The Cure\u2019s epic career is the subject of the cover story in a newly published one-off magazine The History Of Goth.<\/p>\n
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In this feature, the band\u2019s early days are portrayed as difficult and often chaotic.<\/p>\n
The story begins in 1978, when the trio of Robert Smith, drummer Lol Tolhurst and bassist Michael Dempsey performed as The Cure for the first time at a venue named The Rocket in Crawley, West Sussex.<\/p>\n
The band’s debut album Three Imaginary Boys was released in 1979 and featured an early classic in 10.15 Saturday Night.<\/p>\n
It was also in 1979 that Smith first acted as stand-in guitarist for Siouxsie And The Banshees during a UK tour after Banshees guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris had abruptly quit the group.<\/p>\n
Many years later, in an interview with Uncut magazine, Smith later praised the stage presence of singer Siouxsie Sioux while admitting that in 1979 his own band were very much second best to the Banshees.<\/p>\n
As he recalled it: \u201cThe power of Sioux walking out to the front of the stage and screaming at the audience made me realise just how weak The Cure were.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cure\u2019s second album 17 Seconds (1980) saw the band expanded to a quartet, with Michael Dempsey replaced by Simon Gallup and the arrival of keyboard player Matthieu Hartley. The album included the band\u2019s first top 40 hit, A Forest.<\/p>\n
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17 Seconds was also the first part of what would become known as The Cure\u2019s \u2018Doom Trilogy\u2019 \u2013 as completed by 1981 album Faith and 1982 album Pornography.<\/p>\n
Faith was recorded in a bleak period for Smith, whose grandmother had recently died, and Tolhurst, whose mother was terminally ill.<\/p>\n
Smith would later reflect in The Guardian: \u201cFaith was the sound of extreme desolation because that\u2019s how we felt at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heavy touring and an unhealthy lifestyle contributed to tensions within the band.<\/p>\n
As Lol Tolhurst recalls to writer Julian Marszalek: \u201cOver the period of about a thousand days we played a show every other days as well as making three albums.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tolhurst previously told The Quietus: \u201cTo make that kind of music it had to be an inferno. And we ended up pouring gasoline on that inferno.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 1982 The Cure was not so much a band as a duo, with Smith multi-tasking and Tolhurst handling keyboards. The single Let\u2019s Go To Bed got some traction on MTV in America. Then, in 1983, The Walk reached No 12 in the UK before they got that first top 10 hit with The Lovecats.<\/p>\n
The Cure – The Lovecats – YouTube
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Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n It was in that moment that Robert Smith accepted another invitation to tour with Siouxsie And The Banshees after they had parted ways with another guitarist \u2013 the hugely influential John McGeoch, who also played with Magazine and Public Image Ltd.<\/p>\n In addition to this tour, Smith made an album of psychedelic rock with Banshees bassist Steve Severin under the name The Glove.<\/p>\n In a hectic period, Smith also played and co-wrote songs on the Banshees\u2019 album Hy\u00e6na while also creating The Cure\u2019s fifth album, The Top.<\/p>\n Siouxsie And The Banshees – Swimming Horses – YouTube
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