While in high school I used to make fun of people who liked the Cure. I saw them on the opposite side of the spectrum from, say, Jesus and Mary Chain. But you knew the type. They had feelings , wore black a lot, and might have worn eye liner. (See Allison Reynolds in The Breakfast Club) Strangely, in college, after I heard songs from Mixed Up on a mixtape from Becca, I started to like them. The mix of Caterpillar is stellar. That mix itself, might have been my baptism. Or rebirth. Oh, and I started to wear eyeliner too. No correlation. In fact at that point I am not sure I even knew what Robert Smith looked like. Clearly it was more an extension of the likes of Perry Farrell. Anyways, I give you my 10 Best Cure Songs – guaranteed goth-free and in no particular order:
- The Blood (Head On The Door)
- Pictures of You (Disintegration)
- Plainsong (Disintegration) – I know it’s kinda random, but like Sometimes (Lester Piggott), by James, I just adore the dialog and narratives.
- High (Wish)
- The Caterpillar (The Top)
- One Hundred Years (Pornography)
- Primary (Faith)
- Snow in the Summer (B-Side of Just Like Heaven)
- Harold and Joe (B-Side of Never Enough)
- Jumping Someone Else’s Train (Boy’s Don’t Cry)
Interesting post! I was the overacheiver sorority girl who you’d never guess was a huge Cure fan but my brilliant druggie next-door-neighbor in the dorm got me hooked to all sorts of alternative 80’s music that wasn’t Madonna. The Cure is probably still my all-time favorite band.
I’d say that my favorite songs have got to be “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,” “2 Late,” and “Lovesong.” I love coming across covers of “Lovesong,” and have heard Tori Amos do it twice already. Still, there’s not a lot of Cure music I DON’T like, so it would be hard to pick out just ten best, but those three are ones I could listen to over and over and over again (and probably have!). Maybe I’ll give it more thought.
Great post!
I grew up listening to (and loving) the Cure because my mom had me too young and listened to all the cool shit in her 20s while I was still impressionable. When I got to high school and college and kids my age were just discovering the Cure, I thought it was so weird that the people who were super into them were of a certain type — the exact type that you described. I also found it weird that they had all just discovered the band recently and didn’t know each song since childhood.
I guess I was just under the impression that the cure was a “mom” band. I thought all of my friend’s moms listened to the Cure and The Smiths and shit. I thought it was like Oldies, or something, I guess. But it turns out, I was ahead of the curve and super awesome, thanks to my mom!
I’m glad I’m not the only James fan. SEVEN is one of my favorite records from the 90s.