Cure, The

The Cure is a British band widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock scene of the 1980s. more...

A combination of lead singer Robert Smith's iconic wild hair, pale complexion, smudged lipstick, and the frequently gloomy and introspective lyrics have led to the band being considered part of the gothic rock genre. Smith rejects this and other attempts to confine the band to a single genre. The Cure have sold close to 50 million albums worldwide.

History

1970s

In 1976 17-year-old Robert Smith formed The Easy Cure with classmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (drums) and Porl Thompson (guitar) from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School in Crawley, Sussex. They began writing their own songs almost immediately, and quickly amassed a repertoire of original material and a growing following.

In 1977, The Easy Cure auditioned for Hansa Records and received a recording contract worth £1000. A year later, following disagreements about the direction the group should take, the band (newly renamed The Cure) were signed as a trio (minus Porl Thompson) on former Polydor Records scout Chris Parry's new Fiction label (distributed by Polydor). However, The Cure released their first single "Killing an Arab" on the Small Wonder label. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy: while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus' story The Stranger. The single was packaged with a sticker label that denied the racist connotations.

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