The band that “pioneered” nu-metal, according to The Cure’s Robert Smith
Robert Smith, the bushy-haired figurehead of dark, gothic post-punk music, has some influences more evident than others. Perhaps most understandably, The Cure’s sound was channelled by the burgeoning punk scene of the late-1970s.
“The two groups that I aspired to be like were the Banshees and the Buzzcocks,” Smith once told Uncut. “I really liked the Buzzcocks’ melodies, while the great thing about the Banshees was that they had this great wall of noise, which I’d never heard before. My ambition was to marry the two.”
“When punk came along, I found my generation’s music,” he elaborated on his early tastes in conversation with Rolling Stone. “I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd ’cause that was what got played in the house. But when I first saw the Stranglers, I thought, ‘This is it.’ And I saw the Buzzcocks the following week, and I thought, ‘This is definitely it.’”
While Smith managed to successfully merge these two punk sounds in his early work with The Cure, there was much more at play. As the iconic frontman has revealed over the decades, he greatly admires some of the prominent rock acts of the late 1960s and ’70s.
Smith has long mentioned his admiration for guitar hero Jimi Hendrix. The Cure’s original lineup formed in mutual appreciation of the late virtuoso and even covered ‘Foxy Lady’ on their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys.
Another early rock ‘n’ roll influence for Smith was the Phil Lynott-fronted Irish group, Thin Lizzy. “Thin Lizzy, they were fabulous”, Smith told Rolling Stone in 2004. “I saw them probably ten times in two years. The actual sound of them live was just so overpowering; it was better than drinking.”
Heavy rock music can be seen as having flowed down two key paths: punk and metal. Evidently, Smith’s tastes pander to the former, but in his 2004 conversation with Rolling Stone, the Cure singer revealed his appreciation of some nu-metal groups, especially Korn.
Mentioning The Cure’s then-new producer, Ross Robinson – who also worked with Korn and Limp Bizkit – the interviewer asked if Smith was a fan of these nu-metal bands that sprung up in the 1990s. “A few years ago, I had heard that Ross liked us, so I searched out what else he had done. I thought At the Drive-In was great. And I’ve always liked Korn – they’re pioneers of that sound.
“A lot of the stuff I was kind of ambivalent towards, like Slipknot, but my younger nephews swear by those bands. What I found that held it all together was the intensity – everything Ross did had a real sense of urgency about it.”
Listen to ‘The End of the World’ from The Cure’s eponymous 2004 album, which was produced by Ross Robinson, below.
