Nick: What's wrong with The Cure?
Norah: There's nothing wrong with The Cure, actually, but just the name. You know, The Cure? What are they The Curing? Get it? They should be called The Cause, right?!?
Reigning from Crawley, England, The Cure first formed at around 1976. Their initial sound was post-punk, as can be heard in their 1979 debut Three Imaginary Boys. They shifted gears for a while, releasing a gothic trilogy: Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. Afterwards, their music became more catchy, culminating to their 1987 mainstream smash, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. They've remained on the alternative/pop realm for the majority of their carrer, with their latest release being 2008's 4:13 Dream.
One word to decribe The Cure: moody. It seems that in the 30+ years that they've been around they've been able to write about every emotion imaginable, from jubilation to anger to heartache (lots and lots of heartache). But when you're second single is titled "Boys Don't Cry," you're not leaving yourself with much elbow room (sidebar #1: that song is used as the ringtone for Nick's cell phone in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist). Their success and influence can be seen all around, if you look hard enough. Their iconic image have made them the poster-boys of "goth" and "emo" (sidebar #2: a poster of The Cure can be seen in Jessie Spano's bedroom in some episodes of Saved by the Bell). And modern alternative acts borrow greatly from their music and poetry (see blink-182's cover of "A Letter to Elise").
The Cure is one of those bands that you'd like to keep close; you've found a unique band with a unique sound and a unique message and you don't think the world is ready (or likely) to appreciate it. When everybody's listening to Blondie, Pat Benatar, The Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson or Justin Bieber (depending on what era(s) you lived in), you start to think you've given youself some underground cred from listening to Disintegration.
That is, until someone comes along who says that Björk is so much better than that whiny pop trash. Then comes somebody else saying that Embrace owns that Icelandic bassoon. And another comes to add that if you want unlisted and awesome, then listen to Dancell. (And the one-upmanship of whose more underground continues until the Norwegian black metal guy says something deragotory about the Finnish doom metal guy's mother, and we all regret we kept this going...)
I first heard The Cure through Anberlin's cover of "Lovesong." Then I got a hold of their Greatest Hits disk and was instantly amazed! "Lullaby," "Mint Car," "Friday I'm In Love" ... where have you been all my life!!! I started listening to their studio albums, but because of the shear mass of their catalog (13 albums, 10 EPs, 37 singles, countless demos...) I only got about two in. My favorite is 1992's Wish. I just love that album to death (figuratively speaking, of course), and I can't listen to one song without listening to the rest.
There's a lot more that can be said about The Cure, but you really don't need to know it all. Just pick up a CD or two and start listening (it's how they express themselves best). Or compare a single that everyone knows ("Just Like Heaven") with a single nobody knows ("Catch"), then use YouTube or Pandora to find something random from them ("M"). Eventually, if not immediately, you'll find something to like.
I'll leave you with my favorite performance of my favorite Cure song.
"Doing the Unstuck (Live)" by The Cure
Whatever words I say,
Kelvin
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