My Top 1000 Songs #637: Pink Frost

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Like the previously-referenced "Rolling Moon," I first heard the Chills' "Pink Frost" when their superb collection of early singles, Kaleidoscope World, arrived at the college radio station in 1986. At first, "Pink Frost" sounded like another terrific alternate-universe pop song from New Zealand, the tune kicking off with a chiming guitar over a jaunty rhythm section. But then it down-shifts into something completely different, a spooky, haunting track that sounds more like the Moody Blues or the Cure. The dark atmospherics are magnetic and almost a little frightening, the menacing lyrics and creepy minor key vibe sounding like the backdrop for a twisted scene in a David Lynch film. It puts the chill in the Chills and lingers with you.

Live in the studio, 2019:

Interesting electronica version from The Clicks:

A more faithful cover from UK shoegazers House of Love: