article

This article is about the rock band. For other meanings, see The Cure (1995 film) or cure.

The Cure are a successful British rock band, widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock scene of the 1980s. A combination of lead singer Robert Smith's iconic wild hair, pale complexion, smudged lipstick, and the frequently gloomy and introspective lyrics have led to the band being primarily classified as gothic rock. Smith rejects this and other attempts to confine the band to a single genre. The Cure have sold close to 50 million albums worldwide.

History

1970s

In 1976 seventeen-year-old Robert Smith formed The Easy Cure with classmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (drums) and Porl Thompson (guitar) from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School in Crawley, Sussex. They began writing their own songs almost immediately, and quickly amassed a repertoire of original material and a growing following.

In 1977, The Easy Cure auditioned for Hansa Records and received a recording contract worth £1000. A year later, following disagreements about the direction the group should take, the band (newly renamed The Cure) were signed as a trio (minus Porl Thompson) on former Polydor Records scout Chris Parry's new Fiction label (distributed by Polydor). However, The Cure released their first single "Killing an Arab" on the Small Wonder label. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy: while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus' story The Stranger. The single was packaged with a sticker label that denied the racist connotations.

The Cure released their first album Three Imaginary Boys in 1979. The band (particularly Smith) were unhappy with their debut album, as they had no creative control over the final artwork or running order. One particular bone of contention was the inclusion of the Jimi Hendrix cover "Foxy Lady", which was only recorded as a sound check, because some representatives of the record label felt that the inclusion of a cover song would help the album's sales. The same year The Cure also released a 7" single under the assumed name of "Cult Hero", featuring the songs "I'm a Cult Hero" and "I Dig You" with vocals provided by Frankie Bell.

The band embarked on an extensive period of touring, during which they performed with fellow post-punk bands such as Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees, leading eventually to a side-project collaboration between Smith and Banshees member Steven Severin, released under the name The Glove. One particular tour The Cure and The Banshees embarked upon together saw Smith pull double duty each night by performing with The Cure and as the guitarist with The Banshees.

The next single "Boys Don't Cry" was a minor hit in the US, and Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged with new artwork and a new tracklist incorporating the album's singles as Boys Don't Cry in 1980. Dempsey left the band, and Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) joined.

1980s

In 1980 the four member Cure released the minimalist Seventeen Seconds, produced by Mike Hedges, which reached #20 on the UK charts. "A Forest" became the band's first UK hit single. The Cure set out on their first world tour, at the end of which Matthieu Hartley, the synth player, left the band.

In 1981 came the album Faith, which hit #14 on the UK charts, as well as an instrumental soundtrack for the film Carnage Visors (these were packaged together as a long-play cassette called Faith/Carnage Visors). Carnage Visors was used as a "tour support" film for their Picture Tour. The music from Carnage Visors had a very limited print run and has subsequently become very rare in its original form, but along with much of The Cure's catalogue, has recently been remastered and re-released on CD.

Beginning at twenty-one, Smith "didn't see that there was much point in continuing with life. In the next two years, I genuinely felt that I wasn't going to be alive for much longer, and I tried pretty hard to make this feeling come true" (1). The band members' lives began to be marked by increasing drug use. In 1982 The Cure recorded Pornography, a bleak, nihilistic offering that led to more rumours that Smith was suicidal. In spite of (or perhaps because of) the rumours, Pornography became the band's first UK Top 10 album, hitting the charts at #8. The release was followed by the "Fourteen Explicit Moments" tour, and by increasing problems among the members.

After an altercation in a club between Smith and Simon Gallup, Gallup left the group and started another one called Fools Dance. Smith says that he "doesn't even remember making a lot of Pornography" (2).

In late 1982 The Cure released the pop song "Let's Go to Bed", which was a minor hit in the UK, followed in 1983 by two more successful singles: "The Walk" (UK #12), and the playful "The Lovecats," which became the band's first UK Top 10 single at #7. The same year, Smith also recorded and toured with Siouxsie & the Banshees, contributing his writing and playing skills on their Hyaena and Nocturne albums, as well as recording the Blue Sunshine album with Steven Severin as The Glove. The Cure released four studio singles and their B-sides as the album Japanese Whispers, designed by Smith for the Japanese market only. Robert Smith also coproduced the album "From Under the Hill" with Mike Hedges for the band "And Also the Trees", who they toured with later in 1984.

In 1984 The Cure released The Top, a tonally diverse yet generally psychedelic album on which Smith played all the instruments except the drums (played by Andy Anderson) and the saxophone (played by returnee Porl Thompson). This LP was a Top 10 hit in the UK and entered the Billboard 200 in the US. The Cure then embarked on their world "Top Tour" with Thompson, Anderson, and bassist Phil Thornalley on board. Released in the late of that year, The Cure's first live album, Concert consisted of performances from this tour. At its end, Anderson was fired for destroying a hotel room and replaced by Boris Williams. Thornalley left and was replaced by returnee Simon Gallup.

1985 was an important year for the band. Indeed, the new lineup released The Head on the Door which reached #7 in the UK and for the first time entered the American Top 75 at #59; a success partly due to the international impact of the two singles from this LP, "In Between Days" and "Close to Me". Following this album and another world tour, the band released in 1986 Standing on a Beach, a collection featuring all of The Cure's singles, and B-sides for the musicassette version. The album's title was taken from the first line of the band's first single, "Killing an Arab." This compilation entered the US Top 50. This release was accompanied by a video version called Staring at the Sea and by another tour, as well as a live concert VHS filmed in the south of France called The Cure in Orange.

At this time, The Cure became a very popular band in Europe (particularly in France, in Germany and in the Benelux) and more and more famous in the USA. Throughout 1986 Lol Tolhurst's alcohol consumption was interfering with his ability to perform, and Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Roger O'Donnell was frequently called upon to stand in for him.

In 1987, The Cure released the double album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, along with their most critically-acclaimed single in America up to that point, Just Like Heaven which entered the US Top 40 as well as the album itself. The song's video was later chosen as the best alternative video of all time by MTV's 120 Minutes. The intoxicating guitar solo from the opening track, "The Kiss", was used in a Miami Vice episode. The band embarked on the successful "Kissing Tour". In 1988 the band history Ten Imaginary Years was released, and Lol Tolhurst, though he had not yet officially left the band, was replaced by O'Donnell.

In 1989 The Cure released the album Disintegration, which became their UK highest-charting album to date at #3 and featured three Top 30 singles ("Lullaby", "Lovesong" and "Pictures of You"). But mainly, Disintegration reached too an impressive #12 on the US charts - where it had a lengthy run - proving once more their increased popularity in this country. Besides, the second single from the album, "Lovesong", reached #2 on the American pop charts (the only Cure single to reach the American Top Ten), with three more singles making the Hot 75 : "Fascination Street" (#46); "Lullaby" (#74) and "Pictures of You" (#71).

Shortly before the release, Tolhurst left permanently, leaving Smith as the only remaining founding member of The Cure. The Cure embarked on the "Prayer" tour. This tour featured some of the band's longest ever shows; their final gig at Wembley Arena (announced by Robert as "probably our last show") lasted over three and a half hours. Because Tolhurst was still on the payroll during the recording of Disintegration, he was credited on that album's liner notes as playing "other instruments."

1990s

In 1990 The Cure released a collection of remixes called Mixed Up. It was panned by critics. Smith has said that he expected this, but decided to release the collection anyway. Since it was released just after a mass audience had discovered the Cure, "Mixed Up" still managed to sell well; it also spun off a modest hit with the one new song on the collection, "Never Enough".

In May of that year, O'Donnell left the band and Thompson suggested long time guitar tech Perry Bamonte as his replacement. "Mixed Up" was followed in 1992 by the album Wish, which became their highest-charting LP of all time, reaching #1 in the UK and #2 in the US. The Cure also embarked on the "Wish Tour" with Portsmouth's Cranes and released the live albums Show (September 1993) and Paris (October 1993). As a promotional exercise with the Our Price music chain in the UK, a limited edition EP was released consisting of instrumental outtakes from the Wish sessions. Entitled Lost Wishes, the proceeds from the four track cassette tape went to charity. Porl Thompson (guitar) left the band once more during 1993 to play with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Bamonte took over as lead guitar. The band then contributed a new song, "Burn", to the soundtrack of "The Crow", the only original song with the Smith-Gallup-Williams-Bamonte lineup, as well as a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" for a Hendrix tribute album.

During 1994, Lol Tolhurst sued Robert Smith and Fiction Records over royalties payments, also claiming joint ownership of the name "The Cure" with Smith; after a long legal battle Tolhurst eventually lost. Boris Williams (drums) left the band, and was replaced by Jason Cooper (formerly with My Life Story), and Roger O'Donnell rejoined. The Smith-Gallup-Bamonte-Cooper-O'Donnell lineup was one of the longest for The Cure. The first song they wrote was "Dredd Song" for the Judge Dredd movie soundtrack in 1995. There was also a cover of David Bowie's "Young Americans" for a radio compilation.

In 1996 The Cure released the album Wild Mood Swings.

1997 saw the release of "Galore," the follow-up to The Cure's multi-platinum singles collection, "Staring at the Sea/Standing on a Beach." "Galore" contained all of the Cure's singles released between 1987 and 1997, as well as the new single "Wrong Number," which featured longtime David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Gabrels also accompanied the Cure on a brief American radio festival tour as an onstage guest guitarist for "Wrong Number."

In 1998 Smith appeared as himself on the animated TV show South Park (Episode 112, Mecha-Streisand). The Cure also contributed to the soundtrack album for The X-Files: Fight the Future as well as the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses, with their cover of "World in My Eyes."

2000s

The Grammy-nominated album Bloodflowers was released in 2000. This album was, according to Smith, the third of a trilogy along with Pornography and Disintegration. The band also embarked on the nine-month Dream Tour, attended by over one million people worldwide. In 2001 The Cure left Fiction and released their Greatest Hits album and DVD, which featured the music videos for a number of classic Cure songs.

In 2002 they continued recording, and also headlined twelve major music festivals, in addition to playing several three-hour concerts during which they performed the albums Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers in their entireties on back-to-back nights at the Tempodrome in Berlin. These performances were released as the Trilogy DVD in 2003.

In the spring of 2003, The Cure signed to Geffen Records. In 2004 The Cure released a new four-disc boxed set on Fiction Records titled B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years). The set includes seventy Cure songs, some previously unreleased, and a 76-page full-colour book of photographs, history and quotes, packaged in a hard cover. This album peaked at #106 on the Billboard 200 album charts.

The Cure released their first eponymous album on Geffen Records on June 28, 2004, which was produced by the label's owner, nu-metal guru Ross Robinson. It made a top ten debut on both sides of the Atlantic in July 2004 and debuted in the top 30 in Australia. To promote this album, the band headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on May 2. They also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

From July 24 to August 29, The Cure headlined the Curiosa concert tour of North America. Smith hand-selected all eleven openers to perform before The Cure. The concert had two stages, with the headlining bands Interpol, The Rapture, and Mogwai on the main stage and the supporting bands Muse, Cursive, Head Automatica, Thursday, Scarling., The Cooper Temple Clause, and Melissa Auf Der Maur on the second stage.

The group were awarded MTV Icon for 2004. The ceremony included performances of Cure songs by the groups AFI (Just Like Heaven), blink-182 (A Letter to Elise), Razorlight (Boys Don't Cry) and the Deftones (If Only Tonight We Could Sleep), and was hosted by Marilyn Manson. Smith subsequently included songs by AFI, Blink 182 and the Deftones in his setlist whilst presenting a special John Peel evening session on BBC Radio 1.

Inspired by Rhino Records' series of Elvis Costello reissues, 2004-2005 has seen the reissue of Three Imaginary Boys (December 2 2004), Faith, Seventeen Seconds and Pornography (April 26 2005). Each comes with a second bonus disc of previously unreleased material, including home- and studio demos, live performances and out-takes. All the studio albums up to Bloodflowers were supposed to be re-released in 2004, but the record label did not want to release albums at the same time as The Cure, and the first batch was delayed until late 2004/early 2005. The releases of the second batch, consisting of The Top, The Head on the Door, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and The Glove's Blue Sunshine were scheduled for June and July of 2006, but have now been postponed until August.

In May 2005, Smith fired O'Donnell and Bamonte, along with Bamonte's brother Daryl, who had been the band's tour manager for many years. They reportedly were not informed of such until they saw it featured on a Cure fansite. The band made a few festival and television appearances as a three-piece before it was announced in June that Porl Thompson would be returning for the band's 2005 summer shows, including their set at Live 8 in Paris on July 2.

Later in 2005, The Cure recorded a cover of John Lennon's "Love" for Amnesty International's charity album "Make Some Noise". It is available for download on the Amnesty website * and the album has been scheduled to be released on CD in 2006.

The Cure have been writing and recording new material throughout 2006 and plan to release their thirteenth studio album within the year, which was originally reported to have been scheduled for release on Smith's birthday, April 21st. As of May, Smith has said that the band are "hoping for a Halloween release". Geffen Records have confirmed this date in a press release concerning the first batch of releases from their new Suretone Records label.*

The group appeared at the Royal Albert Hall on April 1st, on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust. * It is their only show through to the end of summer 2006.

Discography

See The Cure discography.

Band members

Current members

Past members

Lineups

The Cure is known for having constant member changes, the most recent being in 2005, although it was the first change in 10 years, a Cure record. The following is a list of the lineups in the Cure's history, not including guest singers, producers/assistants, Cure side projects, and session musicians.
  • Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Porl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst (1976-1978)
    • At the time the band was known as "Easy Cure"
  • Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Lol Tolhurst (1978-1979)
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Lol Tolhurst, Matthieu Hartley (1979-1980)
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Lol Tolhurst (1980-1982)
  • Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst (1982-1983)
    • Beginning of Simon Gallup's 18-month absence. Gallup left the band during the disastrous "Fourteen Explicit Moments" tour which supported the Pornography album.
  • Robert Smith, Phil Thornalley, Andy Anderson, Lol Tolhurst (1983)
    • The lineup for "The Lovecats" and its B-Sides.
  • Robert Smith, Phil Thornalley, Porl Thompson, Andy Anderson, Lol Tolhurst (1984)
    • The "Top Tour" lineup, although this was not the lineup for The Top album itself.
  • Robert Smith, Phil Thornalley, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Lol Tolhurst (1984)
    • Short period during "The Top" tour when Andy was fired and was replaced by Boris.
Note that 1984-1993 is often referred to as the "Smith-Gallup-Thompson-Williams" era, not including Tolhurst, O'Donnell, and Bamonte.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Lol Tolhurst (1984-1987)
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Lol Tolhurst, Roger O' Donnell (1987-1988)
    • During the "Kissing" Tour when O'Donnell joined Tolhurst at keyboards at the shows, all six appeared in promo pictures. However O'Donnell at this point had effectively replaced Tolhurst on keyboards. Tolhurst still appeared onstage with the band, however his playing time was minimal at best. This is also the songwriting credits for the songs during the "Disintegration" era, despite that the lineup was the following...
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Roger O' Donnell (1989)
    • Even though only existing as a lineup for one year, it is generally considered to be the definitive incarnation of The Cure, as the quality of performances, songwriting, and musicianship, has never been surpassed by another lineup.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams (1990)
    • The songwriting credits for "Never Enough" and "Harold and Joe", although Perry may have been a member at the time.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams, Perry Bamonte (1990-1993)
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Boris Williams, Perry Bamonte (1994)
  • Robert Smith, Perry Bamonte (1994)
    • According to interviews, this was the lineup when Boris left and Gallup went on a temporary vacation. "This Is a Lie" may have been written at this time.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Perry Bamonte, Jason Cooper, Roger O' Donnell (1995-2005)
    • There were several drummers that auditioned for the job as drummer for the Wild Mood Swings album, and thus Cooper does not play drums on all the songs. He is credited as songwriter on every song and b-side in 1996 anyway.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper (2005)
    • Short period of time in mid-2005 following the firing of Perry and Roger. The band did several studio performances for Yahoo!'s Launch website, and a cover of John Lennon's "Love", which was not released till the end of 2005.
  • Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Jason Cooper (2005-present)
    • The confirmed lineup for the 2006-2007 Cure album. The quartet performed a five-song set at the Paris Live 8 show in July 2005.

References

  • 1. The Cure, Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities 1978-2001 (13).
  • 2. The Cure, Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities 1978-2001 (15).

Reading

  • Barbarian, L., Sutherland, S., and Smith, R., (1988), Ten Imaginary Years. Zomba Books ISBN 0946391874
  • Thompson, D., and Greene, J., (1988), The Cure: A Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press ISBN 0711913870
  • Hopkins, S., Smith, R., and Foo, T., (1989), The Cure: Songwords 1978-1989. Omnibus Press ISBN 0711919518

See also

External links

Alternative musical groups | English musical groups | Goth | New Wave groups | Peel Sessions artists | Post-punk | Rock music groups

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Cure".

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