How Robert Smith wants The Cure to be remembered
It’s almost impossible to define the kind of music that Robert Smith made with The Cure.
Whereas most people are looking to create the odd catchy tune, an album like Disintegration creates an entire world within the span of an hour that never lets up for a second until the final notes ring out. A lot of that comes down to Smith’s natural musical instincts, but even looking at the bands that followed them, it’s not like they were always at home being treated like the kings of goth music.
Because as much as they might fit the aesthetic, not every part of The Cure’s music really fits the description of goth. There are moments where they sound genuinely haunting on tracks like ‘A Forest’, but there are also the odd catchy tunes that wouldn’t be classified as goth rock at all. Bauhaus may be another founding band from goth’s prime, but it’s not like they were going to be making anything with the same punch as ‘In Between Days.’
So why do people insist on them being the face of goth music? Because they wear black eyeliner and makeup? If we go by that definition, then Kiss would hold all the trademarks for goth, and it’s not like Gene Simmons’ lyricism exactly fits with the same anthems from the genre like ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’.
Is it the production? Well, there are more than a few moments on Cure albums that have that same reverb-laden guitar sound that you see in countless goth-rock acts, but there are other times where their songs are perfectly tuneful rather than atonal. I mean, if you didn’t know any better, it would be easy to take Smith’s vocals off of a song like ‘Just Like Heaven’ and easily mistake it for a Tears for Fears song from around that time as well.
But if you ask Smith himself, he’s more than happy to be thought of alongside the greatest pop acts of his time, saying, “To do something like ‘Friday I’m in Love’ and to have that video and still have people say ‘The doom and gloom merchants,’ it’s just irritating. I suppose the fact that we’ve done the film shows that I am worried about how the group is remembered. I don’t worry about my epitaph, for instance. I don’t want to be remembered for anything in particular other than being in a pop group that was good.”
It’s a fair point to make as well. Smith did have a lot of moments where he could make great pop tunes, but if most people wanted to hear the more sullen parts of their discography, it’s bound to be a little bit disheartening when you have a really great tune and hear all of the fans insisting that all you do is sing about the more depressing parts of your career.
In fact, Smith’s outlook is pretty common to what one of the other dark pop acts from around that time was going through: Depeche Mode. No goth-rock fan would have batted an eye if they heard an album like Violator in between their classics, but Martin Gore always insisted that the band were a pop group first, which probably explains why tunes like ‘Enjoy the Silence’ felt right at home on the radio compared to everyone else.
Because while a lot of people like the idea of their favourite bands staying underground and never bothering to sell out, there’s nothing wrong with wanting a song to be appreciated beyond one’s small fanbase. ‘Just Like Heaven’ and ‘Lovesong’ might be more than a little bit saccharine for the average goth fan, but it’s a lot easier for fans to get onboard with goth-rock if they are given a sweeter version of it first.
