1987 Hit Ranked Among the ‘Best Rock Love Songs of All Time' Became a Timeless Anthem

Despite being nearly 40 years old, The Cure's 1987 hit, "Just Like Heaven," is still considered one of the most romantic songs ever released. The classic, which Billboard named the 4th best rock love song of all time, is off the band's seventh studio album, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

Far Out magazine reported that The Cure's Robert Smith shared how the iconic song came to be in an interview with Blender. Smith said he was inspired by his relationship with his wife, Mary Poole, who starred alongside him in the music video.

"Mary dances with me in the video because she was the girl, so it had to be her. The idea is that one night like that is worth a thousand hours of drudgery," said the musician, now 66.

In addition, he said that "Just Like Heaven" depicts "hyper-ventilating – kissing and fainting to the floor."

Smith also explained that when he wrote the song, "Mary and [he] lived in a small two-bedroomed flat in Maida Vale in North London," where his song-writing responsibilities were "self-imposed."

"I set myself a regime of writing 15 days a month, otherwise, I'd have just got up in the mid-afternoon and watched TV until the pubs opened, then gone out drinking," said Smith during the interview.

He also revealed to the publication that the song's structure is like The Only Ones' "Another Girl Another Planet," released in 1978.

"Although I didn't realise it at the time, the structure is actually very similar to a song called ‘Another Girl Another Planet' by The Only Ones, which I can still vividly remember hearing on the radio late at night in the mid-70s," said Smith, as reported by Far Out. "It's one of the forgotten songs of the decade but is certainly well worth revisiting. The main difference is that as the song progressed, I introduced some different chord changes which give it that slightly melancholic feeling."

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 1:06 PM.