Cure, The

Cure, The , doom-and-gloom gothic pop band. MEMBERSHIP: Robert Smith, voc., gtr. (b. Blackpool, England, April 21, 1959); Michael Dempsey, bs. (b. Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, Nov. 29, 1958); Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst, drm. (b. Horley, England, Feb. 3, 1959); Porl Thompson, gtr. (b. Wimbledon, England, Nov. 8, 1957); Simon Gallup, bs. (b. Duxhurst, England, June 1, 1960); Mathieu Hartley, kybd. (b. Smallfield, England, Feb. 4, 1960); Boris Williams, drm. (b. Versailles, France, April 24, 1957); Roger O’Donnell, kybd. (b. Oct. 29, 1955); Perry Bamonte, gtr., kybd. (b. London, England, Sept. 3, 1960); Jason Cooper, drm. (b. London, England, Jan. 31, 1967).

Brought up in suburban Crawley, Robert Smith started learning guitar from his older brother at the age of six. Ten years later, he formed the Easy Cure with a couple of schoolmates, including drummer Lol Tolhurst. Although they came together with a typical punk format at the tail end of the punk explosion, they took another route, creating atmospheric songs with bite, flavored by Smith’s distinctive vocals. That, and his distinctive look—he wore pale make-up, bright red lipstick, and his hair looked like a pitch-black haystack—set the band way apart from their contemporaries. Smith has been described as looking like an advance man for the apocalypse, but he has an unerring way of turning pain into pop, despite being happily married to a woman he has been with since they met in drama class when they were both 13 years old.

With the erudite irony that would inform Smith’s music over the next two decades, one of the group’s first demos drew inspiration from Camus’s existential classic The Stranger. Called “Killing an Arab,” the song came to the attention of Chris Parry, an A&R representative for Polydor. He saw to it that the record was released, and when he left Polydor to form his own label, Fiction, in 1979 he took the band—their sobriquet shortened to The Cure—with him as his first act.

In spring 1979, the band’s first album Three Imaginary Boys came out. It reached #44 in the U.K. After cutting a couple more singles, “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Jumping Someone Else’s Train,” the band hit the road with Siouxsie and the Banshees. Smith found himself playing both ends of the bill, as he filled in when Banshee guitarist John McKay left the band. It began a long-standing relationship with the band.

The decidedly dark album 17 Seconds came out in the spring of 1980. Bolstered by the single “A Forest” which landed them on the English TV show Top of the Pops and peaked at #31, the album rose to #20. In America, however, the Cure’s records were only available as imports. Between tours, they did some soundtrack work.

Almost a year to the day after 17 Seconds came out, the band released the even darker album, Faith. Building their base around fans of music now being called gothic, the album hit #14 on the U.K. charts.

Almost a year to the day after Faith came out, the band released Pornography, another salvo of gloom to darken the English spring. Regarded as one of the band’s masterpieces, it reached #8. And just when people thought the band couldn’t get any creepier, they unleashed the poppy, snappy, one-off single “Let’s Go to Bed.” While it stalled at #44, it attracted some attention in the burgeoning U.S. dance-rock clubs and among alternative radio stations. Through July 1983, the band released a spate of singles that did fairly well. “The Walk” hit #12 on the U.K. charts, and the light, jazzy tune “The Love Cats” rose to #7. All three singles were collected on the mini-album Japanese Whispers in December. The EP topped out at #26.

Meanwhile, Smith found himself working once more with Siouxsie and the Banshees. He recorded two 771 albums as a spot replacement for John McGeoch, the studio album Hyena and the live Nocturne. When The Cure regrouped in 1984, Smith and Tolhurst were the only original members remaining, and Tolhurst had switched from drums to keyboards.

After two years, they once again brought a salvo of sonic storm to the English spring with The Top. The single, “The Caterpillar” hit #14 and the album reached #10. In the fall, they put out a live greatest hits collection that hit #26.

The Cure had achieved cult status in the U.S., but never the acclaim that was theirs at home. That began to change when they got a new U.S. distributor for 1985’s The Head on the Door. The single “In Between Days” hit #15 on the U.K. charts that summer, and skimmed the Hot 100 in the U.S. that winter (coming in at #99) their first single to chart at all in the U.S. The album reached #7 in the U.K. and hit a respectable #59 in the U.S.

With their initial foray into American pop consciousness, the record company collected some of the band’s greatest hits and released Standing on a Beach. The record hit #4 in the U.K. and rose to #48 in the U.S., eventually going double platinum.

With their next album, 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, the Cure sprang from cult status to a headlining act in arenas. The double album ran the gamut from pop to outright horror. “Just Like Heaven” actually hit #40 pop. The album rose to #33 in the U.S. and sold platinum. In the U.K., it spun off three more hit singles and topped out at #6.

Tolhurst, who had been with the band from the beginning, left in anger early in 1989, leaving Smith as the lone remaining original member. Tolhurst sued the group, claiming that as a founding member, he was entitled to more royalties than he was getting. That same year, the band released the downhearted Disintegration. The single “Love Song” rose to #2 in the U.S. charts, for the first time eclipsing their #18 success at home. They toured the U.S. extensively to promote the album. In 1990 the Cure put out one of the first dance remix albums. Called Mixed Up, it featured extended dance versions of all their previous U.S. hits and many of their U.K. successes.

In 1992, they put out perhaps their finest record, Wish. Propelled by the remarkable pop single “Friday I’m in Love,” which hit #18 in the U.S. The album topped the U.K. charts, hit #2 in the U.S., and went platinum. While touring Wish, they recorded concerts in the U.S. and Europe. These came out as Show and Paris in fall 1993.

By this time, Smith had become Robert Smith, Esq., appearing in Debrett’s peerage. The band went on hiatus for a few years after that. In 1994, the Tolhurst case came to a conclusion, with the British High Court finding in favor of Smith, the Cure, and Fiction Records. As this blew over, the group’s drummer, Boris Williams, left. Smith placed an ad that read “…famous group requires drummer—no metal heads.” The album in progress, Wild Mood Swings was completed with seven separate drummers and released in 1996. The band performed on Saturday Night Live and David Letterman.

The album debuted at its peak of #12 and went gold. Their effect on popular culture became the subtext of the film Career Girls.

In 1998, the band put out yet another greatest hits collection, Galore, which compiled 18 of the group’s best-known tunes. Robert Smith threatened that he would disband the Cure on his 40th birthday, but they continue to tour and record.

Discography

Three Imaginary Boys (1979); Seventeen Seconds (1980); Boys Don’t Cry (1980); …Happily Ever After (1981); Carnage Visors (1981); Faith (1981); Pornography (1982); Concert/Curiosity (live; 1984); The Top (1984); Concert: Live (1984); The Head on the Door (1985); Standing on a Beach (1986); Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987); Peel Sessions (1988); Disintegration (1989); Integration (1990); Mixed Up (1990); Entreat (live; 1990); Wish (1992); Show (live; 1993); Paris (live; 1993); Wild Mood Swings (1996); Galore (1998); Blood/lowers (2000).

—Hank Bordowitz