![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Robert-Smith-The-Cure-Singer-Musician-Songwriter-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Fri 2 January 2026 9:25, UK <\/p>\n
It might be preferential for us to imagine that music<\/a>, and art in general, allows those to succeed who have the most talent in their chosen field. But anybody with an ear to the music industry, or notes that James Cameron\u2019s Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, will tell you that this notion is plainly false. <\/p>\n So much more goes into making a success of yourself in an artistic field than purely talent. For most of the music industry, as well as sounding great, you need to look great, too. It was the case for pop music since its inception, but got kicked up a notch during the 1980s. <\/p>\n The entire music world was thrown for a loop once MTV took over. Previously, most of the biggest bands in the world earned their success from being played on the radio, but the new era was about being as photogenic as possible and stars strutting their stuff in every video they made. The Cure were firstly about their music rather than aesthetics, but no one could take their eyes off Robert Smith when he started out.<\/p>\n Born and bred in the punk scene, The Cure weren\u2019t intended for the mainstream, but they brought a gothic tinge to rock that had rarely raided the charts. Although the band were never as successful as acts like pop superstar Madonna at the time, the late 1980s were a much different story, paving the way for the alternative movement while nabbing the occasional hit with singles \u2018Boys Don\u2019t Cry\u2019<\/a> and \u2018Just Like Heaven\u2019. <\/p>\n As the musical landscape shifted towards alternative rock in the early \u201890s, Smith was hurt when the band were robbed of the number one spot on the album charts to Def Leppard\u2019s Adrenalize. Commenting in a press conference after its release, Smith branded Leppard as fakes in the media, saying (via Ultimate Classic Rock<\/a>), \u201cI was ticked off that it wasn\u2019t No. 1. And that\u2019s my method of saying I despise Def Leppard and everything they\u2019ve ever done. I can\u2019t believe how popular Def Leppard are. It sickens me to see them all sitting there in Union Jacks, and yet Joe Elliott adopts that horrible, fake, rock-American accent\u201d.<\/p>\n At the time, Leppard were still riding high of their blockbuster masterpiece Hysteria. Though the band had suffered a loss after guitarist Steve Clark\u2019s tragic death, Smith wasn\u2019t so kind to their new sound, saying to Associated Press: \u201cTo the casual listener, they sound exactly like the last album. I try desperately to avoid hearing them. But sitting at a traffic light, through open car windows, you sometimes hear them. I\u2019ll alienate the heavy-metal side of our audience now\u201d.<\/p>\n Outside of the differences in aesthetics, Def Leppard and The Cure had much more in common regarding influences. Whereas Smith was influenced by post-punk during his musical salad days, Leppard were drawn towards the outrageous side of punk, wearing their influences of bands like The Sex Pistols on their sleeve. <\/p>\n