the lowest common denominator of the genre. "The Promise" is another fairly pop tune from the band but we'll give them credit. We enjoy how Brink and Otherwise frontman Adrian Patrick take turns singing clean verses and screamed hooks accordingly. This story doesn't have a happy ending either as both promise only "that I'll hurt you."
"The Promise" by Sturgill Simpson
Perhaps about a minute into this track from current underground country standout Sturgill Simpson, you'll realize that it's just a cover of the earlier When In Rome hit. We at Music Times don't especially care, notably staff writer Carolyn "Americana" Menyes, who wrote up our summary of "The Promise" as our no. 19 song of the year: "giving the glitzy 1980s hit a heartfelt, personal make-under... Simpson's pensive, beautiful vocals are deep and concentrated, giving a renewed emphasis to the track's loving, heartbreaking lyrics."
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