"Le Cure, they are ze best"

I am a massive Cure fan and have been since 1988 when I was 16. I think my Cure story is quite interesting because I "missed" The Cure a couple of times before I realised they were my band.

In the late 80s one of my school friends had a French pal. We lived on the same street so his pen pal stayed for a week in his house. We were all interested as to what he was like. I asked my friend what he did all day and he said he basically lazed around listening to the Cure. When I met him in person I asked him what he was into and he said "Le Cure, they are ze best". I had not heard of them and asked if they were French. He said "no, they are English". I was surprised, a French guy listening to an English band. And if they were so great why had I not heard of them? At this point I didn't think of checking them out for some reason. Looking back it may have been a bootleg copy of The Cure in Orange that he was listening to, or the head on the door.

About a year later my brother had a German pen pal called Marco. He came over to stay with us. He was also listening to the Cure. In particular the 12" version of Boys Don't Cry. I also liked the song. Even at this stage I still didn't get into the Cure though. I did think to myself that it was strange that the French and the Germans really like the Cure and my friends and I were not into them.

Shortly after this I joined the lower sixth form at school. Everyone seemd to have some musical aliegance. Lots of people were into U2 due to The Joshua Tree etc. Somebody lent me a copy of Staring at the Sea the singles. I was hooked from that point on. I loved the singles. There was no band to match them from the dark brooding "a forest" to the light hearted The Lovecats. I rapidly started collecting all the albums, I devoured all of them. Even the heavy albums such as pornography. I knew I had found my band. Not to mention the majestic Disintegration was released shortly afterwards with the strange songs such as Lullaby.

I also got The Cure In Orange on VHS. The concert blew me away. In paticular the extended version of A Forest, A Strange Day, Push... I hope they release it on blu ray as I can't watch it anymore.

I grew up on the same street as the television presenter "Vernon Kay". He has even presented MTV europe music awards. He is also a Radio 1 DJ. If you google him he will appear. I have lost touch with him but we were friends back them. One day on the radio he claimed the French pen pal was his but I am sure it was my other friend Simon who had the French pen pal. I remember because his mother was fluent in French and could tell him off in perfect French. It was impressive. So where Vernon got that idea from I don't know.

I can even play many Cure songs on my acoustic guitar including Just Like Heaven, Boys Don't Cry, In Between Days etc.

So I still love the Cure. They are my favourite band. People think I am crazy for liking the Cure but that is the way it is.. I can't wait for the next album. For me the only problem has been meeting other Cure fans. I have only seen them live once in the early 90s on the Wish tour. I thought it was a great gig. Robert went into Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix) at the end. I got very close to the front and was only 5 feet away from Robert Smith.

Recently I went skiing with a friend to the portes du soleil in France. We flew to Geneva airport. My friend said a previous time he had been there he met the cure. The whole band sat next to them in an aiport cafe. He warned them that the table was wonky as they had just sat at the same table and then moved. He said they were very nice people and seemed quite ordinary. Even though there was no missing Robert due to the hair. I thought to myself it should have been me, I am The Cure fan.

Another strange Cure story. I was working with a guy called "Blewitt" at work. An older guy in his late 40s. He was from the South of England near Surrey/Sussex. I had just bought the rerelease of Three Imaginary Boys and he saw it on my desk. He said to me, "oh yeah, the cure, I like The Lovecats, but not the other stuff" (this is typical from a non Cure fan). He said I used to work with the brother of Robert Smith's girlfriend. I had read a book about the Cure and remembered that Robert's childhood sweetheart was called Mary Poole. I said to him "the guy wasn't called Poole was he". When I said that the guy appeared shocked. He said "How did you know that?" When I told him about the book he still would not believe me. It was very strange.

Recently a new guy joined work and it turns out he is a big Cure fan. I had to meet one some day. Hopefully we will be able to see the next Cure concert in the UK with the new album.

Anyway, I hope you like my stories etc. This can be used for material if you like. If you use it online or something would you let me know. I would like to see other peoples stories too.

(From: John Thompson, Bolton, England)