The Cure: Classic or Dud?

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Omar raised this question in the "Why are you here?" thread. I put it forth to you all. Were Robert Smith and his ever-changing band musical giants or giant whiners?

― Dan Perry, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

both

― , Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

DUD

― Tom, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dan, thanks for taking the load of my back. ;) So yeah Dud of course. Classic case of crap voice. The music is nothing special. Occasional decent single like 'A Forrest' but for the rest, it's Fat Bob innit? But I'm interested in how Ned is going to explain to us the appeal of The Cure (no, really!).

― Omar, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sorry Tom? I didn't quite hear that. Classic, anyway. I don't claim to be their biggest fan, but listening to things like the Boys Don't Cry and Disintegration albums, the good stuff outweighs the duller moments quite comfortably.

― Ally C, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Absolutely classic in almost every conceivable way. The effortless switches from pop-punk squalling to moody atmospherics to venomous pathos to synth-pop typified by their output from '79 through '83 are impressive enough, but the fact that they went on to create pop masterpieces like _The Head On The Door_, _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_ and _Wish_ while retaining enough of their darkness to produce _Disintegration_ and _Bloodflowers_ makes them an essential band of the 80's and 90's. Even their lesser efforts have worthy moments (ie, "Want", "Treasure", "Jupiter Crash", "Trap", and "Gone!" from _Wild Mood Swings_, "Shake Dog Shake", "Piggy In The Mirror", "The Top" from _The Top_). And their remix album is pure money.

Anything to add, Ned?

― Dan Perry, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic, I 'spose. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but _Disintegration_ is very close indeed (overblown rock histrionics done flawlessly; luckily Smith doesn't whine on it much). Funny how so many of the criticisms of the band you hear refer to the concept of "Fat Bob"; in fact I'd say a lot of the attitudes towards British bands and artists on ILM seem to be heavily influenced by the media's portrayal of them.

― Tim, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Cure represented the finest of what the Euro art rock had to offer during the 80s. They were more majestic than Depeche Mode and less metallic than the cult. Classic in my book

― Luptune Pitman, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Forgive me...as I'm relatively new to this forum, I have a hard time with these polar extremes: ('classic'versus'dud'). In the case of the Cure, I couldn't say either term applies (although one could certainly tag them to individual Cure albums). Like many bands cited around here, the Cure have changed styles in as many albums, playing everything from funereal dirges through spritely, radio-friendly pop ditties and much inbetween. I'm not saying they're a "something for eveyone" band, but musically, they've been hard to pin-down. The one strike against them, however (beyond their tonsorial problems) would be Robert's inimitably distinctive (is that a repetitious statement? like "luminous glow" or "alien outworlder") voice, which is so firmly rooted in their 80's heyday. Even if the band were to put out a radically avant-garde album of the most cutting-edge styles and sounds conceivable, the second Robert opened his mouth and let out his signature wobbly warble, it'd be the old "oh, it's the Cure again." And if you can't get beyond his voice, then there's no point in ever purchasing a Cure album, regardless of era and/or particular incarnation. That said, I think they're a marvellously diverse singles band, but I could certainly see why some would avoid them like the plauge (ho ho, pardon the pun, Camus fans). Sorry, I'll shut up now. - Alex in NYC

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

classic. 'charlotte sometimes' is one of my favourite songs ever. each record up to and including disintegration is worth owning and even the one after disintegration is not horrible. i have no interest in them now but robert smith's guitar sound is far more influential than he gets credit for. without robert smith there would likely not be a roy montgomery, at least not in his current guise and that would be a devastating tragedy at least for myself.

― keith, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What seems to predomine here is "I'm not actively into them NOW, but I spent the first half of my teens with the Cure on my walkman". At least I did. I believe this means classic.

― Simon, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Re: classic or dud polarisation.

The idea is to encourage people to be forthright in their opinion but it's not a vote or anything. It's a catchier way of saying "what do you think of this band?"

Cheers!

(PS: Dud. A couple of the singles are nice musically, even very good, but they have Smith's horrible smeared moan over the top of them. He sounds like a fourteen-year-old with a splinter in his toe: there's something wheedling about his voice which makes me want to smack him and tell him to get a grip rather than empathise with him.)

― Tom, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic. Part of my yoof, you see. I've whiled away many an unhappy evening in the company of 'Faith' and 'Seventeen Seconds'!

Seriously.. though it seems the norm to slag 'em off these days, it's amazing just how much good stuff they have done. 'Boy's Don't Cry'/'3 Imaginary Boys' is a great debut, whichever version you have. Scratchy wired glum-pop. In fact it's all classic up to 'The Top', their first major clunker.

'Head on the Door' is great pop. 'Kiss Me X3' is also great pop ('Just Like Heaven'), except where they try too hard to make great pop and fail ('Hot, Hot, Hot'). 'Disintegration' is their last great album. But not pop. No problem.

My last encounter with The Cure was 'Wild Mood Swings'. I swung my copy back from whence it came - Record and Tape Exchange. Still, 'Galore' sums up the later years nicely.

Anyway I like old Bob, a pop man at heart even in his gloomiest moments.

― Dr. C, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think I've been asked for at least twice in this thread already. ;-)

Classic. And if you disagree with me I'll shove all twenty or so CDRs of rare and odd stuff I have of theirs down your throat and kill you. *proceeds to light candles to huge _Disintegration_ poster in room*

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classique. They have enough great tunes and came up with some pretty original sounds. I like how they continually evolve, even if some of their evolution has produced some crap music. I could still listen to "Jumping Someone Else's Train" repeatedly after all these years. I heard some of their last record and it was really bad though. And kill that "Friday I'm in Love" dung, boys! But for the most part, great stuff.

― Tim Baier, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic, though their most recent stuff sucks.

The Cure are a band who, like Depeche Mode and a number of others of that ilk, should have just hung it up on December 31, 1989. Their glory days were in the 1980s, Disintegration should have been their last album. It would have been a perfect ending. Instead, they chose to put out three subpar releases in the 1990s. While Bloodflowers was a definite improvement over Wild Mood Swings (did *anyone* like that album?) and Wish (which came out at the peak of my Cure fandom and still disappointed me), it still wasn't close to the material they released during the 1980s.

Yeah, some of their stuff is whiny and pretentious. But I think they manage to pull it off reasonably well, and I think the whininess and the pretentiousness will make them staples of every sad-sack high school kid for the next thirty years, whether they continue to release new albums or not. (And hopefully they won't, judging from the poor quality of their most recent albums--I think that the more bad stuff they release, the less "legendary" they'll become.)

By the way, I *was* a teenage goth girl. I was also an early-20s goth girl. I own a velvet and lace cape and little pointy boots and black lipstick. Heh.

― Nanette, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nanette, I'd argue that _Wish_ is a very underrated album. Its mood is radically different from _Disintegration_, which is one thing that I think threw people off when it came out. I, for one, really dig the snarlier tone of "Open", "Cut", "FTEOTDGS", and "End" and their juxtaposition with more contemplative "Apart", "Trust", and "To Wish Impossible Things". _Wish_ also has "High", which I consider to be the last truly great pop song that the Cure did.

_Wild Mood Swings_ is more problematic. It's a very erratic album and contains a couple of songs that never should have seen the light of day ("Mint Car", "Return"). However, it also contains the absolutely marvelous "The 13th", "Want", "Gone!" and "Jupiter Crash". Some judicious editing (and swapping some album tracks for b-sides) would make this a much better album.

For me, _Bloodflowers_ compares very well to their 80's output. It seems that the group got back into a good songwriting groove for this album, which is particularly evident on "Out Of This World", "The Loudest Sound", "The Last Day Of Summer", "Bloodflowers", and "Watching Me Fall" (Cure cliches and all). The album has a strong sense of flow and there are no embarrassing attempts to rewrite "Friday I'm In Love". It was a good ending for them, assuming that Robert's latest pronouncements about the band's demise are actually true this time.

There are individual songs I don't like, and _Wild Mood Swings_ is easily my least- favorite of their albums, but I'd be hard-pressed to say that I actively dislike any of the Cure's albums.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

I'm in sympathy with the way that the 'classic' brigade have articulated that they love the band even though they can see their sillinesses, repetitions and limitations. Possibly a lot of pop love is of this kind.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 28 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

The Cure are damned by having so many annoying fans.

They have many good tunes. However, they have many bad ones, viz "Friday I'm In Love".

Still, at their best they show an impressive ability to make both poppy goth jumpathons and total doomfests.

― DV, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Dud. Possibly something worthwhile beyond Smith's vocals, but I can't get past them.

― DeRayMi, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've had a love/hate relationship with The Cure that had long since given way to indifference. but recently I've listened again to Robert Smith's 1983 collaboration album with Steve Severin - The Glove is great! (probably like how I'd rather listen to the Andy Partridge solo album Take Away/Lure Of Salvage than most XTC.)

as with many Cure detractors, Bob's voice and self-pity usually get to me. still have fond memories of Seventeen Seconds and Faith but I also enjoy some later stuff where twisted humour, all of Pornography, or tenderness, "The Upstairs Room" and "Birdmadgirl", balance out the self-loathing and sappiness.

the Laurence Tolhurst abuse didn't help Robert Smith's case (and John McGeoch was a better Banshee).
― Paul, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

stop

― Paul, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cure are fucking appalling. As someone else already keenly observed - a classic case of having a fucking awful voice. I mean I don't mind some of the musicianship but fatboy Smith is such a twat. Really.

I had a girlfriend once who was into these boys hard and she used to play is it 'Pictures of You' (?) over and over and over (a sort of pining for a lost love I think; not me, incidentally). Anyway, it used to bore the hell out of me, not to mention what felt like a large hole in my brain.

The thing is, with the Cure, it's like the Manic Street FUCKING Preachers syndrome - people who like 'em don't just like 'em, they fucking LOVE 'em, and think they're prophets or something. No, they are miserable, half-goths with absolutely nothing to say and even less charisma.

That said, I am admit that I am hardly familiar know their canon, since I can't bear exposure to it for protracated periods.

Still; DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUD

― Roger Fascist, Monday, 29 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, I think it's that the boring protestations of those who don't 'get' the music always have to be matched by those who emphatically do. One defines the other ..

― Dare, Monday, 29 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not at all, Paul. There's something about The Cure and The Preachers that triggers fervour of a disturbing religiosity in people's heads, well, in my experience anyway. And if you wanna put that to the test, gently question a more avid fan and watch them twist like they was shackled to the cross.

Hmm, having said that, I do get riled when someone fails to 'get' my favourite bands and indulges in the kind of mindless attack I have already posted against The Cure. Yet, I feel that certain bands are wont to attract a more dependent following, who hang the band's music like metaphorical rosaries. And I'm not sure that even among my most beloved artists, there are those which I could hold in such equally mindless esteem.

What say you?

― Roger fascist, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two months pass...

If i brooded around and had a aweful voice, would i be as good as the cure, which coincidently, isnt even good to begin with

DUD

― Hayward, Thursday, 3 October 2002 02:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Oddly enough, I've never really sought out their albums; I'm sure I'll get around to it, but I'm pretty sure they'll always be available... Pretty much all of their singles, though, are flat-out amazing - how could they not be classic?

― Clarke B., Thursday, 3 October 2002 04:37 (twenty-three years ago)

The albums are SO WORTH IT, Clarke.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 3 October 2002 11:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Quite.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 October 2002 23:38 (twenty-three years ago)

hmmmmmmm .............
dud

― donna (donna), Friday, 4 October 2002 01:02 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm exactly like Clarke. Always loved what I heard, but only own 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me'... Last year I told a friend of mine that the reason for this is because I pretty much know that I'll like them and am just 'saving it'. Is this like some weird Cure phenomena?

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 01:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I LOVE THE CURE. They fill a niche that no other band does. From the acutely depresso Pornography stuff to the silly dance stuff to the haunting gothy Faith stuff to the blatant sunshine pop... they've done all this convincingly and well. Did they invent the drugged up goofy romantic miserable goth ecstatic giddy thing?

Yet I do wonder how much my own nosatlgia plays a role. I still think Wish is great, despite every. review. ever. written. Maybe if I hadn't listened to it for the 1st time as a teenager travelling thru Europe with schoomates I'd think differently.

― Aaron A., Friday, 4 October 2002 03:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Where to start, Ned and Dan? I'm thinking _Pornography_, but some of their _Disintegration_-era stuff kills me (esp. "Lovesong").

Also, I really really like the Wolfgang Press song on _Lonely is an Eyesore_, but I've heard their recordings are pretty patchy. Any recommendations there?

― Clarke B., Friday, 4 October 2002 05:30 (twenty-three years ago)

In your place I'd start with 17 Seconds, Clarke. It has their greatest song on it, "A Forest" and I find it the darkest and most powerful of their records. A lot of their stuff didn't age too well (even Disintegration), but this record definitely stood the test of time.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 4 October 2002 07:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I wouldn't go for _Pornography_ first; I think I'd get _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_ and the cassette version of _Standing On A Beach_ in order to get the b-sides.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 4 October 2002 11:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic until "Stranding on a Beach" came out, after which they descended into the depths of self-parody.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Friday, 4 October 2002 17:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I kinda saved them also, Kim - owned the two singles compilations for years before actually buying my first proper album (Disintegration) just this year. Though I do like it, it hasn't swayed me into snatching up the others yet. Maybe in another four years I'll get another one.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 4 October 2002 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

They fill(ed?) a niche no one else did (which I usually characterize as "Harlequin romance rock") and they did a perfectly accomplished and unique job of it most of the time but it's not one I care to listen to much at all. I can play Pornography maybe a couple times per year and it's sometimes nice to hear the singles on the radio but overall there's not a big connection. And I couldn't imagine sitting through a whole album of stuff like "In Between Days" or "Let's Go to Bed". The singles comp (Staring At the Sea?) is probably as much as I'd need of that. I'd buy Disintegration if I thought I'd ever listen to it. Wish and Wild Mood Swings were awful.

― sundar subramanian, Friday, 4 October 2002 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I honestly cannot comprehend how _Wish_ is AWFUL.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 4 October 2002 18:34 (twenty-three years ago)

the cure were/are one of the best bands for dancing to whilst only wearing underwear...hopefully not by yourself...

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 4 October 2002 18:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Ok, I'm a liar. I totally forgot that I also had 'Standing on a Beach' on cassette - played it to death. I don't have it anymore though. I think my brother "borrowed" it and never gave it back! Ooooh...that little...

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I like just like heaven, I'm going to get Kiss me times 3.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:43 (twenty-three years ago)

classic classic classic and why should you not dance to the cure in underwear by yourself! unless you are wearing the underwear out to the goth dance club, of course.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Have you ever been to a goth dance club? Underwear as outerwear is pretty much de rigeur.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Clarke, start with Disintegration first, and then try Seventeen Seconds and then Pornography. I've argued elsethread about this already so I won't go into the details here...just click the link, cause there's a lot of other good talk there anyhow.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Pretend that there's a smiley at the end of my last post. I sound like a meanie otherwise.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:57 (twenty-three years ago)

ten months pass...

"And yet Robert Smith - the Chatterton of Crawley - had created if not a wall of sound then a very high hedge of sound, over which he seemed to peer at the world like a boy who couldn't be bothered to ask for his ball back."

the "cure=suburbia" part of Michael Bracewell's England Is Mine is one of the best things ever!

― etc, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"Join the Dots" (B Sides and rarities) is out on October 21st. I presume it'll have the much talked about Cassette b sides from Standing on a Beach on it, but does anyone know that actual tracklisting is?

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 09:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Hopefully it'll have the stuff off "curiosity", too. And that soundtrack they did.

Classic, BTW. Again, my mid-teens coincided with Disintegration and I was full-on obsessed for a couple of years. I bought a shedload of albums at Oxfam last year, and a friend and I drove our GF/wives insane by listening, back to back, to 17 Seconds, Faith, Pornography and the Top. Divorce was on the horizon by the end of that evening.

― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Hopefully it'll have the stuff off "curiosity", too. And that soundtrack they did.

Thing is, there are SO many B-sides and rarities which have officially surfaced that they'd have to put out a box set. As it is, if the remasters that are surfacing next year are going to include bonus discs for each with room for other oddities, then that will partially settle the problem.

― Thy Lethal Zen Ned (Ned), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 2171 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Secretly "Boys Don't Cry" is in fact a cover of the famed French remake of a 70s UK series,

Manoir de Bosom

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 20 October 2025 21:08 (three months ago)

Shoulda be just ital there but anyway!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 20 October 2025 21:08 (three months ago)

Boris has such a lovely bounce, it's lovely to see him play Six Different Ways, watch him go!

― Maresn3st, Monday, 20 October 2025 21:11 (three months ago)

Haven’t thought about it in years but our local-TV clip show “TazRock” had “Primary” as its theme music back in the early 80s.

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 20 October 2025 23:52 (three months ago)

Xxxxp well actually Robert gave Enfants du rock an instrumental version of JLH before the record was even done. I think the show started in 1986

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 07:20 (three months ago)

Well there ya go.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 October 2025 11:24 (three months ago)

I started listening to Songs of a Lost World again and there are so many interesting little production flourishes in the songs that I hadn’t noticed until different remixes highlighted them

I also like Warsong a hell of a lot more now

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 12:37 (three months ago)

Boy, the restoration of In Orange astonished me.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 13:19 (three months ago)

I also like Warsong a hell of a lot more now

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP)

One of Boy George's catchier choruses, agreed.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 13:20 (three months ago)

looks like it debuted as theme of les Enfants du Rock in February 1987

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 14:24 (three months ago)

Boy, the restoration of In Orange astonished me.

As well it should!

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 October 2025 14:39 (three months ago)

and it took me back to our discussion a few days ago about Smith's guitar prowess. The guy could plays conventional leads, rhythm-strum, add texture and color.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 14:45 (three months ago)

I remember the film being something of a quiet landmark in San Diego at the time of release -- like it ran there for a while, in theaters? I have no idea if it was say a regular daily scheduled thing but clearly one theater at least was showing it for a while and advertising for it regularly in the local paper's listings. Doesn't surprise me in retrospect, especially if a bunch of Cure-crazed folks were also coming over from Tijuana to see it too.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 October 2025 14:59 (three months ago)

I had a cassette copy of the audio (a 100-minute cassette, so it unceremoniously ends halfway through 10:15 Saturday Night) but I believe we rented the VHS a couple times

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 15:27 (three months ago)

pedant moment re:rs and guitaring―
some of his most outspoken favorite artists were/are nick drake and john martyn. neither shredders, but guitar heroes in their own respective ways imo. different topic for different thread, but yeah. i didn't spend a few years there downloading and listening to cure bootlegs for the drumming iykwim.

i love rs' playing, mostly because it's like he's actively trying to not do 'the obvious thing.' he can, but he's silly. feels like the guitar equivalent of the moving spotlight gag at times. those later epic jams on "a forest" left their mark on me.

― austinato (Austin), Tuesday, 21 October 2025 19:50 (three months ago)

one month passes...

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/the-mojo-list/the-cure-every-album-ranked/

Mojo updated ranking. I like that 4:13 Dream is number 11 but Songs and Kiss Me are too low.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, 26 November 2025 00:01 (two months ago)

that's an... interesting analysis of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Wednesday, 26 November 2025 17:41 (two months ago)

“Interesting” is one word for it

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Wednesday, 26 November 2025 18:07 (two months ago)

that glaringly obvious similarity between “Catch” and “Close To Me”

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 26 November 2025 21:38 (two months ago)

Yeah, what a uniform album.

― LeRooLeRoo, Thursday, 27 November 2025 17:42 (one month ago)

They haven't updated that Wish is no longer their only no. 1 album

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Thursday, 27 November 2025 19:21 (one month ago)

I didn’t read blurb but my rankings would be (2025):

1 Pornography
2 The Head on the Door
3 Disintegration
4 Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
5 Songs of a Lost World
6 Seventeen Seconds
7 Faith
8 Wish
9 Three Imaginary Boys
10 The Top
11 4:13 Dream
12 Bloodflowers
13 The Cure
14 Wild Mood Swings

― Bee OK, Saturday, 29 November 2025 02:48 (one month ago)

1. Disintegration
2. Seventeen Seconds
3. Faith
4. KM3
5. Pornography
6. The Top
7. The Head on the Door
8. SOALW
9. 3IB
10 Wish
11 Bloodflowers

― Cod:Shellfish (emsworth), Saturday, 29 November 2025 08:08 (one month ago)

I often think 3IB as Boys Don't Cry, being a Yank and what I've known. But 3IB would actually be displaced by The Top so switching that around. Join the Dots would be number five and Japanese Whispers would slot between 17 and Faith.

― Bee OK, Sunday, 30 November 2025 02:00 (one month ago)

https://www.clashmusic.com/news/manic-street-preachers-wolf-alice-garbage-to-play-teenage-cancer-trust-shows/

Placebo and MBV, too!

― StanM, Monday, 8 December 2025 09:32 (one month ago)

... but not The Cure? (He's just the curator)

― StanM, Monday, 8 December 2025 09:34 (one month ago)

ugh. only London show since new album was the impossible to get into Troxy one. trains + hotels for cardiff/manchester/edinburgh all crazy prices, and only festival date the awful Isle Of Wight one. woe is me.

― . (jamiesummerz), Monday, 8 December 2025 09:45 (one month ago)

two weeks pass...

Real sad news here:

https://www.thecure.com/news/2025/12/perry-archangelo-bamonte-1960-2025/

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 26 December 2025 18:06 (one month ago)

sad indeed. i think it's no coincidence that his tenures with the band also usually line up with the consensus of their strongest live eras. rest in peace.

― austinato (Austin), Friday, 26 December 2025 18:39 (one month ago)

Urgh that really hurts - although I can’t say I’m surprised, his inexplicable return to the band and the diminished state he seemed to be in always seemed like a gesture to allow him a farewell lap

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 26 December 2025 18:43 (one month ago)

This is absolutely terrible news. RIP

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Friday, 26 December 2025 19:15 (one month ago)

I'm heartbroken. So young. RIP Perry.

― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, 26 December 2025 19:30 (one month ago)

aw Perry

― Cod:Shellfish (emsworth), Saturday, 27 December 2025 01:22 (four weeks ago)

This is heartbreaking, RIP.

― Bee OK, Saturday, 27 December 2025 21:45 (four weeks ago)

Im listening to all of the albums he played on today

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Sunday, 28 December 2025 15:57 (four weeks ago)

memorial poll?

― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 28 December 2025 16:26 (four weeks ago)

A poll feels crass to me. I just want to enjoy the music and not worry about ranking what is better than what.

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Sunday, 28 December 2025 20:20 (four weeks ago)

Having listened to all of the studio albums he appears on, Perry contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the band and I’ll miss him

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Sunday, 28 December 2025 22:04 (four weeks ago)

Seems like he was just a solid guy in general -- various posts gathered at Chain of Flowers showcasing it, including Craig the site runner say that he never heard a bad word about him in thirty years of running the site. I especially enjoyed Alison Moyet's memories, and I love this from Mark Francombe of Cranes:

We had the honour of supporting The Cure on the Wish tour in 1992, and Perry was always smiling, always laughing.
In between the trailers we’d be playing football, and backstage there were full-on water gun battles… until we were finally told to stop.
He was funny, always happy, and always made everything fun just by being there.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 28 December 2025 22:31 (four weeks ago)

Yeah all the little stories coming out about Perry really paint the picture of an incredibly fun and generous guy. I’m away right now, but as soon as I’ll get back home I’ll rewatch Play Out which is how I mainly remember Perry these days

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 29 December 2025 07:33 (four weeks ago)

fyi to all that most of the posts gathered at COF are unreadable without a meta account

― fall of the house of urrsher (sic), Monday, 29 December 2025 10:41 (four weeks ago)

three weeks pass...

https://www.thecure.com/news/2026/01/boys-dont-cry-86-mix/

― StanM, Friday, 23 January 2026 19:40 (three days ago)

Pretty weird move

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 23 January 2026 19:43 (three days ago)

Eh I’m surprised they waited this long tbh

― our beloved RIFF LORD (DJP), Friday, 23 January 2026 19:47 (three days ago)

Is it? 40th anniversary, not widely available, etc etc

― groovypanda, Friday, 23 January 2026 20:03 (three days ago)

A fillip but hey, back in the canon I guess.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 January 2026 20:16 (three days ago)

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-cures-boys-dont-cry-hits-one-billion-streams-on-spotify-ahead-of-limited-edition-ep-reissues-3924959

The Cure – ‘Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)’ EP tracklist:

CD/digital (released January 30)

1) ‘Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
2) ‘Plastic Passion (79 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
3) ‘Pillbox Tales (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
4) ‘Do The Hansa (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]

12” single

1) ‘Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
2) ‘Boys Don’t Cry (86 12” Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
3) ‘Plastic Passion (79 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
4) ‘Pillbox Tales (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]
5) ‘Do The Hansa (86 Mix)’ [2026 Remaster]

― Bee OK, Friday, 23 January 2026 20:46 (three days ago)

The CD version does in fact have the 12" mix according to the Cure web site

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 23 January 2026 21:30 (three days ago)

(I actually prefer this version to the original)

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 23 January 2026 21:34 (three days ago)

I remember my puzzlement at the time, I had Standing on a Beach and BDC sounded like the "normal" version to me, but the single cover said "new voice new mix" and the video sounded different. Presumably I figured it out eventually but I never needed a more-emotional later Smith vocal, the flat affect of the original perfectly matches the song.

― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 23 January 2026 22:04 (three days ago)

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