The Cure's Faith kicks off a banner year for gloomy rock

The Cure : The Holy Hour

On April 14, 1981 The Cure released the UK#14 Faith, a gloomy album recorded as family members and fellow musicians were dying all around the band members. The mood change was sudden, recalls Robert Smith. In one night he wrote "All Cats Are Grey and "Funeral Party", the latter not half as bleak as some other tracks on Faith. Smith's grandmother had died suddenly and drummer Lol Tolhurst's mother was terminally ill with cancer. The two talked often about death and so naturally a morbid mood filled the studio at Abbey Road where they wrote and recorded the album. That mood may not seem welcoming at first, but many listeners have embraced it. 1981 was certainly a banner year for all things Goth. 

Critics began tapping their feet. Not to the beat so much as with a lack of patience. Would the band develop into something interesting or would The Cure always "remain stuck in the hackneyed doom-mongering that should have died with Joy Division", as Record Mirror's Mike Nicholls wrote. Most reviews were more positive, though the album failed to make NME's year end list.

The band would spend at least one more year in this doomed mood before bassist Simon Gallup left the band and Smith returned from detox to write "Let's Go To Bed". 

Modern English : Move In Light

Modern English, a band that would also have a remarkable shift in mood a year later, released its debut album Mesh and Lace in April of 1981. It's been called the "bleakest piece of post-punk Goth imaginable", full of phased guitars, dark atmospherics and bitter lyrics. Robbie Grey would find a change of mood paid off with the follow-up, 1982's After The Snow, which sold half a million copies:

He said : "We used to think 'God, we'll never make a pop record. We're artists!', but things don't always turn out as you planned and when you actually create a pop record, it's so much more of a thrill than anything else". 

The Cure and Depeche Mode release new singles

The Cure : Primary

On March 19, 1981 The Cure released the UK#43 single "Primary", featuring an ear-catching twin bass guitar attack. It was the only single released from the forthcoming album, Faith, but it was big enough to get the band on Top of the Pops.

Death casts a shadow over this song and the album as well. Drummer Lol Tolhurst's mom has passed away, so had Robert Smith's grandmother. The deaths of John Lennon and Ian Curtis also haunted the proceedings. Smith says he was inspired by the thoughts of dying young when he wrote the elliptical lyrics to "Primary". 

Depeche Mode : Dreaming Of Me

They may still not look a day over 14 but Depeche Mode, consisting of three synthesizer players and vocalist Dave Gahan, already have a way with tuneful and danceable numbers. The band's first single,  the UK#57  "Dreaming Of Me" b/w "Ice Machine" is available from Mute Records. It will rank #10 on Sounds' year end list of top singles.

 

With Seventeen Seconds The Cure releases their first masterpiece

The Cure : Play For Today

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On April 22, 1980 The Cure released Seventeen Seconds, the band's second album. During the recording of the song Robert Smith played four totally unrelated songs on a cassette he'd brought with him : Van Morrison's "Madame George" from Astral Weeks, Nick Drake's "Fruit Tree" from Five Leaves Left, Aram Khachaturian's ballet piece "Gayaneh Ballet Suite No. 1 Adagio" which could be heard on the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Jimi Hendrix's live cover of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". He also listened to David Bowie's Low on repeat.

"[With Seventeen Seconds] I was trying to get a combination of all the things I liked about those four things,"Smith would explain, "even though they were so disparate."

Somehow the album sustains the same melancholic mood throughout.

Critics didn't immediately embrace the album. Here's Ian Cranna writing in Smash Hits:

After a brilliant debut of dynamite songs in"Three Imaginary Boys", The Cure now expand into more ambitious territory. Their powerful melodic intensity is still there, along with the distinctive insistent drumming, jangling guitar and pent-up vocals, but now the numbers are longer, slower and more exploratory with obscure lyrics and synthesisers lurking in the dark background. An impressive and maturing talent though not quite such a memorable end product this time. Investigate. (8/10)

For NME Nick Kent wrote

To many Seventeen Seconds may seem a valid progression. I , however, find it depressingly regressive. Even so, I await their next move with great interest.

With time, the album has gained the respect Robert Smith sought. It is one of the band's very best.

Years later Smith would tell Rolling Stone :

"I knew exactly what I wanted to do with Seventeen Seconds. I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound and I didn't want anyone to interfere with that. Anyone who wanted to play more than one piano note could go and do it somewhere else...From this point on , I though every album was going to be the last Cure album, so I always tried to make it something that would be kind of a milestone. I feel Seventeen Seconds is one of few albums that genuinely achieve that."

The Cure release one of their most enduring singles

The Cure : A Forest

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On April 6, The Cure's first UK hit,  "A Forest", debuted on the UK Singles Chart at #64. Backed by "Another Journey By Train", an instrumental version of "Jumping Someone Else's Train", the six minute single would peak at UK#31 and eventually become the most performed song in The Cure catalog. It was one of the last songs recorded for the upcoming Seventeen Seconds album, and as co-producer Mike Hedges told Sound On Sound, it took a lot of work:

"We wanted it to be quite ornate," he says, "and it ended up being the most produced track on the album. To me it always sounded like a single. We all thought it was an amazing song — I loved the guitar line — but we also figured it would take a bit more work than the others. The other songs immediately sounded more complete, whereas 'A Forest' sounded like it did need several overdubs.

 "Practically the whole album was mixed on the second-to-last day, and then the mix for 'A Forest' took up a good part of the final day. All things considered, that was very, very extravagant."

The band, looking miserable, performed the song on Top of the Pops on April 24.

In 1992 Robert Smith told The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot "A Forest" ranks among the band's top five songs. 

The archetypal Cure sound, it was probably the turning point when people started listening to the group and thinking we could achieve something, including me.  

Writing for Smash Hits, David Hepworth was not overwhelmed:

After the glories of "Jumping Somebody Else's Train", I fear that "A Forest" represents something of a backwards step for The Cure. Despite fine patterns in the rhythm section and some suitably thoughtful guitar, the song is tuneless and toneless. Maybe I'm just expecting too much. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Always the Same

The Cure : Jumping Someone Else's Train

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In November of 1979 The Cure released "Jumping Someone Else's Train" b/w "I'm Cold". The single failed to chart but it's impressive nonetheless. Writing for Smash Hits, David Hepworth raves:

The Cure at last live up to and surpass all that promise with a crisp, biting attack on fads, fashions and oneupmanship. Robert Smith takes the vocal in front of a sparkling zigzagging lead line and a wicked leaping bass. It's the first of their records to actually sound finished and the first of many classics I would venture.

Smith wrote the lyrics about the mod revival or maybe it was the ska revival. He tells the Belgian Magazine Humo:

I loath the snobbism and elitism of it all: ‘I was already acid[-house music] when you were still new wave’ – that stuff. In fact it’s all as small as the ska revival where I wrote an angry song about: Jumping Someone Else’s Train. Now I read articles everywhere about the new ska revival. Despicable. At this rate, we’re having 5 revivals every year. I’m probably old fashioned, but I like music that’s not limited to a certain time.

The B side features Siouxsie Sioux on backing vocals and anticipates the bleak sound of 1980's 17 Seconds.

Hiding the Tears in My Eyes

The Cure : Boys Don't Cry

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In June of 1979 The Cure released "Boys Don't Cry" b/w "Plastic Passion". The catchy non-album single did not chart in the U.K. though it peaked at #22 in New Zealand.  Re-released with a new voice and new mix in 1986, "Boys Don't Cry" finally got the attention it deserved, peaking at U.K.#22.

"The pop songs like “Boys Don’t Cry” are naive to the point of insanity," Robert Smith would tell Rolling Stone in 2017. "But considering the age I was and the fact that I had done nothing apart from go to school – no real life experience, everything was taken from books – some of them are pretty good."

 Apparently a favorite of Wham's Andrew Ridgeley, the song may seem upbeat until you realize the singer is despondent over his role in a break up: "I tried to laugh about it/ Cover it all up with lies/ I tried to laugh about it /Hiding the tears in my eyes".

The B side "Plastic Passion" is as good as anything on The Cure's debut album, Three Imaginary Boys. 

Stopped Short Grinding Halt

The Cure : Grinding Halt

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On May 8, 1979 The Cure released Three Imaginary Boys, the band's debut album. Recorded at Morgan Studios, where The Who had recorded "Pinball Wizard", Yes HAD recorded Tales from Topographic Oceans and Rod Stewart had recorded Every Picture Tells a Story. The inexperienced trio allowed producer Chris Parry and engineer Mike Hedges to take control of the recording.

Robert Smith later told Spin's Adam Sweeting:

A lot of it was very superficial – I didn't even like it at the time. There were criticisms made that it was very lightweight, and I thought they were justified. Even when we'd made it, I wanted to do something that I thought had more substance to it.

Drummer Lol Tolhurst, who used a drum kit borroeed from the Jam's Rick Buckler, described the sessions in his book Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys:

It didn't take long for us to record the basic versions of the songs for Three Imaginary Boys. After all we had played and rehearsed them so many times before we went into the studio. With the exception of "So What" , we had all the lyrics worked out before we got to the studio. For that song Robert just had a sugar bag and read off the back of that, along with a sheet of lyrics I had given him. Very Dadaesque, I thought.

The band were left out of the mixing process, spending time at the back of the room drinking beer or visiting a nearby cafe at the studios where they'd see Gary Moore and Iron Maiden hanging out. 

Tolhurst again:

We tried to add our two cents worth to the sessions, especially Robert, who reasoned--not unreasonably-that Chris has signed us based on the demo we had made.We were ignored, as we were his new signing and he was running the show. He had just signed the Jam, who had some success, so his views prevailed.

The album may sound more spare and more post punk than the goth albums to come, but critics were impressed at the time.

Sounds' Dave McCullough praised it in a 5-star review: "The Cure are going somewhere different on each track, the ideas are startling and disarming". McCullough adding "Grinding Halt" is a "pop song that reminds you of the Isley Brothers or the Buzzcocks". Red Starr, writing in Smash Hits, described the album as a "brilliant, compelling debut". However, NME's Paul Morley didn't share the same point of view and wrote: "Most of the time, it's a voice catching its breath, a cautiously primitive riff guitar, toy drumming and a sprightly bass".

Standing on the Beach

The Cure : Killing an Arab

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On December 21, 1978 The Cure released their debut single "Killing an Arab" b/w "10:15 Saturday Night". Fans say "Killing An Arab" is the most misunderstood song and one Robert Smith would spend the rest of his career defending--that it's actually a distillation of Albert Camus' The Stranger and not an irresponsibly racist song. Smith would say "It's not really racist. It's bot a call kill to kill Arabs". The song features the lyrics "staring at the sea", which would be the title of one of their best selling singles compilations.

Smith wrote the B side when he was 16. "'10.15 Saturday Night' was written at the table in our kitchen, watching the tap dripping, feeling utterly morose, drinking my dad's home-made beer. My evening had fallen apart and I was back at home feeling vert sorry for myself," wrote Smith in liner notes for the 2005 reissue of Three Imaginary Boys.

Staring at the Sea

The Cure : Killing an Arab (Peel Session)

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On December 4, 1978 The Cure recorded their first session for BBC1's John Peel show. The set, featuring "Killing an Arab", "Boys Don't Cry", "10:15 Saturday Night" and "Fire in Cairo", was released years later as an EP ( with a running time just barely over 12 minutes). Signed to Chris Parry's Fiction label, The Cure would release "Killing an Arab" as their first single on December 21. Fans say "Killing An Arab" is the most misunderstood song and one Robert Smith would spend the rest of his career defending--tThat it's actually a distillation of Albert Camus' The Stranger and not an irresponsibly racist song. Smith would say "It's not really racist. It's bot a call kill to kill Arabs".  The song features the lyrics "staring at the sea", which would be the title of one of their best selling singles compilations.

This is a month the band spent touring, opening for the likes of Wire and Generation X. 

In fact, the night before the Peel session, drummer Lol Tolhurst stumbled into a bathroom where Billy Idol was 'introducing himself" to a female fan.

He relates the "toilet incident" in his book Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys.

A guttural sound passed from my throat, which might have been recognized as ‘Hello, Billy’ were I in a more sober mood, but it just sounded like a low grunt after that much alcohol. 
The young lady looked somewhat startled by the fact that there was another musician in the vicinity of their love nest, so the ever chivalrous Mr Idol tried to calm her down with a valiant, ‘Don’t be nervous, love,’ or something to that effect, while she anxiously eyed the toilet door. 
Unfortunately, by this time I had reached the point of no return and a stream of urine shot outwards to the porcelain bowl next to Billy. Regrettably for me (as well as Billy and his date), my aim was not improved terribly with the consumption of so much cheap lager and, as I looked down towards where I assumed the urinal was, I realized that I was in fact urinating on Billy’s leg. Pissing on the Idol! 
He gave me one of his trademark sneers and I hastily zipped up and hightailed it out of there in a flurry of drunken apologies. On the drive home, as I sobered up, I had already perceived that this event might not be seen in the ‘jolly japes, all lads together’ kind of way one might hope. However, I thought, not unreasonably, that someone who was bathed in spittle every night wouldn’t find much wrong with a little urine on his strides as he was caught in flagrante delicto with a local lass. It might even be seen as ‘punk camaraderie’ of sorts. Right? How wrong I was on that count.

Drip Drip Drip Drip

The Cure : 10:15 Saturday Night ( 1978 Peel Session)

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On July 21, 1978 a four song demo by The Cure reached Polydor Records' Chris Parry who heard something Phonogram and Island Records did not. Two of the songs on that demo are now classics : "Boys Don't Cry" ( Robert Smith's attempt at writing a classic 60's style pop song) and "10:15 Saturday Night", written when Smith was 16. 

"'10.15 Saturday Night' was written at the table in our kitchen, watching the tap dripping, feeling utterly morose, drinking my dad's home-made beer. My evening had fallen apart and I was back at home feeling vert sorry for myself," wrote Smith in liner notes for the 2005 reissue of Three Imaginary Boys.

Parry had missed out on signing The Sex Pistols and The Clash, but he did get The Jam. Now another three piece had caught his attention, especially the song about sitting in the kitchen sink:

"My reaction was it had mood, it was atmospheric and I liked it."

He would sign The Cure to his newly created Fiction label.

40 Year Itch : Insane With Devotion

The Heartbreakers : Love Comes in Spurts (demo)

   The future can arrive in a single day. 

   

   On January 23, 1976 The Sex Pistols performed two Small Faces covers ( "Understanding" and "What'cha Gonna Do About It") and originals like "Seventeen", "New York" and "Pretty Vacant" at Watford Technical College. It was their eighth gig. By the end of the year they would, according to Mojo Magazine "spearhead the biggest cultural revolution in Britain since The Beatles, creating a frenzy around them that transcended the music they made and changed the attitudes of an entire generation".

   "The Pistols was an amazing coming together of a group of individuals who instantly didn't like each other, who were very suspicious of each other, but somehow managed to make that work for the best " writes John Lydon in Anger Is My Energy. "It became a runaway train of thought."

Porl Thompson and Michael Dempsey of Malice

    On the other side of London, in suburban Crawley, the band Malice met for their first band rehearsal in a church basement. Every Thursday Future Cure members Robert Smith and Michael Dempsey along with two classmates practiced Bowie, Hendrix and Alex Harvey covers along with some originals. They played their first gig in December.

Robert Smith and Michael Dempsey

     And in Yonkers New York, former Television bass player Richard Hell and disaffected ex-New York Dolls Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan, along with Walter Lure, recorded demo versions of songs that would become legendary. They called themselves The Heartbreakers and had already developed a cult following in New York City.

   Hell sang lead on "Love Comes in Spurts" and "Blank Generation". The band also recorded future L.A.M.F. highlights "I Wanna Be Loved" and "Chinese Rocks". The band would soon split up with Hell forming Richard Hell and the Voidoids while the other members retained the Heartbreakers name.  By the end of the year, The Heartbreakers would be touring with Sex Pistols in the UK while back in New York, Hell was shopping around an EP the Voidoids recorded at a studio that cost $10 an hour. It was called  Blank Generation.

"The EP’s like the caveman version," Hell told Uncut Magazine. " Crude. But, then, caveman art is beautiful. "