Tz’s Daily Dose: The Cure

When i was 13, my best friend Mark was way cooler than i was, though i would never have admitted it at the time. Consequently, he was the first to find out about cool bands, and today’s band is one of the most enduring of all the cool bands of the 80’s. In 1985, The Cure had been around for 5 or 6 years already, but they were just being heard on a large scale in the states. They would become a ‘gateway drug’ for all of the other great music I would soon discover, like The Smiths, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen, et al. It seems strange to think about nowadays, but The Cure were really really weird! With the hair and the makeup they were a suburban nightmare, and exactly what i wanted more of…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYWcCRhdClY]

Buy ‘The Caterpillar’: Amazon or iTunes

Mark had the “Japanese Whispers” EP on Cassette, so his house was the place to listen to The Cure. However, one fateful day I was walking to school and as I hopped the fence to walk across the yard I saw something gleaming in the distance! As i approached, i realized that i was a cassette tape, and when i picked it up I was delighted to discover that it was The Cure’s “The Head On The Door” album! I quickly stuffed it away and went to class. When I got home i stuck it into my stereo, but it was all warbly and wonky from being soaked by the morning’s sprinklers. I put in on my window sill and forgot about it. A couple of weeks went by and i noticed it again, so i thought i’d give it another try and it worked! This is what i heard…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuSnLfr24pM&feature=related]

Buy ‘In Between Days’: Amazon or iTunes

A couple of years later, I was in Los Angeles and asked my mom to take me to the record store. In 1987, there was no internet and Rolling Stone was just about the only music magazine, so if you wanted to know what records were out, you had to go to the record store and look! Anyway, I spied the new Cure album “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” and bought it, climbed back into my Mom’s VW Bug and inserted the tape! This is what I heard…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yshUFah31iQ]

Buy ‘The Kiss’: Amazon or iTunes

My Mom was all like, “WTF was that?”, but The Cure had just made me a permanent member of their audience! Over 20 years later, i actually play drums in Fascination Street, which is by far the best Cure Tribute Band on the planet…

Tony
Media Producer
PlayNetwork, Inc.