The song that made The Cure who they are: “The archetypal Cure sound”
After the wave of British punk that exploded in 1977, with bands like the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Clash leading the way, it didn’t take long for post-punk to blossom. Inspired by the burst of energy these bands injected into rock music, post-punk bands typically incorporated a wider range of influences and expanded on punk’s raw qualities to achieve a more cohesive sound.
One of the biggest post-punk bands to emerge from this period was The Cure, led by Robert Smith. The release of their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, was received well, despite the band’s unhappiness with the end result. They persevered and followed up with Seventeen Seconds a year later, which saw the band move towards a gloomier sound, which would be expanded upon with subsequent albums like Faith and Pornography.
That shift didn’t come out of nowhere. Smith had already started to move away from the more playful tones of their debut, becoming increasingly drawn to something colder and more introspective, even if it meant stripping back parts of the band’s identity in the process.
It wasn’t necessarily the easiest transition for everyone involved, though. As the songs became more skeletal and mood-driven, the gap between what The Cure had been and what they were becoming started to widen, leaving certain members struggling to see where they fit in the new direction.
While writing Seventeen Seconds, Smith and bassist Michael Dempsey found themselves butting heads over new ideas for the band, leading the latter to leave. “I think the final straw came when I played Michael the demos for the next album and he hated them. He wanted us to be XTC part 2 and – if anything – I wanted us to be the Banshees part 2. So he left,” explained the frontman during an interview with Uncut.
The album took inspiration from folk artists like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen while also honing a gothic sound, which The Cure soon became known for. The fantastic album contains several of the band’s best songs, including ‘Play for Today’ and ‘A Forest’, with the latter becoming their first entry into the UK Singles Chart top 40.
‘A Forest’, with its iconic build-up into one of the band’s most recognisable guitar riffs and driving basslines, is The Cure’s most-played song of all time, having performed it 1180 times over the years. Smith also considers the track one of his favourites, discussing its importance with the Chicago Tribune.
He referred to the song as possessing “the archetypal Cure sound.”
Smith added: “It was probably the turning point when people started listening to the group and thinking we could achieve something, including me.”
Co-produced by Mike Hedges, the song represents a significant turning point for the band. The producer explained: “We wanted it to be quite ornate. It ended up being the most produced track on the album. To me, it always sounded like a single. We all thought it was an amazing song — I loved the guitar line — but we also figured it would take a bit more work than the others.”
Revisit the incredible song below.
Never Miss A Beat
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