r/TheCure

Anyone watch this back in the day?

If you're Gen X and if you were a fan of the band back then you likely remember the Cure mania 89-92 years. During those years the Cure were one of the biggest bands in the world (probably only behind U2) and there was a huge explosion of popularity in America after the release of Disintegration (this popularity had been building for awhile especially after KMx3).

I think a lot of things worked in the Cure's favor back then, For one, Disintegration was in the music culture zeitgeist for an extended time. I remember that the whole release (singles and albums) took up parts of both my sophomore and junior year of high school. Lullaby was released in April of 89' as the first single. The album came out a month later. Love song was released as a single that August and reached #2 on the charts with heavy rotation on top 40 radio. Then a full year later Pictures of You was released as a single. All these videos got heavy airplay on MTV. All of a sudden the Cure was a stadium band. The first show of the Prayer Tour with 60k at Giants stadium.

This seems nuts when you consider at the start of the decade they were playing tiny NYC venues. There's that famous photo of the band looking all baby faced being mad dogged by NYPD beat cops. Who would have thought that less than a decade later they would called the Monsters of Goth and playing Giants stadium.

I think Robert being aloof and avoiding the press also worked in their favor. Robert was during this time a rock star in a very theatrical sense. Robert Smith might has well been from mars. That's how much different he seemed to everyone else. The image and the mystery went a long way to make him feel like he was a god among men.

The first US TV performance at the MTV awards in 89'. You have Arsenio Hall introducing them then the band comes out and Robert is in prime rock star mode.,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3ZcmuSXVeo

I went to high school in Los Angeles and the Cure was massively popular amongst all types of kids. But I think the outsider kids really took to the image more. I remember coming back from summer break and there were quite a few Robert clones and just about every girl I knew had a Cure t shirt.

Wish was the commercial peak. Another stadium tour. Rose Bowl, Texas stadium. #2 album in the US.

And then it was all kind of over. Robert broke up the band essentially at their commercial peak. Porl and Boris were gone. Roger had left before Wish. By the end of the decade the Cure were considered has beens. They would eventually recover but the post Wish 90's was not a great time for the band.

I bring this up because I think general music fans are sort of unaware that there ever was a Cure mania in America. I saw someone say the other day that the Cure were an indie band in the 80's. In truth they were one of the biggest bands in the world (and some would argue they were #1 for a brief period). In a way by the end of the 90's Robert sort of got his way and the words from End "please stop loving me" became self fulfilling. A lot of the youth and young adult culture that treated Robert like a music god had moved on.

EDIT: A few comments have taken issue with the use of the word mania. I'm not drawing parallels with Beatlemania. I'm using the word in the context when a band from one country, in this case the UK, goes to another country (the US) and becomes massively popular and more popular than their home country. This is the case with the Cure between 89-92. I'm not the first one to use Cure mania to describe this timeframe for the band in America.,

The b-sides from Let’s Go To Bed, The Walk, and The Love Cats that aren’t on Standing On A Beach because they’re on Japanese Whispers. Seems obvious now.

The original one I came across was with Depeche mode so I just put Cure albums over theirs, except for The Seventeen seconds one, obviously

Let me know if you wether agree or not with my selection!

they were selling some CDs too, I bought this one and another one by green day

the box is slightly cracked but it doesn't matter.

we got the “just like heaven” reference from the first single. And now this !! She says it’s her favorite song on the album. We do know that she was in the studio with Robert and they made songs together. So far no sign that it’s a feature. It may just be one that she cowrote with him. She also said she played a few songs from the record to Robert.

The first song on the album references Just Like Heaven, and the second song is literally called The Cure?

I'm interested to see if this song will be at least somewhat inspired by or similar to The Cure, because none of her previous releases have been (which is fine, but why make a tribute song if you're not coming to pay tribute?)

What are your thoughts on this?

I've started getting into him a lot more, my dad is a fan. Previously I only really listened to Between The Bars, but I really like his other stuff. So sad what happened to him.

I'd always known of The Cure. I knew them from another favourite band Blink-182. And I knew Boys Don't Cry & Friday I'm In Love but not a great deal more than that for decades.

Then a couple of years ago after a night of drinks and listening to music with a friend I came across Last Dance from Disentegration and I've been completely & utterly hooked since. This band are incredible. Robert Smith's melancholy, and heartache in the lyrics, the sad songs the happy songs and the guitars (the guitars are perfect) and this completely unique band whos favourite album of mine came out the year I was born in 1989!

I can't get enough of them they're a life changing band. I just thought I'd share my collection & tattoo after 2 years of deep diving into The Cures world. I've also got tickets to go see them twice in Europe this summer I can't wait.

And I've got another Cure related guitar being built in dedication to Porl Thompsons Schecter Corsair too.

Love this band ♥️🎸

Found this oddity in a shop Saturday and ended up buying it! It cost me £24 but I'd never seen it before and the track listing made it worth buying and I love the sessions.

Amusingly nobody bothered to spell check the title!! 😂... It only has BBC as opposed to BCC on the spine!

It was released on DBQP in 2025.

Official schedule Primavera Sound.

Yes! June 13th at Joe's on Weed, see a couple of Chicagoland's top tributes play your favorites and more! This lineup is rare so DON'T MISS IT!

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/new-wave-night-with-substance-joes-on-weed-street-tickets/14822733