The Cure- THE 13th

# 1980 The Cure - THE 13th

Wild Mood Swings, Elektra Records, 1996

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              BILLBOARD
    CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
         Maxi-Singles Sales: # 11
               Modern Rock: #15
            Hot 100 Singles: # 44

                  GLOBAL
    CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
               # 11 in Finland
               # 15 in the UK
               # 20 in Sweden
            # 29 in Switzerland
              # 55 in Germany

       Top 20 at MATT RADIO

Robert Smith attributes The Cure's endurance to the fact that the group has never been deemed a trendy rock icon. "We have never been a fashionable band," he says. "Perhaps there have been times in different countries where we have been more in than out, but we've never relied on that. I think that has helped with the longevity-- people judge what we do with the music."

The other factor: "I still enjoy the music, and I still want to do it."

The process of songwriting has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years, Smith says, actually becoming an increasingly challenging task for him. "When I first started, with the first few singles, I wanted to be the Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello. I was writing very upbeat, three-minute pop stuff," he says. "But within a few years, my life took a downturn, and I felt pretty miserable. There was that struggle with who you are, what you are doing, those things. That's what I wrote about.

"But as you grow older and supposedly wiser, you're supposed to know answers to questions you posed earlier in life. I suspect most people don't," Smith adds. "Now, my standards have gone up. My subjects have become broader. I don't need a mini-breakdown to write a song. As I've gotten older, I've become interested in more things, and my horizons have broadened. The palette has more color in it."

Overall, Smith thinks the band's second singles collection, Galore!, is stronger and has had more impact than Standing On A Beach, adding that 70% of Galore!'s tracks figure into the Cure's live performances now. Even so, he says, it's tough for him to break the group's work into such "easy slices. I think the band had a period from '86 to '92 where we remained pretty consistent. For me, it's been different since then.

"There are certain things musically that we often come back to, emblems and musical motifs that just attract me. There's one particular early-'80's sound and a late-'80's sound, based on the kinds of instruments, but if you look at our whole body of work, it's impossible to say there's a definitive Cure sound-- except for my voice."

As to being influenced by what fuels modern rock radio currently: "I mostly disregard what is supposed to be contemporary. It's not of great concern to me," he says. "The music that I listen to--dance and classical stations-- isn't necessarily what I write."

The crowd that turns up for Cure concerts today consists of many of the thirtysomethings that have held hands with the band since the '80's, as well as an influx of fresh-faced fans of the latest thing. "One reason we've been commercially successful over the years is that we've been able to hold on to that smattering of older people lined up against the wall avoiding the chance of physical harm," Smith says with a laugh.

In either case, young or old, Smith says that proponents of the band will likely remain attentive because, over the past 20 years, the Cure has not attempted to reinvent its mission.

"I would hate it if we matured into a middle-of-the-road rock act. That doesn't appeal to me," he says. "I feel the same as I did ten years ago. I'm still doing it for the same reason-- to make something. We've been fortunate that a number of people have enjoyed what we've done through the years."

source: Chuck Taylor, Billboard, Dec. 6, 1997