The Cure

The Cure emerged in the late 70’s under the influence of punk rock and have been musically active ever since.  Guitarist Robert Smith is the only member of the original line up, holding together the band through a plethora of changes.  They have numerous accolades to their name, including arguably laying the ground work for the goth rock scene and infiltrating the mean C.D shelves of America. 

Originally known as The Easy Cure in 1976 the original line up consisted of school mates Robert Smith (vocals, guitars), Michael Dempsey (bass) and Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst.  Chris Parry originally of Polydor released their first single on the independent record label Small Wonder in December 1978, but soon signed them to his new label Fiction.  This was followed by a tour in February of 1979 supporting their debut album “Three Imaginary Boys” released soon after in May of the same year.  The band also released the non LP singles “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Jumping Someone Else’s Train”. It was during this period that Robert Smith forged his friendship with Siouxsie and the Banshees, as he stepped in when their lead singer left during the middle of a tour.  This would give Smith another musical outlet other than The Cure.

Near the end of 1979 the band released as single “I’m a Cult Hero” under the name Cult Heroes.  This change saw the first of the departures in the form of Dempsey who was replaced at the beginning of the next year by Simon Gallop who took control of the bass and the addition of a keyboard player Matthieu Hantley.  The new line up produced the second album “Seventeen Seconds” in the early part of 1980, followed by their first world tour.  Their third album “Faith” was followed by their fourth “Pornography” which saw Simon Gallap quit after the tour supporting it.  1983 was the year of the side project.  Smith formed a band “Glove” but released only one album “Blue Sunshine”.  The apparent solid line up of Smith, Tolhurst, drummer Andy Anderson and bassist Phil Thornally released “The Top” album in the rear end of 1983.  However once again the band’s structure changed when Anderson was fired and Thornally left.  They were replaced by drummer Boris Williams and guitarist Porl Thompson.  The band began to make head way in America with the release of their sixth album “The Head on the Door” which penetrated the top 100. 

Discontent struck again after the release of the album “Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me” in 1987 when Tolhurst left the band and filled a law suit against them, arguing that his role in the band was more important than his contract suggested and demanded more money.  This was continued until 92 when the lawsuit was settled in the bands favour.  The Cure have since released five more albums, “Disintergration” in 1989, “Wish” in 92, “Wild Mood Swings” in 96 and most recently the self titled album “The Cure” in 2004 dispelling rumours of the bands split.