The 500 - #326 - Disintegration - The Cure

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 326

Album Title: Disintegration

Artist: The Cure

Genre: Gothic Rock, Art-Rock

Recorded: Hookend Studios, Oxfordshire, U.K.

Released: May, 1989

My age at release: 23

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #116 -- moving up 210 places

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Lovesong

Two years ago this month I penned a post on The Cure's 1980 record, Boys Don't Cry. The album was their first North American release and consisted mostly of material previously released in the U.K. as singles or on their debut release, Three Imaginary Boys. In my 2020 post, I covered my slowly evolving relationship with the post-punk, goth band from West Sussex, England.

The Cure in 1989, (l-r) Boris Williams, Porl Thompson, Robert
Smith, Simon Gallup and Roger O'Donnell

Disintegration was released nearly a decade later when lead singer and principal song-writer Robert Smith was turning 30. He, like many of us who hit a birthday milestone, was doing plenty of self-reflecting. It has been well-reported that Smith wanted to return the group to the moody, introspective goth sounds that had established them at the start of the 80s. Between 1983 and 1989, the band had enjoyed tremendous commercial success with a number of pop-oriented hits, especially Just Like Heaven, a catchy, danceable number which became their first U.S. Top 40 hit.

Despite global success and massive record sales, Smith was unhappy with the group's critical and commercial popularity. He was in a funk and "being gloomy" was not an unnatural  state for him to be in – 30 or not. As some would say, dark, dreary, navel-gazing is Smith's brand.

Smith in 1989 (aged 30)

But still, the milestone age might have aggravated his mood. It is not unusual. In fact, I struggled with it and so did many of my friends and acquaintances as they left behind their youth.

Perhaps it is the math we reflect on. We are halfway to 60 and a third of our life is likely behind us. Maybe it is the weight of societal conventions. Most of us had parents who were married, had children and were deeply engaged in meaningful careers at the three-decade mark. I was unmarried, childless and still bartending.

Me, behind the bar in 1994, age 29

Back to Smith. He wasn't anything like me. He was married to Mary Theresa Poole, his long-term partner (they met in school at age 14). He was enjoying an incredibly successful career –adored by legions of fans and wealthy beyond imagination. So, what is it about 30? Let’s say it is a personal thing.

Poole and Smith in the mid-90s

Regardless, Smith returned to experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs and this influenced the writing and production of Disintegration. Smith has said the impending arrival of his 30th birthday had made him feel dismal and despondent over not having already completed "his masterpiece".

For many fans, Disintegration is that masterpiece. It was a return to the sound that had made The Cure popular a decade earlier and for fans who love lush, dark orchestrations punctuated by self-absorbed gloomy lyrics, a perfect record.

Sure, I would love to be 30 again and the heck with being gloomy. In fact, roll on 60. In the meantime, I wonder if Smith feels the same way or is still feeling the march of age, especially since he is now 62.

The 500 - #438 - The Cure - Boys Don't Cry

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 438

Album Title: Boys Don't Cry
Artist: The Cure
Genre: Gothic Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk
Recorded: 1978-1979
Released: February, 1980
My age at release: 14
How familiar was I with it before this week: A little
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: 10:15 Saturday Night

My thoughts on 80s Gothic-Rock has been well documented. To avoid repetition, I suggest these posts: this one about The Smith's debut record (1984) and this one discussing Heaven Up Here (1981) from Echo and the Bunnymen.

Formed in Crawley, West Sussex, England in 1978 The Cure was originally a trio featuring Lol Tolhurst on drums, Michael Dempsey on bass and vocals and Robert Smith on guitar and lead vocals. This record, Boys Don't Cry, was the first North American release for the band and is a compilation of studio material and their debut European release, Three Imaginary Boys. Their dark, tormented sound - coupled with Smith's sexually ambiguous stage persona - helped to launch the post-punk, goth-rock subculture of the 80s. 

Robert Smith (1980)

The Cure, like many bands, have grown on me over the years. My opinion of them has transitioned from disdain and antagonism in my late teens to indifferent acceptance in my early twenties. By my mid-twenties, a single song, Burn, on The Crow soundtrack made me a fan. Today, after giving this record multiple listens - - I'm happy to admit that I really like their sound.

I did a lot of thinking about why I disliked this band so much in my youth. It was a time when I viewed music appreciation as a competition. Like most high schoolers I fell into a clique-mentality and, real or imagined, felt judged by those who seemed different from me. 

My group - let's call us nerdy-rockers - wore our hair long and dressed in denim and, if we could afford it, leather. We listened to hard-rock, read fantasy literature and played Dungeons & Dragons. We were proud of the fact that we didn't fit into any box. (Spoiler Alert: We totally fit into a box - - London, Ontario was not the epicentre of the rocker-nerd).

Diametrically opposed to us (it seemed) were The Preppies, those soulless Ken and Barbie dolls with their neat, well-coiffed hair, designer threads and posh attitudes.

We felt judged!

Well of course we were!

They were judging us and...we were judging them.

Meanwhile, we were just a complicated bunch of kids, full of turbulent hormones and duplicitous emotions jammed together in a concrete building five days a week. We spent much of our day purposelessly eschewing support from those that had loved us for years while desperately seeking approval from compatriots ill-equipped to provide it.  

The soundtrack to this chaos was the music of our sect and some bands, such The Cure, fell on the other side of that awkward divide. 

It was all so complex back then and yet so easy to put in order now. There was no divide. My soundtrack remains special to me, but The Cure are a darn good band. They transitioned into a pop-friendly act in the late 80s and early 90s and continue to perform today, with Robert Smith as the only constant member. In 2019, they were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the record certainly deserves its place on this list.