Why is there no thread for The Cure's Disintegration?

nabisco and I grew up in the same town (kind of; I was there 1981 to 1987 and then moved back to california at the end of my freshman year of HS). 1987 the cure were definitely a "thing" there but a "thing" for "freaks". In fact I disliked them, mainly because the one persion I knew who championed them was a douche of a friend. REM were better known and better accepted. I never heard any of these bands on the radio there though; REM I found through tapes that a friend got from his cousin (along with lots of other skate rock). The Smiths were probably better known than the Cure, or at least, better accepted. Independent Records in that town stocked all of this stuff though. But really, midwest US to me, at that time, essentially = Bon Jovi or real metal.

my point being, then I came to california in 1987 and the Cure were everywhere already. Kiss Me 3x came out and it was enormous. The Prayer tour was a massive thing, no doubt.

when i was in 7th-8th gr (87-89 approx) my favorite bands were REM, INXS, XTC, U2, The Cure, Violent Femmes, and Depeche Mode. There were literally LEGIONS of girls like me.

otm for me too, a couple years later. suburbs imo.

I think I was 13 when my 17 yo cousin played 'Lullaby' for me. It's a cliche but that song changed everything for me & my relationship with music. And the chronology is all mushed up but even before that it felt like they were huge, like Duran Duran huge. I remember being fascinated by the idea of a boy wearing lipstick, cousins & older female friends had his posters on their walls...more like some kind of Jesus than just a pop star, it was all different. Anyhoo, I was well aware of the cure before 'Friday' showed up.

so I'm on "Pictures of You" listening to the reissue and srsly why do I never play this album anymore

huh, still not a big fan of "Closedown" tho

haha yeah i know - I put it on Sunday and realized I had not listened to this in 15 years and what a beast of an album it really was

The initial success of Wish was definitely a Soundscan era fluke; however there's a huge possibility that Disintegration would easily have spent several weeks in the top ten when "Lovesong" was a #2 hit. Every single got massive play on my college radio station; and when you consider that Mixed Up (the first Cure album I got with my own money) came out only a few months after "Pictures of You" you had this period when The Cure was a ubiquitous "modern rock" and MTV presence (I'm assuming the latter, cuz I didn't have MTV then).

"Lovesong" was the first real instance of Robert playing with lyrical repetition where he's doing variations on a theme rather than repeating the first verse as a code, yes? Is there another song structured like that before this (I can't think of anything, most of what he did before was rambling narrative although you can see hints of it in "Boys Don't Cry" and "The Hanging Garden"), and if not was this song's massive success the thing that led him to start writing everything like that?

ha I still get chills from that opening guitar riff in "Lullaby"; there are so many ways in which that is the PERFECT Cure song

HIS ARMS ARE AROUND ME AND HIS TONGUE IN MY EYES

yeah I like the new stuff a lot but MAN THIS ALBUM

I wonder if he wrote this before the album was a bona arena-packing fide hit.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, June 11, 2010 7:41 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

The review was part of that year's Turkey Shoot -- roughly six months after it was released, then.

The only concrete thing I can remember about Disintegration is that it was the first tape that cost me over $10.

Everything through "The Walk" sounds as great as ever, but Disintegration apparently does nothing for me these days.

I'M BEGGING TO DRAG YOU DOWN WITH ME

It's amazing that I am listening to this on my terrible work headphones and it is having almost exactly the same emotional impact on me as it did when I first heard it 21 years ago.

holy fuck 21 years ago

I actually don't know why "Lovesong" was the crossover hit – payola? lyrical simplicity? a confluence of all these things and others? ("Just Like Heaven" gets a hundred times more airplay now). I know it was my least favorite single by a country mile; it's one of those songs whose charms you exhaust real quick.

From the same Turkey Shoot:

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Cuts Both Ways (Epic) I was perplexed to catch myself enjoying parts of this until I recognized the feels-so-good-when-it-stops syndrome--who wouldn't perk up at a sleek salsa montuno or tap-dancing synperc break when the alternative is Karen Carpenter with an unlocked pelvis? "Get On Your Feet" importunes too much--these rhythms aren't gonna get you. C

I always liked "Karen Carpenter with an unlocked pelvis" but wonder if he felt bad after her accident.

Gloria's, that is.

holy fuck 21 years ago

amazing for a 21st-anniversary reissue of an album

lol I old too

oh shit, this live version of "Homesick"

I actually don't know why "Lovesong" was the crossover hit

It was a question of timing. Their popularity had been growing in North America since The Head On The Door and they had their first Top 40 hit with "Just Like Heaven". It was obvious that they were going to be big with their next album and that they were going to have a hit as soon as they put out a "radio friendly" single. I was also disappointed at the time that it happened with "Lovesong", which I didn't like as much as most of their previous singles.

Can't wait to hear this!!! So anxious.

I actually don't know why "Lovesong" was the crossover hit

Because it's a hugely accessible, universally identifiable, catchy as fuck pop song?

"Inbetween Days" and "Just Like Heaven" were too!

It was a question of timing. Their popularity had been growing in North America since The Head On The Door and they had their first Top 40 hit with "Just Like Heaven". It was obvious that they were going to be big with their next album and that they were going to have a hit as soon as they put out a "radio friendly" single. I was also disappointed at the time that it happened with "Lovesong", which I didn't like as much as most of their previous singles

yup.

this is like asking why "beth" was kiss's breakout hit and not "rock and roll all nite" or "strutter"

RESPECT THE LOVE BALLAD

Da Croup OTM, I mean c'mon -- it's exactly what it is, a catchy pop song on a big breakout album!

And yeah, still great, this whole thing.

Really my only regret about this album is that not everyone went as batshit over "Lullaby" as they did over "Lovesong". I get WHY, but it still is kind of a bummer to the 16-year-old in my heart.

Combine Tim Pope's videos for both songs and there you go, Film Studies 101 -- Introduction to Freudianism

i think the video to lullaby was my intro to the cure, and holy shit did it scare me as a 9 or 10 year old.

I love "Lullaby" more than anything on the album – such a fantastic sound. The remix is even more of a great thing.

weirdly, mixed up was the first cure album i bought though!

"...beginning with....ESSSSSS"

If it wasn't for "Never Enough, I'd feel like they never actually recovered from doing the "Lullaby" video. Like, they went "okay, we have reached our platonic ideal so there's really no point in trying on any other video we do" or something; I can't think of any other explanation for the "Friday I'm In Love", "Wrong Number" or "Taking Off".

Although I'd forgotten about the video for "The 13th" lolol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N9piZjt_k8

Also I really really hate the single mix of "Lullaby"; I think it kind of ruins the song.

I hope the spider man has you for dinner tonight.

Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but I love "Never Enough."

That's not nostalgia, that is a fucking SLEDGEHAMMER of a song.

"Never Enough" remains fantastic, I remember at the time it was claimed this was them 'going baggy'

I love that stuttered guitar bit on the Mixed Up version.

Also the single had a killer B-side in "Harold and Joe" and a remix of "Let's Go to Bed" that should have been on the main album, really.

i think Never Enough was what convinced me to buy Mixed Up -- still love that song.

The video for "The 13th" really makes me regret that its the only time they worked with sophie mueller. I might have even gotten into later singles if she was there to help.

Really my only regret about this album is that not everyone went as batshit over "Lullaby" as they did over "Lovesong".

NEW ILM POLL: Most accessible, instantly relatatable Robert Smith lyric?

"However far away, I will always love you" - 85

...
..
.

"The spiderman is having me for dinner tonight" - 2

"I stoned the only girl I loved, and drowned her deep in sodomy" 15

okay if that was the actual lyric, I would be even more into that song

I can't imagine how fucked up my life would have been at fifteen had it been the actual lyric.

lots of otm-ness here. Absolutely loved Never Enough when it came out shame they immediately dropped the main riff when they played it live

and Ned otm indeed - the LOGTB remix was my favorite from that project. Such a strange and intriguing vibe from that version

Hearing that and Orbit's Shiver mix of "Inbetween Days" made me think Mixed Up was going to be much, much better than it actually was.