The two bands Robert Smith combined to form The Cure: “Style and music”
Robert Smith formed The Cure as a Crawley youngster at the zenith of punk, but the band didn’t make a splash until 1979 when the wave had already crashed. The distinction may not have been particularly apparent at the time, especially to the baby boomer generation, to whom it sounded like a load of noise. In retrospect, however, bands like The Cure, Joy Division and Magazine highlight the transition into post-punk.
Smith was fascinated with music long before the punk wave, and like many of the wave’s proponents, he was inspired by the greats of the 1960s. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were no strangers to the family turntable, but moving into his teen years, Smith sought a sound more representative of his imminently active generation. Before punk, Smith stumbled upon the wonders of David Bowie and Thin Lizzy.
Although The Cure’s gothic aura is a far cry from ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’, Smith became intoxicated by Phil Lynott’s charismatic stage presence. “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.”
The next stop in Smith’s rock ‘n’ roll education was raw punk. In the UK, the Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks led the charge as representatives for the South and North, respectively. “1977 changed me,” Smith told Rolling Stone on another occasion. “It was the best summer of my life. I remember listening to ‘Anarchy [in the UK]’ for the very first time at a party and thinking ‘this is it!’”
Smith saw Manchester’s Buzzcocks before any other punk act, and in an instant, he knew he had found his generation’s sound. “I saw Buzzcocks at The Electric Circus. I loved them, and I felt I had found my generation’s music,” he added.
After acquainting himself with the British punk titans, Smith figured out a hierarchy wherein each band had its specific purpose. Speaking to Guitar World in 1996, he noted that Sex Pistols “were brilliant at parties,” while The Clash were the best live act. “But The Stranglers were my favourite punk band, even though you knew they were old and just pretending a lot of the time,” Smith asserted.
The only part of The Cure’s jigsaw puzzle left to fill is a gaping void of Gothic angst. While threads of this were apparent in 1979’s Three Imaginary Boys, the ensuing three albums are retrospectively referred to as the ‘Dark Trilogy’. For this abject yet cathartic melancholy we have bands like Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees to thank.
When The Cure started recording their debut album in 1978, Smith became enamoured with The Scream, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ first LP. He found John McKay’s wall-of-sound guitar innovation particularly inspiring and soon had a clear vision for The Cure’s next steps. “I love the Buzzcocks, and I love Siouxsie and the Banshees,” Smith once said while commenting on The Cure’s early sound. “I had this plan to be in a band that combined the two of them in terms of style and music.”
The Cure were punks at heart, but Smith never felt like a true proponent of the wave due mostly to aesthetic preferences. “We were never fashionably punk, and that was what was wrong with punk: It had a uniform,” he opined. “I hate those new fashions in music which there’s always something like ‘You have to wear a certain outfit to be part of it,’” he added, taking an inadvertent swipe at Malcolm McLaren.
Listen to ‘Overground’ from Siouxsie and the Banshees’ debut album below.
