Artists Condensed: The Cure (part one)
Some bands are just plain inexplicable. Somehow, The Cure has remained popular for thirty solid years despite being unbelievably weird and off-putting. Their pop songs have kept them afloat in a sea of strange, abrasive and often experimental music. They have been claimed by any number of subcultures, from the goths to the post-punkers to the general cultists of all things 80's. The truth is that, like most acts that survive this long, The Cure isn't really any of these things. In fact, the band itself has only been one thing consistently, and that's the home of Robert Smith. I can't think of a single rock band that has gone through as many lineup changes as The Cure, not that it really makes much of a difference. All Cure albums stand on their own, even defying expectations within themselves.
1979 saw the release of Three Imaginary Boys, The Cure's debut album. Half of it might as well be called punk while the rest of it hints at the strange, expansive territory the band, in its many forms, would pursue in the coming decades.
- Meat Hook
- Three Imaginary Boys
- Play For Today
- A Forest
This song from Seventeen Seconds is the first Cure track that really sounds like The Cure. It's atmospheric, gloomy yet poppy and it has some very careful guitar work.
And just like that, The Cure becomes a New Wave pop band, at least occasionally. If this song had been written by The Go-Go's would it be at all out of place? This is the great secret of The Cure's success. If Smith and company had been nothing but weird art-rockers they would have faded away by the middle of the 80's.
- The Holy Hour
- Primary
Faith is The Cure's first really great album. They hadn't yet achieved such a tight, confident sound and they wouldn't hold onto it for the next couple albums.
- Other Voices
- The Hanging Garden
Pornography is one tough album to listen to. It's just so weird and abrasive. Somehow, this least commercial album in the band's entire discography would end up being their first to reach the UK Top 10. Just to put that in perspective, Pornography shared the charts in 1982 with the likes of Adam and the Ants, and Dexy's Midnight Runners.
The following year, The Cure released Japanese Whispers, the very definition of a 180. Half the songs on that album are practically dance-floor-ready. It's a synthesizer-heavy album that is more than occasionally playful. Smith was already sick of spinning his wheels with a goth band and really spent more time prior to Japanese Whispers playing around with other bands, like Siouxie and the Banshees. The goofy pop of Whispers basically saved The Cure from dissolve.
- The Lovecats
- Birdmad Girl
- The Caterpillar
I've often lamented the lack of more songs like this in The Cure's catalog. It's a wonderful, vaguely psychedelic joy with unique lyrics. It's still very much The Cure, but it's cleaner and brighter.
- In Between Days
- Six Different Ways
- A Night Like This
- Close to Me
By the release of The Head On The Door, The Cure had stopped being a goth band, at least temporarily. They started using more organic instruments and Smith really started playing around in some very productive ways. Gone were the druggy, self-destructive exercises of the early 80's.
Given The Cure's prolific recording habits, there's a lot of material to go through. Next week we'll be looking at the band's further developments in two more installments. Until then, listen well.
