"The Roxy"

I got into The Cure aged 14 when Catch was in the charts, and they appeared on a UK TV show called The Roxy which I was videoing for footage of A-ha or someone. I then bought Staring at the Sea and watched it obsessively every day for months, got Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me for my birthday in the November (couldn't afford to buy albums myself in those days) and the rest is history. Within a very short space of time I'd died my blonde hair black and ditched my teen idols for a life of Cure idolatry, which was renewed with a vengeance 20 years later when I saw them for the ninth time at Wembley last month. If you really love them, I don't think it ever dies.

(From: Joanne Nightingale, England)

"Nothing sounded familiar"

I got into The Cure when I was 18 years old. The year was 1991 and I was invited to a going away party. When I arrived at the party my taste in music was nothing even close to The Cure. I was mainly into hair bands and things like that. However as the party was going I noticed this sound coming from the stereo and really liked it. Then another song came on and that was even more catchy. I asked someone who that was and they said its a band called The Cure. So the next day I went to the CD store and purchased Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and brought it home. I played a few songs but nothing sounded familiar. I got upset thinking I bought the wrong CD. I went to CD store and exchanged CD's.

I exchanged the Kiss Me CD for what was about to become my all time favorite CD Disintegration. I still play that CD all the time. I never get sick of it. I think the funniest thing about it was the people at the party were playing the Kiss Me CD so I had it right the time. By me exchanging CD's introduced to more music by The Cure so everything worked out for a reason. My music taste has changed alot over the years and now just about all music I listen has been influenced by The Cure in some way. I can't wait to see them in May.

(From: Chris Swartz - whereabouts: unknown)

"Forever"

I recall when my brother (6 years older than myself) brought home with him in the summer of 1987 the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me vinyl a friend hand lent him to tape... (that's how you did it back then) - immediately the songs grew on me but not all of them. Especially the poppy ones.

A few weeks later he brought The Head On The Door album and I kept listening to it through the tape recordings. In early 1989 I got an hold of the Staring At The Sea VHS tape (and copied it...) and then Disintegration was all over the radio....But by this time what excited me the most were their poppy side. The Staring At The Sea pre-83 videos and other bands I began listening from 1988 onwards (Jesus And Mary Chain, Echo And The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, Smiths, The Clash, etc) which I think I got into because of The Cure, turned my taste into other sounds...

In 1990 (I was 16 years old) I began buying their back catalogue in CD and I bought the Mixed Up double vinyl when it came out but sold it cheaper two weaks later. I was already a demanding fan.In 1992 Wish was the first album i was looking forward to buy months before it came out. I enjoyed well enough but I was already going into deep gothic rock.I only saw them twice - In their second time in Portugal (July the 5th 1995) and on their last (March the 8th 2008)The first time they came to Portugal I was too young and too unaware... and I never saw them abroad although I was planning on going on the 2000 Dream Tour into Spain but my friends cancelled the trip on the 25th hour...

Nowadays I still worship the old days and Robert means a lot to me. I acknoledge the doors they opened in my head soundwise but their new music does not mean that much to me. (I barely hear their self titled 2004 album). But I'm still following their news, counting the days before a new release and expecting something great... which never happens and I always feel let down.I'm now living with my 14 years long girlfriend which was also an early Cure fan (she was 11 on 1987 when she devoured the Kiss Me album). But she then turned more into a predominent Siouxsie And The Banshees side in 1988... although being an huge fan and follower of The Cure until 1992 (relationship regained in 2000 but lost again until she finally saw them live 2 months ago...) I began a blog titled The Cure - Forever Project in which I plan to post all (?) the different version of their live improv song (Forever).

(From: Luis Oliveira, age 34, Portugal)

JFK Moment

It was May, 1987. I was playing piano in high school practice room in Wisconsin. A good friend of mine loaned me a cassette with Killing an Arab on it. He said, “Check this out”.
They say certain memories we never forget…they call it “flashbulb memory”…the day Elvis died, the day JFK was shot, the day I first heard The Cure.

The next month, my dad gave me my first Cure album, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me as a birthday present. I also remember seeing my first Cure video on MTV later that year and being quite upset about it. I was so into the music that I was afraid seeing what the band looked like might ruin it.

(From: Jeff Miller, Gainesville, Florida, USA)

"Religion"

My first really experience with Cure music was during Summer 1989. I was 16. A friend of mine lent me three Cure albums: The Head on the Door, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Disintegration. I was especially fond of Kiss me Km Km.Unfortunately I became "a fan" in 1990, so I missed the Prayer Tour :-(Since 1990, The Cure are the band I've liked the most. I saw them in Paris (Wish 92 / Wild Mood Swings 96 / Bloodflowers 2000) + Trilogy in Brussels 2002 and a French festival in 2004 and the last one in Paris again for the 4 tour 2008 : 3h30 long !!!

In a few lines, what makes me like the Cure...Of course, the music first (when I was 16...) and then the meaning of the lyrics. And I agree with what Robert says especially about religion in interview. Waiting for the next album... even if the last one "The Cure" was not as good as I expected. Still love them live, great performers.

(From: Olivier Lacam, Paris, France)

"I don't think I will ever let the Cure go away from my life"

I'm a 35 yr old Male living in Harrisburg, PA (USA). I grew up in England from the age of 3 till I was 18. The first Cure song I heard was All I Want from the Kiss Me album. It grabbed my senses instantly and ever since I started buying a few of the albums. As I went through the different stages in my life I started listening to more and more of The Cure and was attracted mostly to the deeper sounds and words. When I moved to the US, I started buying all of their albums and listened to everything that was commercially available to me. As I went through relationships I used the music to relate in both sad and good times.

The music has been an inspiration in my life. I have been to 21 Cure shows. I don't have a favorite album, as they change depending on my mood. I can't wait for the new album and neither can my 6 year-old daughter that would give anything to meet Robert Smith and the Cure. She sings the words to several Cure songs, both hits and the darker ones almost perfectly. Think I've created a monster. I will be going to 4 shows this tour. I don't think I will ever let the Cure go away from my life, its been a wonderful experience.

(From: Davis Mathews, Harrisburg, PA, USA)

Good Times Bad Times

It was 1989 and I was in 6th grade (10 years old) living in Guadalajara Mexico. The song Lovesong was being played on the radio a lot so there is no way you could have missed them during that time. I loved that song so a friend of mine let me borrow the album (Disintegration). I immediately fell in love with the entire album. I would fall asleep playing the album, lights off, stereo next to my bed, beautiful music. My friends and I then started finding out more about them, I bought the Kiss Me album after that and then Starting at the sea. I remember watching The Cure specials on TV where they showed their videos. They were just big when Disintegration came out. I became a BIG fan of the cure during that time. When Wish came out it made my passion for them even stronger. I had all their albums at that point.

Then something happened to them during the Wild Mood Swings era. I wasn't really excited about it and I didn't even bought the album. I still loved them for everything else they had done before but their new songs weren't that great for my taste. I can say that I was a little dissapointed. By the time the The Cure album came out I had forgotten a little about them but that album sounded more like The Cure and it felt like they were back. I liked it a lot and reinforced my passion for them. To finish up, I want to say that I have loved The Cure from the moment they came into my life, during the good times, and the bad times, so for this reason, I consider myself a BIG fan, because no matter what, I'm still here, anxious to hear new songs and see them live.

(From: Ernesto, Houston TX, USA)

"The magical world of The Cure"

I properly got into the Cure around the 1990-1991 period when Mixed Up was released. I would've been about 13 years old and still at school. I was already aware of them from their famous hits like The Love Cats and more recently Lullaby (I knew that Lullaby was a striking song when it was released but the video scared me a little when it came out!). I also had a vague recollection of seeing The Cure's legendary Close To Me video on Top of the Pops when I was a kid and it had stuck in my mind. So even though I had not yet taken the plunge and bought any of their records, it was clear, looking back, that they had made an impression on me.

I think it was inevitable that I was going to get into them eventually and it happened to be when Mixed Up came out as they were getting a lot of exposure at the time on the music programmes I was watching. I had MTV then and two of The Cure's videos from that album, Close To Me (Closer Mix) and Never Enough were being shown regularly. I loved both songs and the accompanying videos, so my sister bought me the album for Christmas. I played it pretty much every day for a long period and it was from this that I became aware of some other classic Cure songs (albeit it radically different to the original versions, as I was later to discover). It was after hearing this album that I started to love Lullaby and also tracks like Pictures of You and The Caterpillar. Around this time my dad also bought me The Cure Picture Show video as a present which exposed me to other wondrous songs like Catch and Just Like Heaven. Hearing these songs and watching all the clips on this video really enthralled me and opened me up even further into the magical world of the Cure.

I found Robert Smith very endearing and funny and I started to copy his mannerisms and turns of phrase. When I got the Cure Play Out video a bit later it re-affirmed what a hilarious and likeable bunch of blokes the Cure of that period were. There was no turning back, I was a bona fide Curehead from here on in. But Mixed Up and the compilation videos were simply a taster (and at times a misleading one). I had no idea then what a vast, exciting and varied catalogue I was about to dive into. My record collection around 1990-1991 was relatively small and football was my main passion. The Cure though were the first band that I wanted to get look into and they had released so much, so profically that I was almost drooling at the mouth thinking about all the songs that I was yet to hear. I wanted more. They were the first band that made me realise that I loved/love music above anything else.

The first "proper" album I bought was Kiss Me... (because it had the most songs on it and also included two of my favourites in Catch and Just Like Heaven). At first, I found it quite hard going because many of the songs were not as accessible as the more mainstream Mixed Up. But I persevered and soon loved all the miriad styles it contained. It was so rich and exciting and created a exotic world that I could get lost in that was so far removed from the mundane and everyday. Robert's lyrics were also very dreamy and distinctive and struck a cord my imagination and what it was possible to write about.

Next I purchased Disintegration and was immediately gripped by its epic melancholy and beauty. Plainsong became my new favourite.After that I bought each of the albums in The Cure's back catalogue one by one. Listening to each one for the first time engendered a quite specific feeling or memory in me that was unique for each album. Each one was special in its own way and I still get the same feelings and memories when I listen to any of these records now.

Wish was the first LP that came out after I became a fan and so holds particular affection for me. I rushed out to the shop to buy it on the day it was released and I wasn't disappointed.The Cure has remained a big part of my life. I've seen them live several times, have bought everything they've released, and read everything about band and their history (ex band members etc). While I love many, many other diverse bands (my record collection contains 600+ albums), The Cure has always been there and is my undoubted favourite. In all honesty, the magic that I felt the day Wish came out or when I heard Catch or Plainsong for the first time has never really been fully recaptured in recent years. I've like large elements of all of The Cure's subsequent albums (from Wild Mood Swings onwards) but none of them have quite lived up to my hopes or experience listening to the earlier stuff. They have contained a few too many duff tracks, songs that sound like parodies of themselves and and also the occasional terrible lyrics. But while I have often questioned whether my love affair with The Cure has reached an end, the excitement re-ignites with the anticipation of each new album. And it's still there now as I wait for the new record to come out (hopefully) this year. I'm optimistic that with Porl Thompson back in the frame, I will at last have another Cure album up there with their very best.

(From: Matthew Beavis, Nottingham, England)

"Just Like Heaven"

I'm 32 years old and I've been into The Cure since I was 15. I remember the very first time I ever heard a Cure song - My high school boyfriend and I were at the local Wendy's and he asked me to listen to Just Like Heaven. I recall not being entirely thrilled with it, but he insisted I borrow Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. I agreed to give it a chance and took it home. It quickly grew on me and in no time I was completely obsessed with this brilliant band. My boyfriend made a few copies of his cassettes while I slowly built my own collection by asking all my relatives to buy me nothing but Cure albums for Christmas and my birthday.

I still remember the thrill of getting a new-to-me album and the shivers I'd get from a particularly engaging song (such as Mixed Up's version of A Forest). I currently own all their albums (on cd now, of course), as well as some bootlegs and collectible vinyl, and I've seen them four times in concert so far (once at Wembley Arena in England which was a dream come true). Even after all these years they are my #1 favorite band and I can't foresee that ever changing. That being said, I'm not a blind fan - I feel some of their albums are weak (Wild Mood Swings) while others are quite solid (Faith). I will always have a soft spot for their earlier work, although I'm really looking forward to their new album as well as seeing them live next month in Chicago.

(From: Nicole, USA)

"There was one lone Cure fan in my English class"

In 1987, I was reading a Thrasher Magazine profile on then young pro- skateboarder Tony Hawk. The article mentioned that The Cure was one of Tony's favorite bands. Hawk was one of my heroes then, and I thought "If he likes them, I should definitely check them out."

I lived in Virginia at the time and our middle school had it's share of Smiths and U2 fans. Fortunately for me, there was one lone Cure fan in my English class. Clad in black and white leggings, a black top, a black skirt, bright red lipstick, topped with tousled blue black hair, Alyssa looked like something out of The Cure's Lullaby video. She was an avid Cure fan and let me borrow the double vinyl release for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. I protected the bright red sleeve as I made my way home from school to drop the needle on the vinyl. I listened with curious intensity to the first track The Kiss. Thudding Flanged Bass, building dynamics ... all leading into the wailing wah-wah guitar work.

At the crescendo of what seemed like a wall of sound, Robert Smith began his vocals. I was stunned. I was hooked. I listened to Kiss Me over and over and over again. In addition to the lyrical content, I was fascinated with the production value. I loved the placement of the instruments in the aural spectrum. Drums here. Rhythm Guitars over there. I loved the ups and downs. The dynamics were amazing. From that point forward, I began amassing their entire catalog, any reading material on the band, miscellaneous promotional items, limited pressings, strange one off collaborations, etc. I also made every effort to see them live when touring in the US. The Cure has been my favorite band for over 20 years. They are still relevant. They are still evolving. With every new release, The Cure continue to connect with me in the way they did when I was 12.

(from: Patrick Miller, Mississippi, USA)

"Their unwillingness to compromise"

My name is Tracy from WA State and here is my story about how I got into The Cure. I was in the 8th grade and a really good friend of mine kept telling me about this band called The Cure, oh and also how much she loved the lead singer Robert Smith. She kept telling me how much I should check them out and how much she'd knew I'd love them. So finally I went out and bought 2 Cure cassette tapes, they were Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Disintegration. I listened to the Kiss Me album first and really did like quite a few songs on it, shortly there after I listened to Disintegration and that was it I was in love!!

That entire album struck right to my core and made me feel things I had never experienced with any music before in my entire life. The music and the songwriting is utterly amazing!! As much as I realized how much I really liked this band and their music then it wasn't until some years later that the music started to have a deeper meaning for me. Like turned into the upmost adoration and has been growing more and more as the years have gone by. I can truly say I love this band so much more today than I did the very first time I listened to them 19 years ago.

Their ability to stay as relevant today as they were many years ago and their unwillingness to compromise where the music is concerned has never ceased to amaze me. They still are doing the things the way they always have and we as fans respect and admire that so very much. As we near the release of the newest Cure album, I am so excited to see what they have in store for us this time round! Nothing short of magnificent musical poetry I am sure, but should we expect anything different? I mean we are talking about The Cure here!!

(from: Tracy, WA State, United States)

"An evil entity called MTV"

I got into the Cure back in 1987 because of an evil entity called MTV. When they used to play their videos I thought they were horrible and would actually turn the channel! One fateful day, there was nothing else on and I was forced to watch the video for Why Can't I Be You?. The song's tune caught my attention and by that weekend I had the Kiss Me album.

Um, I don't really think my attitude towards them has changed. Well, I'm listening more to the music than the words these days, but other than that...no, hasn't changed.

(from Iwannashagsimon)