the cure: “they are back, and i want to read myself writing about them”
Let's just lay it out there and get it over with. THE CURE sits on the bus right next to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and whomever else you will incessantly argue into the mix (I don't have the energy). On what bus could that be? The bus shuttling the most important and influential bands in modern music history. Let's please not get into the pop realm of Michael Jackson, Madonna and that overly manicured realm. Let's leave this to the people who group themselves into a room and collectively decide to change things.
For me to throw out these accolades says a lot, well at least to me, I guess. I just imagine I am far from alone, standing firm on this one. THE CURE emerged during, what I believe, was the most musically imaginitive period I can recount in my lifetime. Immediately after punk put its stamp on things, and all creative shackles were permanently destroyed (during the late 70s through the mid 80s). Wow, will that definitely be its own column one day. Whew!
For the entirety of THE CURE's career, the band always lands mysteriously at one of the two H's... Haunting or Happy. No matter the writing, the pace or production, it always comes out in the wash as one or the other. The compositions can be bizarre or simplistic. They can be either lyrically or melodically introspective. They can write cheerful music with dark lyrics or dark music with cheerful lyrics. Their songs can be instantaneously gratifying or a long-term investment. One of the key ingredients is unquestionably Robert Smith's voice oozing (but also sometimes dominating) through every recording. THE CURE have been incredibly unique. There was never a band like them, and I can dispute there STIILL IS no band like them.
What makes this band certainly historic is their influence, not just on other bands in a limited field, but on an entire contemporary musical landscape over the past 40 years. During this period of time, THE CURE touched and altered several styles and cultures in the music world, while arguably even assisting in creating one. Just ask the other artists, songwriters, producers, record labels, agents and promoters. Amongst your own extensive listening experiences, you can hear it for yourself. Genres including the likes of Post Punk, New Wave, Shoegaze, Gothic, Industrial, Noise Rock, Radio Pop, Singer/Songwriters and even Heavy Metal feature artists that have lifted a page or three from THE CURE's ingenious library. Now, when it comes to the incredible instrumental world of post rock, that officially emerged in the late 1980s, there is little doubt THE CURE had a heavy hand in that surfacing.
The extended intros and outros of numerous [THE] CURE songs could be described as gorgeous, hypnotic or sometimes minimalistic… but usually a combination. They laid down extremely thoughtful instrumental atmosphere. That is post rock... period! Take time inside THE CURE catalog with "The Kiss", "A Forest", "Plainsong", "One More Time", "Untitled" and "Breathe", and then immerse yourself in post rock bands such as Mogwai, God Is An Astronaut, Explosions In the Sky, Hammock, and Sigur Ros (ok, add vocals), who all took the art a step sideways or forward. Of course, Talk Talk and Slint may have established themselves as the official first post rock artists in 1988-1989, but once again, THE CURE and Robert Smith slowly opened and inspired that categorical groundswell before then and have continued their contribution to this day.
To fall in like with THE CURE, one can just consume the radio pop hits. To fall in love with THE CURE, there is this full album collection dedication that leads to this broadly accepting devotion, and this will most likley need to evolve over a long period of time. Feeling just as fulfilled with "Cold" and "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" as you would with "In Between Days" and "Just Like Heaven" asks a tad of trust from your auditory cortex. When I arrived in that perfect listening zone (digesting every record), I found it impactful. These are the artists with the records you request to have buried in your coffin.
Why and how did I begin garnering such support for THE CURE? From a corporate rock kid to a turbo-charged metalhead teen, and then somehow, I drafted THE CURE on to my team. That is an earth shattering occurence. Civilans around the world want...no!... they need to know. I want to say the inital spark occured during my first semester in college in the Fall of 1987, but that would be an anti-truth. I was secretly micro-triggered one year earlier, still in high school, while outwardly drowning in Metallica and WASP. My old-school-high-school-oh-well metalhead cohorts will not be happy with this unforgivable discovery. Oh, bloody hell, let's just get it over with. I liked some tracks on "Standing on a Beach"
(Ok, hold on, it’s a girlfriend story)… My girlfriend in high school was a year older than me. So, when she went to college at Villanova, she was still a year older. That's math. Anyway, our relationship stayed intact, and when I would visit her on most weekends, what do you know? THE CURE, "Standing on a Beach"-style, showed up on her cute little cassette player on her cute little boombox in her cute little dorm room sitting right next to her cuteness. This is called the roomate stimulus. THE CURE invaded my girlfriend; therefore, it was thrust upon me in small doses. On the outside, I still said, give me Dio or give me death. But why did I kinda like "Charlotte Sometimes", "A Forest" and "The Hanging Garden"? Strong academic and medical minds to this day haven't solved that one. Anyway, the following year I went to college, and the notorius hallway friend in MY dorm handed ME a copy of "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me", and it was game over. I was obsessed with that record (still squeezed in between some fine metal, of course). In the Fall of 1987, I officially loved Slayer and liked THE CURE. By 1989, I officially loved Slayer, and loved THE CURE.
Fast forward to 2018. I attend the film, THE CURE - ANNIVERSARY 1978-2018 LIVE IN HYDE PARK IN LONDON... in a movie theater... with the best fans. It was a rather fantastic experience.
When I listen to THE CURE, it tends to remove my mind from this world and plants me somewhere else.
THE CURE. ON TOUR. 2023. HERE I COME.... Just put the new damn album out already.