robert smith

In the last few days, when I've told people that I've never really listened to The Cure, I've been met with a mix of "blasphemy" and "you're not missing much." Aside from the few singles here and there or covers of Cure songs by other bands, my knowledge is pretty sparse. I've been googling the band, listening to music clips and watching the occasional YouTube video trying to figure out how to dive into this music pool. Then I decided, that I would start at the end.

Apparently I am doing it wrong. Any time someone has introduced me to a band, it's pretty much ritual that you start at the beginning of their music catalogue or somewhere near it and work your way to the latest release. I've just done that so many times, I feel like shaking it up a bit. Rebellious, I know! Read more

The Cure is one of those bands that listeners try to encapsulate with a particular sound, but were never actually beholden to any one style. Some remember the gothic bookends, others the poppy middle years, still others have the band's handful of forlorn love songs stand in for their entire run. We all develop internal relationships with our favorite artists by applying their music to periods of our lives, but in the end that's really just a lot like snipping a particular individual out of a larger photograph and calling what remains the full picture. Given the constant rotation of members and frequent alterations of style, the full discography of The Cure ends up looking like a collage anyway. Snipping out your favorite part is easier because of this, but doing so dismisses the artfulness of the whole. Read more