God, I haven’t heard this song in years. But within three notes of the intro, I am sixteen again.
Just Like a Pill, by Pink (her 2nd of three #1s)
1 week, from 22nd – 29th September 2002
September 2002, and I had just started my final year of high school, where Pink’s (sorry, P!nk’s) ‘Missundaztood’ (sorry, ‘M!ssundaztood’) was one of three albums that seemed to be on constant rotation, along with Red Hot Chili Peppers’s ‘By the Way’, and No Doubt’s ‘Rock Steady’.
And I can see why it appealed to us teens. It’s moody, it’s got big beefy chords, it’s got lyrics about bad trips, and morphine, and a ‘bitch’ nurse (is Pink the first woman to curse in a #1 single?). It’s emo-pop, a couple of years before that was an actual genre. But it’s still very much a pop song, crammed with hooks.
Listening to it now, ‘Just Like a Pill’ feels both slightly lightweight, and slightly too polished; but has also held up pretty well over the intervening two decades. The chorus is one of Pink’s best, and her voice suits this sort of pop rock much more than the R&B she started her career off with. It frustrates me that the middle-eight, setting up a soaring final chorus, is just a repeat of the bridge, though. It leaves something lacking.
Not that it should matter, but Pink wasn’t just cosplaying as a drug addict for credibility, having had a near-fatal overdose at sixteen. Although she was often lumped together with the other female pop stars of the day, she always had an edge to her, which for me made her one of the more interesting, but also slightly overlooked, singers of the ‘00s. And yet… having just checked her discography, colour me surprised to see that Pink has had twenty-one Top 10 hits in the UK, across twenty-one years! I’d guess that’s way more than many of her contemporaries.
I need to do a Pink deep-dive, because looking down her singles discography there are some great tunes which – like this one – I haven’t heard in an age (including one more classic pop-rock #1 to come). And actually, the fact that ‘Just Like a Pill was her first solo number one is surprising, given the ubiquity of the album’s two earlier singles – ‘Get the Party Started’, and the even more emo ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’. So why do I overlook her? Is it because she never quite fit in with the female pop star image? Because she went her own way? Because she was, dare I say, m!ssundaztood?
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I know the name P!nk much better than her music and actually reasonably like some of what I heard. She’s a decent vocalist who writes/co-writes her own songs and has a good sense for memorable melodies. I don’t think I knew “Like a Pill” – it may be not be fuckin’ perfect, but it’s certainly not a bad song either.😆
Pink always passed me by at the time, certain hits excepted, as she didn’t seem to get the same attention as Britney, Christina or her other contemporaries. But she’s great, and has had a brilliant run of pop-rock singles over the years. The fact that she can be a reasonably family-friendly female pop star and still release a single called ‘Fuckin’ Perfect’ sums her up quite well 🙂
I still cannot believe the song was censored, at least here in the U.S., where they removed “fuckin’ perfect,” so the chorus went, “Pretty , pretty please/If you ever, ever feel/Like you’re less then, less than perfect…”
Meanwhile, you have hip hop lyrics packed with fowl language. None of it makes any sense to me!
Rappers with fowl language…? Was trying to make a singer-bird pun but all I can think of is Taylor Swift, who doesn’t tend to swear : )
😂
Pink’s great, I liked her right from day one, and she was never a “headline grabbing” pop star, more of a cooler cult following who managed to keep going through her music evolving nicely, but still sounding Pink. Just Like a Pill is good, but she had better stuff to come – and she’s still great even if the hits have mostly dried up now – and I still prefer Get The Party Started, the chart-topper shouldabeen from 2002-ish. That sounded good in a club, this one not so much, more rock than party.
Have the hits dried up? Maybe very recently, but she was still hitting the Top 10 in 2021 (2019 as a solo act). Which is much later than I realised, and impressive compared to her contemporaries. Maybe only Beyonce could rival her chart longevity.
she’s had a great chart run, and you’re right, more recent stuff from Trustfall made the top 20: Never Gonna Not Dance Again was her first chart-topper for me, gasp! And her duet with her daughter was fab too, Cover Me In Sunshine. In between lead tracks off new albums, like so many acts these days, it’s a lot more challenging to get later singles into the charts after week one of album plays or pre-album new track interest. But she’s on her 4th decade with hits, so that’s up there with Beyonce and behind only older acts like Kylie, Madonna, Cher….
This is the sound I associate the 2000s more for than most any other genre, this electro-tinged pop rock/emo pop sound. Music video’s aesthetic is a bit earlier than I expected – this type of aesthetic was basically the dominant form of pop/rock between like 2005-2007. As a Zillennial, Pink’s music is a big part of my childhood for I’m biased, but I like this song. Don’t love it but it’s good. Pink has much better singles that have far more energy and pzazz. Pink’s pretty huge here in Australia particularly with the white wine mom market (very big and lucrative market down under). This song was co-written by Dallas Austin who co-wrote and produced some damn excellent songs for TLC, Gwen Stefani, Boyz II Men and Sugababes.
I actually like this one. She is one that actually has a great voice…no autotune needed. I’ve never been a fan but some songs I do like.
Yes she’s a great singer, and can do modern R&B, pop, and rock very well.
She seems huge here on NZ. She toured recently, and it was big, and I see lots of 40ish women wearing Pink merchandise.
Is that right? I’m not sure she’s ever been as big as that in the UK