The Cure

Could there ever be a better band out there? One that embodies all the good sides and bad sides of growing up as a teenager so well that is? The insecurities, the awkward social situations, the self-loathing, the sexual ambiguousness, the fashion statements, the parties and the pimples? I think not... All of today's crappy emo bands combined (!) couldn't hold a candle up to The Cure. Oh boohoo! So you're sad and aren't afraid to express yourselves, well Robert Smith and co. have been doing it for thirty years now and at least they had the decency NOT to take their fans for idiots (it's called subtlety, perhaps you've heard of it before). Not afraid to jump from abysmally dark works to incredibly upbeat and catchy tunes, The Cure and it's musical mood swings was and always will be the manic depressive's dream pop band come true! It's no surprise the whole gothic scene and their bleak world view germinated in part because of Smith's work within The Cure and Siouxsie And The Banshees. How's that for influential!? Perhaps it's Smith's uniquely morose vocals, his often esoteric choice of subject matter and cryptic lyrics or perhaps it's the broader picture they've painted over the years with their continuous musical evolution, but there's always been something remarkably appealing about them for all us emotional and shy types out there.

Before The Cure however, there was Slayer. I was a huge metal head back then. I would always have something incredibly aggressive band blasting away at my eardrums on those long car rides to some relative or a camping trip with my parents. The more it was violent, the more I loved it! Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Napalm Death, you name it! I'm not sure what made me go from one extreme to the other however, I had just transferred from private to public school after two painstakingly hellish years of being bullied and taunted by older students while in our ugly uniforms (whoever said private schools are better should come and chat with me). Perhaps I just wanted to let it all behind me, repress it all and completely change or maybe it was just a burning desire to finally fit in for once. I've always felt an affinity with the weird kids at school; you know the ones that dyed their hair jet-black and blue, wore equestrian pants with laces on the sides and came to school with a pet rat up their sleeves? I was way too shy to approach them back then, but The Cure eventually became my ticket in. Back in 1991, everyone who was anyone at my new high school listened to The Cure, The Smiths or Jane's Addiction. I simply had to give it a try.

Shortly after, I remember going on one of my first unsupervised "trips" to Montreal with my cousin. We were perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old and we had just crossed the bridge into the big city without our parents! This was huge and very exciting for us back then! I don't remember where I got the money from, but I decided I had to buy a CD as a souvenir for this memorable day... and of course, it had to be The Cure. At almost thirty bucks, I wanted to make sure I got a good one and there was not so much to choose from, but one of them eventually caught my eye: The Top. It went on to be the soundtrack to my life for the following months as I slowly continued using my "hard earned" allowance money for more albums (this was the first occurrence of me trying to get everything I could find from one band, something I would be doing a lot more of later on in life). The Cure became the embodiment of my transition from an insecure kid towards better things. I had now completely given up on metal and started exploring a whole new world of sound. The term "alternative music" was still pretty new back then and it is what obsessed me from that point on. Although The Pixies went on to have a much deeper impact on me, The Cure remain my gateway band into the wonderful world of different music.

One of the most fascinating memories I have of The Cure's music is eventually remembering having heard their hit single Boys Don't Cry when I was just a young child. I can recall the exact moment and place where I heard it the first time; it was on the car radio as we and my parents were about to exit our suburban town to visit some relatives. I get melancholic when I think back to this peculiar moment in my life. Surely music was going to become an integral part of my life if already as a pre-pubescent boy a song could have such a deep impact on me and be so deeply anchored in my mind that I would immediately recognize it without having heard it in over ten years!

Like many other artists though, The Cure disappeared from my life during my years going back and forth between Sweden and Canada. I sold everything! But although I've never went on to dislike The Cure, I did feel they had lost a bit of that special "something" which made me fall in love with them the first time. We're now in 2008 and The Cure are playing town... stupid me I didn't get a ticket, but missing the show made me think back to the impact they've once had on me and I just had to rediscover them all over again. Unsurprisingly enough, it barely took a week for me to put all of the deluxe re-issues of their classic albums on order. These are simply beautiful to hear and behold and I will be waiting impatiently for all their albums to get this special treatment before getting them all. Hopefully I will never be tempted to give up on them again... they simply mean too much for me.