As one of the bands that laid the seeds for goth rock, the group created towering layers of guitars and synthesizers, but by the time goth caught on in the mid-'80s, the Cure had moved away from the genre.

By the end of the '80s, the band had crossed over into the mainstream not only in its native England, but also in the United States and in various parts of Europe. The Cure remained a popular concert draw and reliable record-seller throughout the '90s, and their influence could be heard clearly on scores of new bands during the new millennium, including many that had little to do with goth. Originally called the Easy Cure, the band was formed in by schoolmates Smith vocals, guitar , Michael Dempsey bass , and Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst drums.

Initially, the group specialized in dark, nervy guitar pop with pseudo-literary lyrics, as evidenced by the Albert Camus-inspired "Killing an Arab.

Parry was impressed with the song and arranged for its release on the independent label Small Wonder in December Early in , Parry left Polydor to form his own record label, Fiction, and the Cure was one of the first bands to sign with the upstart label.

The Cure's debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, was released in May to positive reviews in the British music press. During the tour, the Banshees' guitarist, John McKay, left the group and Smith stepped in for the missing musician. For the next decade or so, Smith would frequently collaborate with members of the Banshees.

Following the release of the single, Dempsey left the band to join the Associates; he was replaced by Simon Gallup at the beginning of At the same time, the Cure added a keyboardist, Mathieu Hartley, and wrapped up production on the band's second album, Seventeen Seconds, which was issued during the spring of The addition of a keyboardist expanded the group's sound, was which now more experimental and often embraced slow, gloomy dirges.

Nevertheless, the band still wrote pop hooks, as demonstrated by the group's first U. After the release of Seventeen Seconds, the Cure launched its first world tour. Following the Australian leg of the tour, Hartley exited the lineup and his former bandmates chose to continue without him, releasing their third album in Faith and watching it peak at number 14 in the charts. Faith also spawned the minor hit single "Primary. Pornography expanded their cult audience even further and cracked the U.

Top Ten. After the Pornography tour was completed, Gallup quit the band and Tolhurst moved from drums to keyboards. At the end of , the Cure released a new single, the dance-tinged "Let's Go to Bed. That same year, Smith also formed a band with Banshees bassist Steve Severin; after adopting the name The Glove, the group released its only album, Blue Sunshine.

One of my first big memories of listening to Disintegration involves wandering around the Colorado State Fair, from the agriculture show to the gang fights by the midway. This is a kind of reach I doubt Robert Smith ever imagined. And yet there they were. You could say—again, from an American perspective—that it started with two things. The Times. The Sunday Times. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 June De Capo Press P. Retrieved 9 July HIT Entertainment. Retrieved 21 July Archived from the original on 25 June Retrieved 6 January Melody Maker.

May The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 15 June Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 28 January All Time Top Albums 3rd ed. Virgin Books. Rolling Stone Germany. Retrieved 8 July August Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 3 July Slant Magazine. Retrieved 18 December Archived from the original on 16 August Retrieved 27 June As always, though, the guitars chime gorgeously, and the lyrics reveal Smith to be a livelier, less despondent guy than he'd have us believe.

He could have titled this "Hopefully Fighting the Devil" or "Gnawing My Heart Away Hungrily," two of the great phrases you'll miss if you close your eyes and get lost in the musical sweep. That's the only trouble with "Disintegration": In this enchanted forest, you can't stop and appreciate every tree.

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Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the group's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, .