Did The Cure ever have a number-one song?
Some of the biggest bands in the world were never meant to see the light of day above ground. Although anyone would give their left arm to be able to write the greatest songs that indie bands have up their sleeve, there’s no telling whether they’re going to become cult classics or get lost in the lurch like a thousand other hopeful acts trying to score some fluke hit on the charts. Still, it would be foolish to count out Robert Smith whenever he came out with a new song with The Cure.
At the time that the goth rockers started, though, many people probably didn’t have a good idea what they were listening to. Smith had a firm handle on what made a good post-punk song on their first handful of releases, but by the time that people got to listen to a song like ‘A Forest’ they knew that he was into something slightly darker than what the other bands of his generation were interested in.
But for as dark as he painted his masterpieces, though, Smith was one of the few major goth artists that managed to make songs that people wanted to sing along with. An album like Pornography may have been as dark as he could possibly get, but few artists can have people drown in that melancholy and then singing along to tunes like ‘In Between Days’ a few years later.
While the MTV generation was the perfect vehicle for Smith’s signature brand of rock and roll, there was always something holding him back from being at the top of the hit parade. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try his best to make the kinds of pop songs that people would remember forever.
So, did The Cure ever have a number-one single?
Despite having some of the greatest melodies of the 1980s, The Cure never hit the top of the charts on either side of the Atlantic, only getting as high as number two in the US with ‘Love Song’. They did have more singles chart in the Top Ten in England, but for as much as it deserved all the attention, there was no way a tune as dark as ‘Lullaby’ was going to be number one, thanks in no small part to the song’s subject matter about being eaten by a human spider.
Then again, the band did have some major love in other parts of the world. Whereas most fans had come to grips with the fact that they wouldn’t reach the top of the charts, The Cure ended up shooting to number one on the Spanish charts with the release of their album 4:13 Dream, with ‘The Only One’, ‘Freakshow’, and ‘Sleep When I’m Dead all hitting the top of the charts upon release.
But for The Cure, success wasn’t defined by how many people were buying their singles. They were interested in creating textures with their music, and even if the public wasn’t forking over their money to buy their singles, the idea of someone willingly turning off a tune like ‘Friday I’m In Love’ feels wrong.
Then again, The Cure were meant to be music for outsiders in many respects, and despite some casual listeners being turned off by the pancake makeup and the eyeliner, many kids who felt alone and misunderstood found a little piece of themselves when listening to their tunes. Being a fan of The Cure always felt like more of a club than the massive fandoms that came afterwards, and since they became popular without a single number-one, there’s a good chance they would wear that like a badge of honour.
