Pornography

Dense with atmosphere - jagged guitar loops, foreboding synth drones, vocal echoes, distorted field/media recordings. Lyrics express paranoia and dread - "I must fight this sickness." Initially what strikes me most is the drum sound. Sparse, driving, machine-like, repetitive, urgent. In this regard, it seems to borrow from Joy Division. This album is not a feel-good crowd pleaser and I'm instantly in love.

Holy shit that’s depressing! Will listen if I ever want to kill myself

Never heard this album, never listened to The Cure. Horror, hatred, misanthrope, nihilism, pessimism, sadism, despair. My kind of music. Synth goth rock in a Götterdämmerung frame of mind. I think Richard Wagner would have appreciated this. Musical settings emphasize minor keys, heavy echo, driving rhythms, haunting sustain—a perfect vehicle for the grim and even deranged lyrics. Makes me want to go out and get my eyebrows pierced. Speaking of the lyrics, they are suitably dark and dreary, but at times border on the trite. They tap into the lyricist’s horror, but not quite the listeners’. Robert Smith’s lead vocals are limited in range and flat in pitch and timbre. He’s not really a singer, but he is depressing, and I suppose that’s the point. Melodies and chord structures are rather repetitive. The most impressive musician in the group is Lol Tolhurst on drums. Guitar work (Smith) is disciplined but lacking in virtuosity. Good execution of synthesized colorings, tremendously enhancing the dark mood. By the end of the album, Smith’s vocals become monotonous—literally and figuratively. Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Nirvana do this kind of music much better. Impressionable adolescents who listen to too much of The Cure risk a serious contraction of their intellectual horizons—but it’s still great fun if one doesn’t take The Cure’s deathly seriousness too seriously. But overall, a good album. A really cool album. I’m glad I heard something by The Cure before my death—an event which, in the mood of this album, is to be languidly embraced. There’s your Pornography. 3/5

Maybe I've been jaded by the era of Softbois™️ but I can't listen to The Cure without fear of a man in Doctor Martens brogues busting through the wall like the Kool-Aid guy to tell me that I just *have* to try this new craft beer and also, actually, it's feminist of him to ask me for pictures of my tits

Picking up where the great Joy Division left off, The Cure isn't exactly Joy Division or any of their post punk godfathers for that matter. Modeled after the despairing bass lines and repetitive drum rhythms that took over depressed alternative scenes in the late 70s, Pornography opts for a little more lustre or sex appeal. Whereas something like JD's Closer seems grounded in philosophies, Pornography seems more for the fan of Edgar Allan Poe with its exciting but ultimately brutal and irrational twists and turns. It's all about the contrast of the bright with the dark. Robert Smith, true to the album's title, defiles love and all of life's pleasures being brought further into despair. The album takes a few listens to come together but once it does you appreciate how well it falls apart. The album is collapsing in on itself, becoming irreparably distorted by Cold and the title track Pornography to the point of not even sounding like conscious melodrama anymore. Yet, in the hardly musical wreck that is Pornography, Robert Smith's ultimate conclusion is that he must "fight this sickness" even as it numbers him and envelopes him whole.

gonna tell my whole family about how much I love pornography 10/10

For those who don't know, Townsville is a tropical city, definitely not conducive to wearing long coats. Nevertheless, in 1985, I discovered that the West End hotel was the home of the city's goth scene. Both music is the best dance music, without question, as far as I'm concerned. It manages to have a hypnotic, insistent beat, while escaping the utter boredom and repetition of '70s disco, EDM, etc. Whenever they played a song I didn't know, but really liked, there was an excellent chance it came from this great album. When you find out that it was recorded while they consumed vast quantities of alcohol and drugs, while Smith has stated he was suicidally depressed, it is no surprise this album is considered the beginning of goth rock. When they toured it was the first appearance of the big hair and make up that symbolised goth. A wall of thundering noise that thrills me like few other albums.

This one gives Disintegration a run for its money in the moribund stakes. Millions of sad goths united listening to this album, no doubt finding a kinship lost to them in the isolation of whatever suburban hell they were living. What I love about this album is that it is rawer sounding Cure with Robert Smith and co. crafting almost a concept album around depression. With only Hanging Garden (one of my Favourites) sounding even remotely like a single this is vastly different to most other Cure albums which usually contained a radio friendly pop hit or two. I can hear the influence of Krautrock and Joy Division on this album and the fact that this album influenced every dark wave band to follow. While Pornography isn't my favourite Cure album, it's darkness a bit to hard to handle sometimes it is one of the most cohesive and best works

Leaving aside questions of originality and influence, Pornography sucks. Must I count the ways? That horrid, echoey drum sound; the whiny anti-melodies issuing from the maw of chief villain Robert Smith; the monochromatic tonal palette. I'm told that Smith was depressed when he was making the album. Now I am, too. Mission accomplished. Can we call this review a wrap and go home? All kidding aside, this album pushes a lot of my buttons.: pseudo profundity, 80s production, the typical 80s vocal style. Can I think of anything nice to say? Well, the album manages to make me nauseated without the stereotypical hideous 80s synths (with the exception of Cold). Robert Smith manages some nice creative guitar leads towards the end of A Short Term Effect and on the title cut, using scales which are vaguely Arabic. That's about it.

the album just gets better and better as you listen; it has such heady, enthralling, blood-pumping beats. it's wicked and haunting and like a magical chant.

Dark, moody, rhythmic

The Cure are known for making music to feel sad to. Considering only that, this might probably be the most Cure album there is. It's certainly not the most accessible one if you're just in the middle of a regular day; but the feelings, the talent, the passion, and everything that makes an album great is here. If what you're looking for is just a slightly gloomy album, you'd be better off listening to Disintegration, but if you're having a bad day and just want something to go along with it, it doesn't get any better than this. And the drums, oh, the drums.

I want to like this be use I know it’s culturally important but man it’s a bit of a chore so far. Cold is interesting Listening more and I still don’t really feel it. Oh well

Love this album. Wish I was alive at the time you could hear the whole thing in a club.

The last truly great Cure album? Possibly.

Takes me back to those moody days as a teenager. Perfect goth shoe gazing classic

Ponderous, plodding, repetitive, yet for some reason this didn’t seduce me! I like the elements, though I tired of hearing Robert sing from the vast hall next door, and the drums began to sound too flat, tired.

Not bad but not great either. Too goth and emo for me, I can only take it in small doses. If you're into that kind of depressive music then you'll enjoy it.

Honestly every song kinda sounded the same... I was enjoying it at the beginning and then the album kinda droned on with the same feel in each song. Favorite Tracks: “The Hanging Garden” and “The Figurehead”

11/10 This and Disintegration are the best albums made by anyone let alone the cure. Strange Days is in the running for my favorite song ever. The Cure is too important to me to be objective so take what I say with a grain of salt. 3-27-2025

This was when I loved The Cure, before they became a pop band. Early synths, distorted guitars and Robert Smith's voice it's hard not to think they'd progressed their sound and learnt as they went on from Seventeen Seconds's raw power through Faith's mesmeric rhythms this was a combination and who can argue that One Hundred Years is one of their best tracks but in reality band infighting and drugs had left them seemingly at a dead end. It's a shame what happened afterwards but it's happened with other bands too, their sound, production and mood is so intense something must break. This is an iconic album.

Moody, with great drums. Something about the drums just got me on this one. The rest of it is great too, but the drums.

One of the darkest, coldest albums I've ever heard. Absolutely brilliant

Beautifully dark and strong without being dramatic and overpowering. The drums especially after fantastic throughout. It's a bit repetitive but that's not a problem when it's all great.

wow great album seemed like i was about to have a bad fucking trip though, but that was what i liked about it

fucking great

It has superb guitar work and a stellar aura, but the vocals can be jarring.

According to Robert Smith it was either he makes this album or he was to commits suicide and you can hear it. This album is heavy and feels like drowning in tar. Fueled by LSD and booze, it really does sound like something you write while in the deepest pit of depression but you decided to fight your way out of it. This is Smith's fuck you album and it hasn't lost any of its raw violent edge.

I LOVED the guitar on this album, the melodies were insidious and infectious. Some songs tended to overstay their welcome with their lack of movement, but overall a great album

Getting some influence from early 70s prog rock. This would still be fantastic and big if released today. But it's a fantastic step between the rock of our parents and modern rock. It maybe the missing link of music.

All the songs sound the same, but it's a great song! "Charlotte Sometimes" and "The Hanging Garden" are probably the best examples, both on the singles collection.

Much like the best “cure” for Christianity is to actually read the bible, listening to 3 Cure albums has dispelled my belief that I like this band. I like 4 songs and the rest of their work can go suck a bag of dicks.

Atrocious. No point or component of this album gave me any joy. The ceaseless, whining affect. Vocals totally devoid of melody, barking depressive word-salad in that tedious, nasally drone. Uninspired drums & bass plodding along with the bare minimum as if the guys were held at gunpoint. Guitar washed in disgusting spacey distortion with and even more whiny sound than the vocals. God everything about it just repulses me. They think of one riff, embellish it none, and then just hammer away at it for minutes on end. With how low energy and repetitive it is, you could almost call it drone music but the singer's angsty bullshit refuses to stop being present enough to do that. "Oh but it's about the mood! It's gloomy dull and annoying because they felt so bad at the time" ok well fuck that mood then. Get therapy. If this art is what they needed to cope with bad times, that is perfectly valid. You need what you need. That doesn't make it worth sharing to the public. Worst part is I can clearly hear how this band's sound went on to influence goth rock for years to come. That's a shame, I wish it hadn't. Horrid music. Highlights: the wobbly guitar riff on 100 years. Lowlights: everything.

not good

Ner i källarhålet!

Back in the early 80s, I kind of disliked the generally morose feel of The Cure's Faith and Pornography albums. I had (and still have) Seventeen Seconds on vinyl, and like that very much. When Pornography came up, I was interested to revisit the album. And...I really enjoyed it. Maybe it was with a clearer understanding of the situation Robert Smith was in when the album was made. But like I say I really enjoyed it and I can see where it slots into the post-punk music scene of the early 1980s.

I really wasn’t expecting to like The Cure so much. I had never listened to them before starting this list and I have to say they are one of the bands that I’m the most won over by. There’s so much good music on this list that a lot of the bands that only have one album on the list kinda get lost in the shuffle when you are listening to a full length album everyday. But both of The Cure’s albums that have popped up for me have been stunning. Like production and music is haunting and emotional. The whole sound of the band is so original and uniquely them, even though I could see someone criticizing it for sounding very contemporary for the time (it does have that inherent “80s” sound) but it works so well juxtaposed against how bright and colorful people seem to remember the 80s being. Honestly I really struggled with what to rate this cause I almost never seem to be in the mood for sour and sad music. But if that’s what you’re in the mood for this album hits like heroine.

cara, eu gostei demais

I was sad when this ended. Though to be honest I was sad when it started too.

Definitely one of the best of The Cure. I heard the later The Cure for influence of a older cousin when I was a young Teenager. I missed the first albums because I was a baby at the time. This album brought a better understanding why they were considered the most important gothic band at the time. Knowing that Robert Smith planed to commit suicide after the album chocked me, but somehow let me think how powerful, and of course painful, depression can be for the art.

A great album. I listened to it twice straight away. 5/5

Best ever

big mood

WE STAY WINNING one hundred years- 9 a short term effect- 7 hanging garden- 7 siamese twins- 9 figurehead- 7 or 8 a strange day- 7 or 8 cold- 8 or 9 pornography- 8 or 9 very atmospheric, even feeling foreboding or crushing at some points. album to lay down on the floor and stare at the ceiling to

5 PORNOGRAPHY IS THE BEST ALBUM EVERRR fave songs: one hundred years, a short term effect, the figurehead, cold, pornography

Interesting rock/new wave kind of music

who hurt bobert 💔

Literal dream sex goth synth pop top tier sadness magic - ticks all the boxes and more

One of my top 5

Goth rock has never been my thing but this may be the album to push me over the edge. Wonderfully produced.

4.5/5

Second only to Disintegration. Classic

Moody

This was a dark, epic album that I really enjoyed. The whole thing builds in a really interesting way. Loved it!

could i write poetry to this? Y

The Cure are one of my favourite bands. Fabulous album. Great songs.

Absolute classic

obviously ik this isnt the only multilayered music ever made where each layer is like this distinct and clear thing creating a Symphonic effect, maybe not even with this set of elements (i suppose the general sonic setup isnt entirely uncommon for post punk), but also fuck man, i kinda feel like nothing else sounds like this regardless. or at least nothing else produces the same effect...surreal but precise, intuitive but cold, nightmarishly sad but baroquely beautiful, falling apart but literally everything is in exactly the right place. idk. theres some chemistry between Clear Construction and Freeflowing Feeling here that at least right now feels unique. also just loaded with a bunch of songs that are Slightly the best song ever. cure discog dive from me Sometime im sure

Moody and atmospheric, but with more post-punk elements than their later albums. Personally, I love the mix of both and thoroughly enjoyed this album.

Thematic echoes And boldly contrasting drums Add to eerie rock

God I love this album. The dramatic lyrics are a perfect match for Robert Smith's voice and framed beautifully by dreamy and dark melody. There will never be a moment where this album isn't cool. Just place me in a dark cave filled with bats and let me listen over and over.

It's fucking Pornography. What else needs to be said? (You can tell I'm so not used to reviewing albums in a while lmao) 10/10

The Cure at their darkest. No longer the angst of Seventeen Seconds or the dull and grey depression of Faith - this album is angry. With very little use of hi-hat and cymbals, the drums feel tribal and drive the relentless gloom. One of my favourite aspects of this album is the cohesiveness. Of all the albums I know, this is the only one where I feel all tracks equally belong. Nothing feels out of place, and yet each track is quite unique - truly a masterpiece of an album. As for album covers, this isn't usually The Cure's strength, especially post-Wish (except Songs Of A Lost World, that cover is great and deserves a longer explanation). Anyhow, Pornography's cover is superb and really catches the despair. It is worth noting that Damnation A.D. did a metal cover of the album, complete with their own great remix of the cover. Further comments on each track: 1 - One Hundred Years Doesn't waste any time by opening with "It doesn't matter if we all die". Second only to Plainsong in terms of Cure album openers. 2 - A Short Term Effect "With teeth of madness jump, jump, ..." is so satisfying. 3 - The Hanging Garden The best drums on the album. The "fall, fall, fall, fall" and "as the animals die" parts are so good. 4 - Siamese Twins "I chose an eternity of this" - wow, great opening. Like many Cure songs, the lyrics aren't explicitly clear, but the presumed theme of 2 people in a (not healthy) relationship is done very well. 5 - The Figurehead A dirty song ("I can never be clean again"). "I laughed in the mirror for the first time in a year" also hits really hard here. Supposedly has shared themes of love from Siamese Twins. 6 - A Strange Day Gives a strong sense of not belonging - feeling disconnected from the real world and drowning. It is as if there is a fog covering the senses. "Move slowly through the drowning waves". 7 - Cold The organ is done so well. Continues from A Strange Day with a sense of drowning, but now frozen and can no longer move. 8 - Pornography In a twist of events, this is actually the most positive track, ending with "I must fight this sickness, find a cure. I must fight this sickness". The distorted vocals really push confusion and desperation for the first half (lyrics don't come in until 3:15 halfway through, there's no rush on this track). The distorted vocals come back at the end to round off the track nicely. I have to say, I really enjoy the sudden positive glimmer of hope at the end of the closing track. It is one of my favourite parts of the album.

Review from my first listen last year: “Need to listen a few more times to digest, but liked it!” I’ve since listened to it front to back like 15 times, and played “One Hundred Years” and “The Figurehead” even more. So…yeah, great album, better with every listen. Not my favorite of theirs but still top tier

GOATED

I hear "goth rock" get tagged onto a lot of different albums - but this by far is the most goth rock goth rock album I've ever heard. Drenched in reverb, sorrow, dread, and unease - it feels like such a contrast to the warm, coziness of The Cure's 'Disintegration'. And while it's not as vibrant or luscious as that album, it's certainly more consistent. I love that tribal drum pattern and picked bassline driving the song 'The Hanging Garden' - the rhythm section of this album is consistently tight and clean - filled with reverb snares and melodic basslines. The guitars, on the other hand, feel intangible - there are certainly hints of riffs here, especially with the haunting opener 'One Hundred Years', but most of the time they sound like faint memories and unwelcoming swellings. They're blurry - kind of like this cover. My favorite song from an instrumental standpoint is 'A Strange Day' with that riff in the instrumental break. I also love the inclusion of the eerie sample that opens up the noise and industrial-esque closing title track. But the thing that drew me in the most on this album was the imagery. Here Smith generally paints love as this super unpleasant disease, like the complete opposite of a song like 'Lovesong' that would come later in the Cure's discography. Everything here feels dreadful and ugly - an atmosphere only elevated by the drug-induced visions that occasionally crop up. A song like 'Siamese Twins' has these images of writhing and worms eating skin in a song about something supposedly beautiful and enjoyable - sex. But he paints this as an ugly, humiliating act, to an almost horror-like degree. Another example is 'The Figurehead' in which Smith talks about being unable to sleep, and with maybe the most extreme example here on the closing title track, he goes into these homicidal utterings. "One more day like today and I'll kill you" ... sick. This is an album that delves into the schizophrenic mascarades of love. Smith feels it's all fake, hence the name 'Pornography'. This album sounds like the beginning of calamity, an imminent destruction too huge for anyone to comprehend - a destruction sourced from one's undying love, and simultaneous hate, for another.

The dark atmosphere is impeccable. The synths are cool, and the drumming seems to add another dimension to the music.

Album sombre et torturé, pièce maîtresse dans la longue discographie de The Cure, "Pornography" sort en 1982. "Pornography" est une exposition brute de désir, de sexe, de violence et de mort. Premier ou troisième volet d'une trilogie débutée ou terminée par celui-ci (nous ne savons plus vraiment), je peux sans erreur affirmer que "Pornography" est la fin d'un triptyque commencé par "Seventeen Seconds", triptyque constituant la "période noire" du groupe. "Pornography" avec ses percussions martiales, froides, répétitives, ses guitares distordues, sa basse omniprésente, offre une expérience sonore rarement atteinte dans la discographie du groupe. Il reste à ce jour l'album le plus difficile d'accès. "Pornography" à travers ses textes et sa musique est un album noir, malsain, torturé et déprimant. "Pornography" est à l'image de son créateur, un Robert Smith dépressif et paranoïaque qui ne voyait qu'une réponse à son mal être soit se suicider soit exorciser ses démons à travers cet album. Un 5/5 pour l'un des meilleurs albums du mouvement coldwave, un 5/5 pour l'un des meilleurs album des années 80 et un 5/5 pour l'un des meilleurs albums du groupe.

"It doesn't matter if we all die," setting the tone in One Hundred Years. The drums sound mechanical, the guitars a little dissonant, the atmosphere is beyond dystopian. This is a ruined world. On The Hanging Garden, relenteless drums bash us into oblivion. And yet, the bass riff is catchy. Siamese Twins is ponderous, the bass again driving things forward. There's a prettiness here amongst the desolation. A Strange Day is something approaching hopeful sounding, the guitars sparkling, bass rumbling along. The title track does little to improve the mood though. Eight dark anthems for depressive moments.

I don't need to listen to this but I will, on repeat for the rest of the day 🖤

So sad today. Poor Bob.

potentially best album of The Cure

When I was given this for Christmas at 15 I'd heard the Boys Don't Cry comp, The Top and The Head on the Door. None of which prepared me for this black pit of a record. At first I recoiled like from a first ever nibble of a brussel sprout. But I persevered because it felt like the grown up thing to do and my body was telling me I needed some greens as well as chocolate... um I mean my moody teenage self felt the draw of Pornography's gloomy black heart and it soon became a favourite. Ho! Ho! Ho!

The darkest album I’ve ever heard. When I listened to it for the first time, I was inspired to write three poems. I still remember that evening in December, alone in my room, crying and writing. It was an unforgettable experience

There were a few early songs by The Cure that I used to enjoy, like "A Forest" for example, which used to get a lot of play in goth clubs back in the 80s. But I never really clicked with their albums, and by the time they were singing about "Love Cats" I had totally lost any interest I might have once had. But I always has a sneaky suspicion I was missing out on something, and when I got "Disintegration" a while back, I actually quite enjoyed it. But it still didn't click with me. I think I gave it 4 stars and planned to listen to it again, but never got around to it. I wish I had listened to this album first, as this was finally the missing piece of the puzzle. After playing this through twice back-to-back, I went and listened to Disintegration again, and this time everything fell into place. Seems this is a 5-star album for me, even though it's derivative in places, and the start feels a bit weaker than the end.

Yes

good ass rock. angsty and dark, music that I would walk down the stairway to hell with

The Cure is a favorite of mine and this album is no exception.

Incredible!

I was not tracking with everyone’s general take that this album was depressing until the last song. It tipped me over the edge, but on the whole, I would say dark and heavy more than depressing. I’d throw in impressive as well.

Well, considering I started rewatching What We Do In The Shadows on the same day I was given the best Gothic Rock album, I’d say we’re well in out way to spooky season in style. Pornography is just a masterpiece, a dense, claustrophobic and expansive sounding mixture of tribal pounding drums, thunderous bass and knotted twisting guitar lines. I mentioned that in my Disintegration review that that album is very urban sounding, the Gothic liminal spaces of empty office buildings and suburban streets lit by dim street lamps and neon. In contrast, Pornography is Gothic in a more traditional sense, bringing to mind the isolation of desolate moors, dense forest or, scariest of all, the recesses of your own mind. Ooh, I am going to have a fun autumn

I love the cure

Great band, genre and album!

The Cure is one of my favorite groups. This album is perfect.

Listening to this is like traveling through time, back to my freshman year of high school. It’s 1984 and I’m riding the BART train into San Francisco with my friends, listening to this cassette tape on my Walkman. My best friend lent it to me, told me I have to check out this cool band. It changed me, changed who I thought I was and made me something different. It shaped the way I thought about music and opened new doors, brought new friends, made my heart beat different.

Fuck yes, finally something good. The Cure are simply fantastic and this is easily one of their best. It's so dark and moody, yet also has such a sense of intensity and urgency, while still being super sad and emotional, like much of The Cure's music is.

Hanging Garden is a classic. But also this whole album is a mood and I love the Cure, this them at their most goth… I’m just going 4.5+ with it as an old fan.

I was not enjoying the other "The cure" albums from the list so much since they are too strange for me, but this one was wow! I think I finally got it, and now I should re-listen the two other ones that I rated with 3 stars. 5 stars to compensate. The essence of what I can understand as post-punk.

Probably one of the best Goth Rock albums I've ever heard. One Hundred Year and The Hanging Garden top most playlists and compilations of the genre. A curious fact is that I had never heard this entire album from start to finish in the sequence of tracks in which it was released. However, I already knew all the songs, precisely because they appear on all Goth Rock playlists. And in fact: they work much better together and in this sequence. Excellent Album!

The right music for a sad day. I hope you don't often feel like listening to it.

Ez

Until Disintegration, this was Cure's best album. Straight from the off, you hear with 100 Years that there is anger and energy in a more focussed direction than on the more whimsical singles that had got Smith & Co to this point. The Hanging Gardens is just sublime as the album builds to a rhythmic crescendo of chaos and anger. Very dark. Very excellent.

Saying this & other Cure albums are depressing is a surface level view and misses the point. They cathartic.

Cool

Pivotal album the the goth rock era. Can't say it without this album being mentioned in the same sentence. Music is dark, sad, and the lyrics are pained. This is the soundtrack to depression but in a way that's great, shows there are others who feel what you do and you are not alone. This album saved people.

This album exudes such a haunting aura that just can’t be matched. The songs are put together in such an odd way that creates a feeling of uneasiness. Cold is one of if not my favorite Cure song. Just perfection. Easily the band’s best work besides Disintegration

I’m a fan of the Cure and have always loved this album. It was great to listen to it again, however I’m not a moody teen anymore so it’s a different perspective. Disintegration led me to Wish (which remains one of my favorite albums to this day) which led me to try to get my hands on anything the Cure had to offer including this album and I still love it!

I'm so excited for my goth phase. I'm going to be so good at it. I'm thinking I'll have it when I'm in my 60s so I'll really know my stuff.

Oh man, after the train wreck of the Dion album I had to listen to yesterday, I was so happy to see this in my queue (not that I don't listen to it monthly at a minimum anyway). I'm a Cure stan, so I can't really be objective about this album, but it's incredible. This era of The Cure was part of an insanely prolific period in Robert Smith's life. In a span of 2-3 years he would make this album, become a Banshee, work on side project The Glove with Steve Severin, and release The Top, which is essentially a Smith solo album under The Cure name. To be that prolific he was destroying himself. Too many drugs, nonstop work, no sleep. The end of the Pornography world tour would see the band break up as the powder keg finally exploded. Everyone thought The Cure was finished. (Fun story: They actually tried to quit in the middle of the tour. After Robert and Simon got into a fist fight, they both bailed and went home. Robert's father told him people had paid money for tickets and ordered him to go back and finish the tour.) So, to say that the band, and Robert especially, were not in a great mental space going into this album is an understatement. And it's clear from every aspect of the album. This album is dark and discordant and hopeless in all the best ways. The drums are relentless, as if marching toward death. The guitar and bass parts are dirgy and wailing. The lyrics are a horror show of depression, nihilism, self-hatred, and fear. Robert said he wrote the album to purge his mind of his darkest thoughts so he wouldn't kill himself. And yet, there's still some beauty in it (I think). I know a lot of people find it noisy and unpleasant to listen to, but that's not the case for me. I think there are still great melodies here—The Hanging Garden, Siamese Twins, A Strange Day, Cold, to name a few. There's experimentation with sound and effects (Short Term Effect, Cold, Pornography). The album even ends on a defiantly optimistic note—"I must fight this sickness and find a cure." Sure, it's a little cheesy, but these dudes were barely 21-22 years old at the time and really going through it. This is probably Lol Tolhurst's greatest contribution to The Cure as drummer. Simon Gallup is the coolest bass player there is. And Robert Smith is an iconoclast, a modern-day poet, and a way better guitarist than he gets credit for. Also, shoutout to Phil Thornalley for producing this album—you know, the guy most known for writing "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia! It's tempting to want to downgrade my rating a bit knowing that their magnum opus was still to come (and that Disintegration is still out there lurking in this list somewhere)—but I won't. 5/5 Favorite songs: Siamese Twins, A Strange Day, The Figurehead

A devastatingly dark and beautifully bleak album. Robert Smith is an incredible, somehow underrated songwriter. These songs paint pictures of internal struggle, depression, addiction. The heaviness of the bass, melancholy melodies of the guitars, and Smith’s yearning vocal performances come together in haunting synergy throughout the record. Famously created with heavy drug consumption, it’s surprising cohesive and rarely indulgent. Like the best albums it’s greater than the sum of its parts: it demands to be listened to front to back. Probably not a record for everyone, but for anyone attracted to the Cure’s musical aesthetic it is incredible, perhaps only bested by Disintegration in their discography.