As I live in the UK and am a relatively new fan of The Cure (since 2002, I'm 25 and own pretty much everything) I have always been interested in how big The Cure were/are in the States. I know they were/are more of a cult act, indeed some may say the biggest cult act ever! Here in the UK I know this much about their singles: The Cure attained 4 UK Top 10 hits with 'Love Cats' (No.7, 1983) 'Lullaby' (No. 5, 1989) 'High' (No.8, 1992) and 'Friday I'm In Love' (No.6, 1992). As for their UK Top 10 albums: 'Pornography' (No.8, 1982), 'Head On The Door' (No.7, 1985), 'Standing On The Beach' (No.4, 1986), 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' (No.6, 1987), 'Disintegration' (No.3, 1989), 'Mixed Up' (No.8, 1990), 'Entreat' (No.10, 1991), 'Wish' (No.1, 1992), 'Wild Mood Swings' (No.9, 1996) and 'The Cure' (No.8, 2004).

Now with The Cure in the US I know they were most popular during the Disintegration and Wish era, and of course I know Love Song climbed to No.2 back in 1989 and this was their only US Top 10 single - but a big one! But from your own experiences and memories how popular do or did you consider The Cure looking back?

First, The Cure were so underground, you had to dig really deep to find them, around here, when I first heard their name in 1987. Then, people kinda recognized "Lovesong" a little, but even with the chart hit, they were college-radio-only. Then there was a large minority that discovered them through "Friday I'm in Love". The Cure were more well known from FIiL even without it reaching the same position in the charts. After that brief time period, (what? a couple months?) People forgot who made FIiL. Nowdays, they're about where they were before Lovesong, again.

This is a very notoriously backward area. What's that Mark Twain quote? If the end of the world comes, I'm going to Cincinnati, because it will take 40 years to happen there...

(and yeah, a lot of people think Lovesong is a 311 song...)

Hmmmm, I haven't run into anyone that thinks 311 actually wrote Lovesong, because I'd probably have to bitch-slap them.I got turned onto The Cure in maybe 92-93 timeframe. A friend of mine moved here from Germany, and was OBSESSED with them to the most hardcore degree. I got hooked on them through him. I immediately bought EVERYTHING Cure-related that I could get my grubby little hands on, and still continue in that tradition! He always told me how much more popular they were in Europe, and from his personal experience, in Germany. I've never paid too much attention to what's popular on the radio, or on MTV. I know that Lovesong and Friday I'm in Love are probably the two most popular songs I can think of that your average radio listening yuppie might recognise. They've always been popular in the 'goth' scene in the US though.I really don't think they've ever aspired to world domination of Curedom. I mean, I'm sure they would love the income it would generate, but I know they're happier making music for their fans, and for themselves; in order to express themselves....rather than be media whores. Robert Smith has too much integrity within himself, and appreciation for the years upon years of loyal, die-hard fans to ever be a sellout, like say...INXS has become???

Yeah, I'll bet Michael Hutchence is doing somersaults in his grave!!!


I've lived in both the UK and the US, and I got the impression that The Cure weren't as popular in the UK as they are here in the US. My English husband didn't know much by them beyond Love Cats and Lullaby... I personally hardly ever listened to the radio in the UK because of all the crappy music in the charts, although Radio 2 was a little better.... But then I didn't live in London, so I didn't have access to very many radio stations.

I would say that it's easier to find people that know about The Cure in big cities over here. These days, you might even get an "alternative" station that plays them all the time... When I was growing up, even with MTV, small towns were still somewhat isolated... I remember hearing Just Like Heaven on the radio when I was a kid, but I didn't know who did the song until I lived in southern California for a year. It used to be that whenever I mentioned them to someone in my small town, they would say, "Is that the gay guy that wears the makeup and big hair?" But when I look at people's favorite music lists on Myspace these days I see The Cure in a lot of them... I actually think they are gaining popularity because of all the kids that are into "retro" 80's music.

I totally agree with gouys about INXS - what sell outs with that show on MTV is it or VH1 to find their next leading front man - I cringed when I watched it a couple of months back.

I think The Cure in the 80's from who I have spoken to and can actually vividly remember the decade (those aged 30+) all know The Cure pretty well because they were around for the entire decade which is more that can be said for all the thousands of one hit wonders the decade produced. In the UK Love Cats, Friday I'm Love, Boys Don't Cry, Close To Me and Inbetween Days I would say are their most well known songs but most don't know The Cure did them.

I agree that their is a huge 80's renaissance at the moment, especially here in the UK with all these apparent 'new wave' or early 80s-sounding bands there are at the moment - I think they all sound like The Jam to be honest, with a pinch of early Cure/Boys Don't Cry thrown in.

I agree that there seems to be a rash of 'retro' sounding acts lately.....some ok, some shitty. I'm personally convinced that my music taste, as a general rule stopped about 1992. I still listen to newer bands of course, but the majority of the music I listen to was either recorded in an earlier timeframe, or is being made by bands that have stood the test of time. Think about it, before there is ever a great musical enlightenment, there is a period of shit. Eg. in the sixties, you had the hippie shit, but some really good blues and rock n' roll came out of the muck from that. Then the seventies, and the whole disco blah, then the beginnings of punk and new wave came out of that. There were some really horrid hair band acts in the late eighties and early nineties, but then 'grunge' came about. Given, grunge wasn't all that wonderful, but at least the spotlight was back on rock, and songs that didn't classify as arena rock. Unfortunately we came into, and are still in to some degree, the boy band and absolutely fake era of overdubbed vocals, horribly written songs (I mean r & b Beyonce, Usher kind of shit, and don't get me started on torture such as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson). At least presently, there are some bands trying to do something better than the barrage of musical diaharrea that has been infiltrating the airwaves.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE music, but some people just need to be kicked in the ass for dumbing down and entire generation, making some musical retards that only know a song if it came from a beat box, or is in the top 40.

 

*stepping down from my soap box* (sorry for the long spill)