How The Cure Disintegrated | New British Canon

The Cure’s Robert Smith isn’t seen as the most happy-go-lucky guy. On occasion he has confounded expectations and crafted superior pop confections like “The Lovecats”, “Inbetween Days” and “Friday I’m In Love”. However for the most part, his band are associated with dark emotions, a foreboding sense of doom, drowning in melancholy. In 1987, Smith was informed by a university student doing her thesis on The Cure, that within his songs he had died 74 times. And this is the energy he brought to the Cure’s final album of the 80s. This is New British Canon, and this is the story of Disintegration.

#thecure #goth #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking and Additional Writing by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:39 The Cure On MTV & Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
08:14 Creating Just Like Heaven
13:40 The Sessions for Disintegration
20:10 The Songs of Disintegration
30:58 Release & Enduring Influence

Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (  / luarbeats  )
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor (  / luarbeats  )

You can also follow me here:
Twitter:   / trashtheory  
Facebook:   / trashtheoryyt  

Or support me on Patreon:
  / trashtheory  

Never Enough : The Story of The Cure by Jeff Apter, 2005, Omnibus Press
Disintegration Deluxe Liner Notes by Johnny Black, 2010, Fiction
Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys by Lol Tolhurst, 2016, Da Capo Press
Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure by Simon Price, 2023, White Rabbit
“My motivation now is to make The Cure untouchable” Steve Sutherland, Melody Maker, Apr 1987
“The Cure: In Search Of El Dorado” Johnny Black, Q Magazine, Jul 1987
“The Cure - Feature” Adam Sweeting, Spin, Jul 1987
“The Cure's Lol Tolhurst: A Dose Of Keyboard Fever” Mark Dery, Keyboard, Aug 1987
“Taking The Cure With Robert” Deborah Frost, Creem, Oct 1987
“The Cure - Feature” Martin Aston, OOR, 1989
“Ten Years in Lipstick and Powder” James Brown, NME, Apr 1989
“The Curious Case Of The Cure” Johnny Black, The Times, Apr 1989
“The Cure: Caught In The Act” Robert Sandall, Q Magazine, May 1989
“The Cure: The Art of Falling Apart” Simon Witter, Sky, Jun 1989
“I don't ever want to go on tour again” Steve Sutherland, Melody Maker, Jul 1989
“What's The Big Idea? Robert Smith's Conception of the Cure” J.D. Considine, Musician, Jul 1989
“Sure Cure” Reporter Unlisted, Chicago Tribune, Aug 1989
“The Cure's Robert Smith - Interview” Sylvie Simmons, Revolution, Sep 1989
“The Cure for Success? Quit” Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, Sep 1989
“Searching For The Cure” Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, Sep 1989
“I’ve never actually liked goth bands…” Andrew Collins, NME, Apr 1992
“Robert Smith: Dr. Robert Explains It All” Simon Reynolds, Pulse!, Jun 1992
“Boozing’s My Religion” Roger Morton, NME, Jun 1993
“The Cure: How Did This Get To Be A Superstar?” Stuart Maconie, Q Magazine, Jul 1993
“The Cure: Happily Ever After” Susan Compo, Spin, Nov 1993
“The Cure: Robert Smith Gets Happy” Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, Nov 1997
“The Cure: 'Just Like Heaven'” Johnny Black, Blender, Oct 2003
“The Cure’s Discography: Robert Smith Looks Back” Bill Crandall, Rolling Stone, Jun 2004
“How The Cure’s Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers albums became goth’s great ‘Dark Trilogy’” Siân Llewellyn, Classic Rock, Sep 2004
“DISINTEGRATION - Memories of making the album…” Roger O’Donnell, Rogerodonnell.com, May 2009
“The Cure: Glass Half Empty” Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, Jul 2012
“So Much More Than Anything: The Cure’s Disintegration 25 Years On” John Freeman, The Quietus, May 2014
“The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ at 25: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review“ Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, May 2014
“The Cure’s American Breakthrough” Martin Aston, Mojo Magazine, Jul 2018
“Finding Comfort in the Gloomy Beauty of The Cure’s Disintegration” Jason Heller, The Atlantic, May 2019
“Classic Album Review: The Cure’s Disintegration Remains a Record for Hopeless Romantics of all Generations” Samantha Lopez, Consequence, May 2019
“The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ at 30: Amanda Palmer, Davey Havok, Randy Blythe & More on Its Impact” Ron Hart, Billboard, May 2019
“Rewind: The Cure’s Disintegration Turns 30” Dusty Henry, KEXP, May 2019
“The Big Read – EXCLUSIVE – The Cure: “Glastonbury won’t be the only time I’ll burst into tears on stage this summer”” Andrew Trendell, NME, Jul 2019
“The Cure’s Robert Smith Talks 30 Years of ‘Disintegration’: ‘The Whole Atmosphere Was Somber’” Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, Sep 2019
“The Cure’s Robert Smith Looks Back: ‘I’ve Never Thought About Legacy’” Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, Oct 2019
“The Birth of The Cure: Whispers In The Silence” Keith Cameron, Mojo Magazine, Mar 2021
“My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields: ‘We wanted to sound like a band killing their songs’” Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, May 2021
“Making The Cure: Disintegration” Neil Crossley, Classic Pop, Jul 2021
“Treble 100: No. 2, The Cure – Disintegration” Jeff Terich, Treble, Jul 2024