Pornography

Jo meir trist Smithern e, jo meir glad blir eg

Sometimes this is my favorite Cure album. It’s also the first album I remember playing drums along to as a kid.

When I was young in the 1980s, I always disliked The Cure due to the pathetic looks of Smith and most of all because my elder sister was a fan. Boy, I was wrong. What great music this is! (and maybe wrong about his looks at the time too)

gateway dirge

awesome

Absolute 5. For a long time my fave album by The Cure. It's too dark for me to enjoy any more.

"Sing out loud We all die Laughing into the fire"

Batman walks into a bar with a pig... It was a hot summers day and the barman thinks it's a strange sight, not to just see Batman, but to see him with a pig that has jet black hair, black eye shadow and studded bracelets. The barman says "Is there anything I can get you Batman?" He replies "Just-ice for goth-ham"

Bleak. Brilliant. One of the best opening tracks of any album ever.

Production = Great

good shit plata hlustaði ogeðslega mikið a hana 5 stjörnur

A firm favourite when I was a young teen back in NZ, previous albums were also classics, Excellent

This album was an unexpected pleasure. The tracks all have an eerie, menacing and foreboding atmosphere. I would describe it as ambient, industrial, psychedelic and relentless. It's another good example where repetition is used to good effect. Great music doesn't have to be pretty and this dark gothic sounding album is the proof. Fabulous from start to finish.

A fantastic piece of music - as an album it's a 5. dark and speaking directly to the listener, no huge stand out tunes. but a super powerful album, something to put on and contemplate.

Absolutely brilliant

Draži mi je Desitegration kao album. Klasična saga Kid A vs OK computer. Što znači da mi je i ovo savršen album.

Arger Sound - Schlagzeug radikal, überall hall drauf. Bedrückend - Kalt - Nihilistisch. Hat nichts aber auch gar nichts mit Friday I'm in Love und boys don't cry zu tun. Teilweise richtig unheimlich. Mega spannend - nimmt mich voll mit. Top Songs: Cold, One hundert years, pornography

Dark, swirling madness. Normally I dislike the 80s tunnel production, but I think it really adds to the vibe the record is going for. Really enjoyed the atmosphere. Looking for reasons to not give this a five, and I couldn't find any. Favorite tracks: "One Hundred Years", "Pornography", "Siamese Twins"

5 stars for sure.

10/10 damn i gotta listen to more of this band

Sempre que torno al rock gòtic em porto alegries, malgrat l'aparent contradicció. I aquesta és una de les cimes del génere: percusió repetitva, baix opressiu, riffs de guitarra genials i la veu tan característica de Robert Smith. No és només la seva qualitat i originalitat, és que aquesta tercera part de la 'trilogia obscura', la més fosca i depressiva de les tres, és una obra mestra, que viu fora del temps i de l'espai

just ok

bad word

U visećem vrtu dajem ovdje cenera

I just love this sound. The haunting atmosphere that it creates is amazing.

depresivamente hermoso

Amo a The Cure. Sobretodo su etapa pre-pop. Esto por razones meramente personales (me gusta mucho azotarme). Este disco creo que es la cumbre de esa trilogía oscura ( Seventeen Seconds, Faith y Pornography). Me parece que recrea muy bien las posibilidades sónicas de un mal viaje. Un disco ácido hecho con unas buenas tabletas de por medio. Es sicodélico pero en la versión del otro lado del espejo. Muy opresivo, borroso como la portada pero extremadamente pop también. El pop que al menos me gusta a mí, el que me descoloca, el miserable, el que es posible cantar o bailar sintiéndote de la verga pero que no te aleja de ese sentimiento. No es escapista, habita el malestar. O algo así. Es brutal. The Hanging Garden marea. Es intenso. Hay un buen artículo sobre The Cure del Mark Fisher por si quieren clavarse más. Lo he escuchado muchas veces al borde del colapso mental, creo que también veo reflejos de eso en la música. En fin, me encanta. También lo quiero en vinil.

5* because Simon Gallup is a Reading fan. Also. They're just great in general.

Ich kann gut nachvollziehen, wie man diese Band über alle anderen stellt (was ich selbst immer noch nicht tue), verstehe aber wirklich niemanden, der nicht wenigstens ein bisschen Cure-Fan ist. Hier drin ist wirklich alles angelegt – für das Cure’sche Werk selbst, aber auch schon als Steinbruch für die ganzen anderen Superstars ihrer Generation und im ganz weiten Sinne Szene, die sich hier hörbar bedient haben: Depeche Mode, New Order, die Smiths (!) – vom gemeinsamen Sterben in Autos über Bassläufe, Synth-Gitarren: Robert Smith kann ihnen allen immer sinister von schräg unten hoch ins Licht grinsend zurufen: „been there, done that“. Überhaupt glaube ich, dass Robert die besten Alpträume hat, und er schafft es wie echt kein anderer das 1:1 auf Band zu bekommen. Und auch wenn ich persönlich (bis jetzt) z.B. Disintegration noch ein bisschen besser finde (weil poppiger, schwebender, taumelnder): das hier kann ja gar nicht anders als volle Punktzahl zu bekommen, in Form von 4,7.

La verdad lo disfruté mucho, en todos sus sonidos, esa parte ruidosa y la voz desesperada de Robert Smith. Es uno de esos discos en los que se puede sentir el sufrimiento, por decirlo de alguna forma. Sonaría muy bien en una reunión de amigos melancólicos o con ansiedad. Las 8 canciones me gustaron, pero si tuviera que elegir un top, para mí se conforma de "A Short Term Effect", "The Hanging Garden" y el gran cierre: "Pornography". Igual y como hay películas de terror, este es un poco un álbum de terror. 10/10

Fire

Goth touchstone. So good.

a hot n spicy listen that broods with seething menace

Fabulous album, completely different side to them from their best of and definitely makes me more interested in them

I liked how dark this album was. I thought the Cure was lighter and they do have lighter albums (as I learned after I listened to this one) but I LOVED this and it made me a huge fan of the Cure. I heard a lot of sounds that had to have inspired future bands such as R.E.M.

Most artists who touch abjection in a song do so in the middle of or across an entire album. The arc of this album, on the other hand, is from low to low. No one sounds quite like The Cure, either. The pace is perfect, the bass tone especially is perfect, and the dark is bone-chilling.

Why is this rated so low is everyone on this site braindead

Депрешн из май профешн. Буквально с первой ноты хочется лечь и умирать. Каеф

A good album, "the hanging garden" it's my personal favorite. The cure, an amazing band

TBD

Mulla on ollu päällä The Cureen tutustuminen nyt noin vuoden ja monien muiden levyjen tavoin myös tää piti kuunnella kolmesti ennen ku osaa sanoa oikein mitään. Ja se mitä osaan nyt sanoa on että tykkäsin tästä(????? :DDD). Annetaan nyt neljä tähteä siitä hyvästä.

Pornography has a kind of eery opening that is a little bit unsetteling and reminds me kind of the backrooms movie with its vibe. Could be because I watched it a few days ago and still have that eery Feeling. He Sound is Kind of disturbing but the buildup of the Song is nice! The other Song i've listened too was also very nice!

Härligt olycksbådande rakt igenom.

Muy bueno. The Cure es una banda que siempre me gusta cuando les escucho algo, pero a la que curiosamente no le he entrado como creo que debería. Tendré que mejorar eso pronto. Mientras tanto, Pornography: discazo.

I quite liked it it fit the vibe of the day very well

Really interesting al my. Super cold and dark and ominous atmosphere. I loved the punchy drums and the basslines, but the synth and guitar work is amazing as well. Not sure how often I will return to this, but I’m glad I listened to this. Favourite songs: One Hundred Years, Cold

It’s The Cure…👍

un instrumental rudo y limpio a la vez. Agradable como concepto de escucha

Listened March 2024. One of the bleakest albums I can remember listening to. The sheer force of conviction and overwhelming sense of dread and despair carries this one.

De jaren '80 worden niet verbloemd. Toch weet de Cure er een eigen sfeer mee te creëren. Stiekem vindt ik die jaren '80 drums hier wel fijn. Met de zang heb ik nog steeds wel moeite, ondanks dat het past bij de sfeer en het totaalplaatje. Ik noemde Hybrid al als referentie bij Disintegration. Zo'n nummer als The Hanging Garden gaat al best die richting op. Bij Seventeen seconds viel me dat nog niet zo op. Dit album hangt echt wat tussen die twee albums in. Leuk om de ontwikkeling van de band te horen. 3,5 ster.

De plaat begint gelijk lekker met het hoogtepunt, het gejaagde One Hundred Years. Gillend gitaarriffje, beukende drums, de licht paniekerige zang van Robert Smith. Verder hoor je toch overduidelijk dat het 80s is, met zelfs vrij veel new wave invloeden wel. De gitaar en de drums met net iets teveel galm. Zoals ik al wel eens heb geschreven, vind ik Disintegration een van de albums die ik zou meenemen naar een onbewoond eiland. Pornography heeft hetzelfde donkere gothische sfeertje, maar is het voor mij net niet. Alsof de beatjes, de pulserende bass en de catchy riffjes op Disintegration net wat beter op hun plaats vallen. Misschien is het daar allemaal net iets gelikter, of begint het al meer 90s sound te krijgen en minder de 80s sound die Pornography nog heeft. En dat ik dat dus net iets beter waardeer. Blijft staan, dat dit wel de sound is die je van The Cure het liefste hebt. Die vrolijke nummers als Friday Im in Love zijn wel grappig, maar die deprimerende gothic sound hoor ik toch het liefste. Disintegration is 5 sterren, dit album krijgt van mij 4 duimpjes.

Banger!

Me pregunto cuánto de los puntajes que pongo tienen que ver con la afinidad emocional preexistente con la banda y cuánto es objetivo (:

Album #195 The Cure: Pornography The Cure at their absolute bleakest. Normally, Robert Smith and co. excel at combining a cheerful pop structure, with gloomy gothic aesthetics, and the result is music accessible enough that the parents won’t be afraid and burn it, but dark enough that the child can still sulk to it. As someone who enjoys goth and post-punk music, The Cure are really the gold standard; they’ve been the pinnacle of the genre for over forty years now, and it seems like they still have it. Now, if they continued producing albums like Pornography, rather than making ‘Wish’ or ‘Head on the Door’, I doubt that they would have ever found so much mainstream success. Not to say this album is bad, the opposite actually, it is quite great, but it certainly is a lot less apparent to the listener than “Just Like Heaven”. There are no catchy choruses or danceable melodies to save you here; you are left alone in a cold, damp room with nothing to grasp onto. The sinister opening riff of One Hundred Years is one of The Cure’s finest moments, immediately announcing a statement of intent that in this album, boys will cry. I wouldn’t disparage anyone for not thinking this album is anything special, as it certainly reveals itself more upon further listening. And whether or not I would rank this amongst my favourite Cure albums really depends on how depressed I am when listening to it. But Pornography proved a few things for The Cure: one that they were, in fact, an incredibly talented band, and two that they were no posers. Best Songs: One Hundred Years, The Hanging Garden, Cold Worst Song: A Short-Term Effect Score out of 10: 8.5

The Cure—to use a comparison that may or may not work—are the musical equivalent of cilantro. Not everyone likes The Cure, and some people probably think they taste like soap (which, to be fair, is the actual complaint about cilantro). But for those who do get it, there’s something undeniable about Robert Smith’s drawling vocals, the churning undercurrent of guitar and bass, the hypnotic pulse of the drums, and the weirdly gothic imagery that hangs over everything they do. Apparently, I’m one of those people. The funny thing is, I didn’t spend my teenage years dressed in black and moping around in a cloud of existential dread. Outside of a handful of radio hits, I didn’t really know much about The Cure until much later in life. This was my first time listening to Pornography front to back, and while it’s not my favorite of theirs, it scratches those dark, atmospheric itches you didn’t even realize you had until after pressing play. It’s perfectly gloomy in the best possible way—bonus points if you listen to it on a rainy or overcast day.

Cold e pornography mi sono particolarmente piaciute, non so se ritenerlo un album brillante ma me lo sono goduto

A more evened out David Byrne? I don't know for sure, but I suspect this is a vocal doppelgänger. The album was good. I think I'm predisposed to melancholy, so I generally vibed with tone of the album. There were a few moments that threatened to unmoor the stone and for that I'm thankful, I appreciate when music makes me feel something.

Моё!

What a marvellous manic maelstrom of an album. It’s raw, it’s dark, it’s doom music without the heavy metal. Like a cut that hurts to itch but you can’t resist it. A slightly different mode to what I am used to from The Cure but it’s great, if at times difficult.

Usual haunting anxiety I have come to expect from them.  The shrill of the high pitch guitar or the pained drone of the vocals. Even the smack of the drum is sharper than the average and fuels the non-repenting theme of descending into darkness.  I just love the grating reverb they have and the lingering nature of most of the sound. The unrelenting dark I guess is a minor downside as the pace and flavor of the music never really changes so not as varied as some albums of this kind potentially.  Still enjoy it alot!

I really enjoyed this early Cure record. It has all the elements of the Cure that made their later records great, but perhaps in a more naïve, less refined state. It has that 80's beat with the swirling mushy guitars that make you feel like you are floating in a sensory deprivation chamber having a heroine flashback. Robert Smith has such a unique voice that treads the line of wingey teenager without going so far as to be annoying. Early album I'd not listened too before from a great band.

It's fine good Cure. I prefer later Cure offerings though

Quality.

Whilst hearing some of The Cure’s songs, i have never listened to a full album and i really enjoyed this one.

Oof well this one was fucking heavy. A lot of the reviews when this came out were truly odious. The dense soundscape here with the lyrics providing less literal meaning and more texture to the vibe the songs are going for works really well. It's not a perfect album by any means, I really can't argue with people calling it repetitive. The sheer misanthropy and edge can be too much for me at times. Enjoyed isn't the word but... I was certainly engrossed throughout this album. I found it pretty compelling and form that it gets a 4.

Las canciones me gustaron mucho, es relajante y hasta algo melancólico?? :0

depression erotic incel energy

Curiously missing from my Cure knowledge. I didn't note any breakouts but it was The Cure and it was lovely and melancholic and atmospheric all the same.

Other than the distinctive voice of Robert Smith you’d hardly recognise this as The Cure. Incredible drumming!

Not my favorite cure but still great

This album could be on any time and I wouldn't mind. It also starts to fade in to the background after a few tracks.

Definitivamente hay algo ahí, y hay que descubrir qué. Nota: 4.0

I knew I would like it because my dad likes it and yes indeed, I liked it. It didn't blow my mind, but it's definitely a good album, I never got bored either.

I like The Cure already

Never listened to this album, but The Cure are always good.

I don't know what it says about me that I liked this a bit more than Disintegration. Robert Smith has spoken about how Pornography was made at a time in his life when he was extremely depressed and difficult to work with. from the opening line, "It doesn't matter if we all die," the darkness immediately sets in. it certainly helps that the Cure create such a stirring, reverberant chasm behind Smith's words, chock-full of icy synths and electric guitars covered in layers of effects pedals. you better believe that snare reverb is gated! we're leaving the world of snappy, hooky post-punk further and further behind. other dark, depressing albums often lace the sadness with a dash of levity, whether it be humor or a silver lining; the Cure dispense with any notion of that across all 8 songs here. I think part of my preference for this over Disintegration is the relatively concise way in which it delivers this morose message. Disintegration reaches more for stadium-sized grandiosity and over an hour of runtime, whereas Pornography suffocates you for less than 45 minutes. you get a little extra time to pick yourself up afterwards. decent 8/10.

It's as dark and dreary as one might imagine a goth album to be. It's downright depressing at points, but that is the point. It's what Robert Smith was going through. I definitely have to be in a mood to really envelop myself in what this feels like. I don't think I have ever felt this bad ever in my life, so I'll never really "get" it in that regard, but it is a good rainy afternoon album.

I let it run on the background while working I’ll listen to is as an album when I need to focus, it’s good

me gustó mucho pero se me hizo bastante raro en algunas partes

I really am liking the guitar on the first song, the vocals are cool, sounds a bit diff from the cure's normal stuff but I still am enjoying this sound.

Album

all the songs kinda sound the same but I like them - more of a low 4

2 for 2 on the soph hoodies. Not a cure album I was super familiar with, but it is excellent. Might be the gloomiest album Ive heard - feels like the last spastic moans of a man about to take himself out of the game. As truly Gothic as it gets.

Hell yeah… The Cure is scary… yes

i had listened to this many years ago and enjoyed it but never came back to it (with the exception of one hundred years) because i preferred disintegration. i'm glad i got the chance to relisten, especially today, because the weather was so perfect for it. it's a really overwhelming album; the self-hatred is so suffocating, i understand why xiu xiu covered one hundred years - "creeping up the stairs in the dark, waiting for the death blow..." 'a short term effect' is definitely the weak point here for me but the rest is excellent. 4-4.5 for me

sure. i mean sure. not a single jazz record but sure. what i'm gathering is that by 1985 (circa head on the door + pre the other albums i've listened to) the cure had Basically completed the process of degothing and re-alting. which sucks. cause i love a lil bit of goth rock. a LITTLE BIT. most bands know no moderation. robert smith and co. got it like that though. thinking of that one old tumblr post about emo vs goth vs punk. there really is a perverse beauty in it all. tl;dr the best goth rock has more shoegaze in it than people would like to admit. 3.8-4.2. first two songs are peak. the line between meandering and aesthetic waterboarding (positive) for the rest is. there. cold (arp solina mentioned pt 2) goes full on into enhanced interrogation techniques. ts would've done numbers (if my childhood friends weren't so locked into the screamo/metalcore teenage rebellion soundtrack) for middle school me. don't blame them at all. 2014 kellin quinn Mogs 1982 robert smith.

Solid album

The Cure is a unique band. In a way they are "alternative" like college radio and in a way they are on the edges of experimental pop. I will not read about or place them in a genre because I honestly have always felt they stand alone in style. I happen to like their style, and am thus, a fan. Once upon a time I saw them live and it was pretty great. This particular album as a whole is not my favorite but it is still trademark Cure so sure. I would choose a different album as an introduction but if you already know of them, than you will understand my rating. I feel like THIS album among others is a three, but overall, I feel I am also rating "The Cure" as a band, thus I will shoot this up a star. Please be advised to listen to other albums before judging solely on this one.

Dark AF. New wave start. A quilombo at the end

The culmination of their initial four album 'gloom' phase when very cool people liked them. They tended to release singles separately to albums and the fact that ' a hundred years', 'the hanging garden', 'siamese twins' and 'a strange day' are now fan favourites is evidence of how well the album has weathered. The band was in a drug fuelled mess at the time and Robert was severely depressed - no surprise there! Nice to hear synths and a nice expanse to the atmosphere in the production, with a new wave drum sound. After this came 'love cats' and the start of the hits phase. Smith was also moonlighting with Siouxie and the Banshees on guitar as well.

Dope

My gripe with the Cure has never been the music, it’s actually just recently that it’s become Robert Smith. The dude still wears lipstick and he now looks like an old lady wearing lipstick with the lipstick slightly smeared in the wrinkles around his mouth. Which, gives it that “look at me, I put my makeup on in the dark” look. The songs sound the same but are different. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s not a problem just don’t expect to be blown away

Denso, heavy, con un montón de aristas, sin pulir... Me ha flipado.

Not my favorite Cure album, but an extremely good one. Rocked harder than I expected. Could definitely see this one as an influence on industrial music.

classic cure, true essence of boyhood in this album. upon a re listen im sure the lyrics will reveal themselves better. shoegazey, timeless, a greatly grungy and dirty album made for walking about

Not what I expected based on the other albums. But equally enjoyable.

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One of the best the cure albums, I like the vibe

Loved this album. It is dark, moody and timeless. Unmistakably The Cure. It reminded of Disintegration, released at the other end of the eighties.

One of those bands that is instantly recognizable for their unique sound. There's nothing like Robert Smith and the Cure.

It's definitely grown on me over the years, but I still prefer their following era Fav tracks: A Short Term Effect, One Hundred Years

underrated the cure album imo🏋️‍♀️

4/5

This is not olivia rodrigo’s the cure! I would say I know a fair amount of their song but none of the names from this album were familiar so I was intrigued what it would sound like. I loved the intense energy on this, especially in The Hanging Garden and The Figurehead (and A Strange Day). it was so menacing but also catchy man I loved the drums. every song starting just made me think YES give me more of that Lol Tolhurst. I’m sure there’s more of their albums to come but this actually really encouraged me to dig deeper before then As an aside, I asked my dad what he thought of this album because he’s always been into the cure and some of their more obscure stuff and he asked me if I knew Just Like Heaven and I was very offended.

Not my favourite Cure album but it’s a fantastic and bleak look at depression and anxiety. It’s harsh and difficult to listen to at times but that’s part of its charm.

Good

A foundational Cure album. This is one for those who liked the Cure BEFORE they heard "Just Like Heaven." Robert Smith has always been a great songwriter, and the moody atmospherics of this album raise the game.

Don't think I know any of these songs, more Joy Division than what I've heard. Dislike the tinny 80s drum sounds, liked it less as it went on, but atmospheric dense 80s rock. 3.5 rounded up Heard before? No Owned: No: 67/270 (24%) Will I get: No

Not sure why I never got into them even young. Nice dark album.

Solid album

Not as many hits but overall it’s good Think if I’m giving this a 4 I’m breaking the rules and going back and changing disintegration to a 4 too. Sue me I like the cure now

I liked it, not sorrow like Desintegration, but good and dark.

Those four stars are a bit of a stretch for me. I really like this album, but when I mean that, I mean two, or maybe three songs: One Hundred Years, The Figurehead and Pornography. And Disintegration is just so much better in every way, that this one feels feels a little bit inferior.

1001 albums to hear before you get emo goth and make a satanic ritual 73# Been wanting to listen to this for a while, I'm glad I'll have to do it now. Love the cure, but besides of Songs of a lost world, Disintegration and some hits they have (well that's quite a start actually), i never listened to another album of them much. I guess the Songs of lost world is more of an experimentation and more spacious than what this will be. Ok, wow this was really the sound of their Songs of lost world but more despair to it, not just a trip to space, i was not expecting that. Spacious guitars that make you levitate. Repetitive long songs, almost drone. This is so depressing and it feels like it, but i find myself just happy for listening. I guess i feel happy with the despair of another man, whoops.

Exactly what I expected from The Cure before I started this project. Dark, gloomy songs from front to back, but with some great rhythm and guitar work. I also do enjoy Smith’s vocals. Not as good as Disintegration.

Я в цілом disentegration фанбой і похмура атмосфера pornography ніколи мене сильно не чіпляла. Але зараз переслухав цей альбом і якось прям сподобалось набагато сильніше ніж раніше.

Weaponized gloom, industrial-strength sulking, and enough atmospheric despair to fog the windows. Yet Robert Smith still has that magical voice that can transport me straight back to teenage bedrooms, posters, journals, and feelings nobody understood. Miserable in theory, weirdly comforting in practice.

Oh, the last album from the Cure already?? We haven't even hit 200 albums yet... That aside, I'm loving the Cure more and more because they do such a great job creating and maintaining the atmosphere for their albums. Case in point, the first song sets the stage for a morose vibe. And overall, this record sounds like Seventeen Seconds but with more emphasis on the reverberated drums.

A solid 4 - I love their sound

The Cure maintain a gothic, foreboding vibe for the full length of the album. There isn’t even a shard of light. It is an affecting, daunting listen which feels like the natural end point of a form of exploration the band started with the equally patient Seventeen Seconds. Pornography ups the levels of atmosphere though with a greater commitment to keeping the sound pent up, never letting any air in. Its consistency is in complete opposition to the debut and the poppier more single friendly eras to come. It is potentially The Cure at their most aesthetically distinctive.

Pornography is some kind of 4, it lacks the melody of their later gothic masterpiece Disintegration and it doubles down on the darkness hinted at in their early stuff - i think it’s a great record but find it a little stifling and suffocating to truly love it

Yep, this was about as good as it got in 1982. Still has the 80s production glaze, but at least there is some depth and emotional space in the songs. It still sounds at home in the indie pantheon of the modern era. Very cool album from a desolate period of music.

Classudo

I’m a fan of this sound. The guitar solos throughout the album are also keeping me going. Won’t be listening through the entire album again, but this was nice to listen to.

Love The Cure, but not their top work. Still a solid 4. “Pornography” feels less like an album and more like a storm‑lit chapel where despair learns to sing. It moves with the gravity of a ritual, each track a candle guttering in a room thick with incense and sleepless thoughts. The drums don’t simply strike—they throb, like a pulse you’re suddenly aware of in your throat. The guitars smear across the mix like bruised watercolors, and Robert Smith’s voice drifts through it all like a ghost trying to remember its own name. There’s a strange, terrible beauty here: the kind that early ’80s gloomy new wave chased but rarely caught. The Cure didn’t just capture it—they bottled the fog, carved the ache into stone, and left it humming with a kind of sacred dread. “Pornography” is the sound of shadows learning to speak, and the echo they leave behind is still cold to the touch.

It's good. It's not Disintegration.

Dreamy and so well crafted!

es un si para mi

nice, but macabre

The Cure’s Pornography doesn’t just sound dark ... it feels like summer, but not the kind of summer people romanticise. It’s the heavy version: airless, slow, and quietly suffocating. The kind of summer where you return somewhere familiar and it no longer fits the same way, where the days stretch too long and everything feels slightly off. There’s a thickness to the album’s sound. the pounding, repetitive drums and dense production don’t just create gloom, they create pressure. It’s not cold isolation, but heat that lingers, making everything feel sticky, tired, and inescapable. Instead of hiding in shadows, the unease sits fully exposed, like something you can’t avoid under a bright, unrelenting sky. In that way it kinda feels like Pornography becomes something like “sunny spooky”: not darkness creeping in, but light revealing too much. It captures a very specific feeling to me, of being back home in the summer, a little older, a little disconnected, and not entirely sure why everything feels so heavy. It’s not dramatic despair, but a quieter kind of emptiness, one that hangs in the heat and refuses to move.

Dark and atmospheric. Seems to run out of steam through the back half, but great energy on side A.

Är 100 % gothare känner jag. Mycket härlig dissonans i riffen rakt igenom. Ibland känns det som att Robert Smiths otroliga röst är det enda som skiljer det från black metal. Mellanspelet i the figurehead hade lika gärna kunnat vara dissection eller nåt.

äntligen lite emo

I wanna be Robert Smith

Heard Before? Yup. Notes: - like most Cure albums, it takes one idea and runs it into the ground. - the bass, drum and synth parts are shockingly repetitive. this can drag songs pointlessly or act to drive them while highlighting the vocals and guitar. - i really enjoy the dissonant, off-time guitar parts, especially on "Short Term Effect". - production uses the reverby-yet-claustrophobic 80s sound to maximal effect. Verdict: Having not been a tortured teen for many years, this rarely suits my mood, but it certainly nails that sort of moaning desperation. Listen Again: Eventually I'll get around to it.

3eme album de The Cure proposé par le générateur. Cet album contient 2 de mes morceaux préférés du groupe : - 'One hundred year' +++ - 'The hanging garden' +++ que j'avais découvert dans 'Concert: The Cure Live' de 1984. J'aime beaucoup la basse+batterie sur cet album. Et j'ai apprécié les originalités harmoniques surprenantes ('The Figurehead'++) ainsi que l'atmosphère sombre et unique de cet album. Il n'est pas loin d'obtenir la note maxi, mais certains morceaux sont un peu plus faibles ('A Short Term Effect' par exemple). Le live de 1984 reste mon préféré du groupe. => 4.5/5

Very good album. Oppressive. Dark. Almost painful at times. I really liked "One Hundred Years", "The Figurehead", and "A Strange Day".

4/5. I’ve gotten this album as a very coincidental time, since as a personal project I’ve been listening through the Cure’s entire discography recently. And Pornography sees them when they reached their first peak in my opinion. This album is the culmination of the dark, gothic sound they were building with on albums like “17 seconds” or “Faith.” The opener “One Hundred Years” immediately sets the dark tone of this album, and it proceeds to fully envelop you for the rest of the records 43 minute runtime. My favorite song though might actually be the slow-burner in the middle “Siamese Twins.”

whaaat mais c'est super connu The Cure ? jamais entendu parlé, genre personne ne dit : "j'écoute the cure et toi?" bref. Sinon l'album m'a fait complétement arrêté le porno, je suis sobre depuis 1h quand même ! ça mérite un 4 non ?

classic cure 10/10

I was not a big fan of The Cure back in the 80s, so ai was surprised I enjoyed this album as much as I did. It felt fresh and energetic. I didn’t know any of the songs but I liked pretty much all of them.

I’m kinda confused how this beat out some of the other cure albums but I am a pornography enjoyer lol

The Cure are so much fun to listen to.

Long songs, but decent

4/5

8 - GOOD

Listens: 3 or 4 Standout Tracks: The Hanging Garden, Siamese Twins Third Cure album on the List. I really didn't get Seventeen Seconds, like, at all. Maybe it was just too new and foreign to me at the time. I fell in love with Disintegration, eventually, but not immediately. I think I latched onto the idea that there were a lot of hallucinogenics involved in it's production (apparently). Pornography falls somewhere in-between. It's moody, its brooding and dark. It's growing on me. I originally gave Disintegration a 4, which I think at this point needs to be bumped up to a 5, which would probably make this a 3.5 or 4.

Brilliant brilliant band and Robert Smith is a genius. This one is light on his but the sound and the mood are great

Nostalgia, sweet nostalgia. I enjoyed the Cure’s hits but never really explored their music so this was all fresh ground for me. Stands up pretty well.

grows on you

el sonido me encanta jajaja, no es nada revolucionario o que me cambie la vida y si pudiera realmente le pondría como 3.8, pero. El sonido de the figurehead es cautivante y ese bajooo ughh, su voz también es muy agardable.

Thoughts before listening: The Cure's dark, sexy album is how I've always heard this described. I'm not sure I've ever really listened to this despite being a big fan of their other work. It's the Cure so I'm sure I'll love it. Review: So is this Robert Smith's answer to industrial rock or something? Looks like this came out in 1982 so perhaps it's more accurate to acknowledge the influence it had on those later bands while embracing the darker sides post-punk ala Joy Division. I know the band is considered goth rock, but they have always balanced the dark, brooding songs with bright pop tracks. This album basically hits on a dense, metallic crunch out the gate with "One Hundred Years" and never lets up. I really like it although I am missing the hit. I think I prefer the other albums a bit, but this gets 4-stars.

80s new wave/gothic vibe. Definitely too sad of music to casually listen to lol, but the if one song came up on a coffee shop I’d probably vibe

Nog jiet geluisyerd

Some greats on this.

I liked it a lot. Raw cure sounds. Big drums and lots of emotion in his voice.

A part of the eleven year run of epic Cure albums An atmospheric wall of sound, while the the most uplifting collection in the Cure archive, its still a fascinating creation that hold up in 2026

Denso e intenso

Overall: 8/10 This is such a relaxing album. It helped me chill out on a very stressful morning and I love it for that. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Disintegration but it gets pretty close. I could see myself napping to this (that's a huge compliment). Fav Song: The Hanging Garden

Pretty cool noise. I think I'd enjoy more if I was having an existential crisis, I'll have to remember to put it on next time

Very dark maar ook very nice

7/10

9/10

Yea this ones pretty good. Very depressing album but yea pretty good. My fav tracks gotta be the figurehead. 7.4/10

Pretty good, not sure where this slates in the Cure's discography. But it was consistent and enjoyable.

This one is truly a masterpiece in giving the mood. Not the good one. Not the sunny happy one. Dark, gloomy, morose one. Not the best album by The Cure, not even the second or third in my opinion, but what it surely has is consistency and coherence. This one will surely make you start questioning your own existence and the world in general.

It doesn’t matter if we all die!

I don't know that I can get around the strange vocal inflection, but the music is pretty interesting. I like the drums. 3.8.

Sounds a lot like The Cure, that's for sure.

Apt soundtrack for a dreary Thursday morning commute. Haven't listened to a Cure album start to finish previously, but this was wonderfully moody and visceral.

A great album that changed The Cure’s direction. I have been a huge since day and see them probably more times than any band.

Yeah The Cure is good. This is a good album by The Cure.

increíble, teatral, excelente

Only because it isn't my favourite of theirs.

Very good, but not my vibe; really liked the last track, which was definitely the weirdest.

gostoso pra ouvir se vc ta numa rua de madrugada

Loved this, been loving whatever I hear from The Cure, could be a 5 need to listen again

I had never heard this one before, and have no idea why? Really strong tracks, great production, awesome.

Incredibly haunting and beautiful

it might be too early in the morning to listen to the Cure. So far very gloomy. IT DOESN@T MATTER IF WE DIE NEED TO FIND THE CURE TO THIS SICKNESS Was great but is exacerbating my bad mood

Like The Cure, not familiar with this album but will listen again

Kinda always have thought of the Cure as goth Muppets in the best possible sense,, satirizing the thing while revealing a humanity inherent to the thing. The first two songs are a bit much but when they settle into the pop drama groove they do so well, it is delicious.

This was one of the first 10 cds I bought after getting a CD player as a graduation gift in the late 80s so my rating will always be colored by that.

Cover My Face As The Animals Cry 1001 Albums Generator 227 (2/16/2026) As a guy who has the correct opinion about Disintegration, which is that it's pretty good but definitely bloated and a tiny bit overrated, I was excited to finally hear the second Cure album that is often mentioned in "favorite albums of all time"-type lists, Pornography. And really, it is quite similar to Disintegration. Robert Smith is still very sad, drums and guitars are drenched in reverb, and basslines are strong. There's less of that kind of jangly sound that appears in Disintegration's higher energy songs, and the higher energy songs here are much more punk than I remember that album being. The Hanging Garden is the best example of this, with its beat being driven almost entirely by quick, strong toms and bass. My only real problem with this album is that it all starts to feel really same-y and the final song, Pornography, is pretty weak and weird. Overall, it's not bloated like Disintegration, but it also doesn't hit the highs that that album does. 4/5. Favs: One Hundred Years The Hanging Garden A Strange Day Least Fav: Pornography

This is definitely a classic album, but for whatever reason, it was never one of my personal favorites. On the other hand, this album has always remind me quite a bit of Joy Division. Obviously, Robert Smith and Ian Curtis are very different vocalists with distinct voices and deliveries, but if you strip the vocals away, the music itself shares a lot of the same DNA.

This was better than Seventeen Seconds, but still wasn’t as good as some of the Cure’s hit songs. I enjoyed the vibe of the album, it definitely was depressing. 4 for me, but I would give it a 4.5 if I could.

Opening track might be the best thing they've ever done

Not my favorite stuff by them but even still just so so so singular.

not totally my "thing" but its pretty undeniable for what it is as a canonical entry in the goth rock canon

This one is so dark. It was fun to listen to because I know more about The Cure's hits and I don't think I'd heard any of these songs since I was a kid!

Not my favorite Cure album lyrically but I love the atmosphere

Cool

I am really impressed by the cure since I started this project. I know they are a huge influential band but I've always dismissed them as sad whiny goths. Objectively though - their sound is so uniquely them. This album seems to continue in the same vein as Seventeen Seconds. Maybe a bit more polished. I still prefer Seventeen Seconds. That album just sets the mood differently and probably a bit more groundbreaking than this one - sonically and thematically. Anyway this is a solid album if you solely focus on the sound and the uniqueness.

Somehow I've never listened to The Cure before, but this was pretty great.

8/10 The Cure are one of those curious bands that are essentially impossible to pigeon hole. Play someone unfamiliar Boys Don’t Cry and Close To Me before sticking this album on, which was released exactly half-way between those two singles, and they’d be hard-pressed to believe that they’re by the same band. But they do what they want and that’s to be applauded. This album is a dark, brooding, throbbing examination of depression and drug abuse, and it wears its heart very much on its sleeve. It’s a dense and textured record that washes and grinds away over a fairly relentless and insistent rhythm section that gives the album a tempo that juxtaposes against that desolate tonal blanket. In some ways, that insistence can be a little draining, but it’s a very accurate artistic representation of the seemingly unending sensation and darkness of depression. You can, just about, hear the melodic talent that Robert Smith has in his armoury, as there are moments where his vocals work their way towards an almost poppy sensibility, but those moments are relatively fleeting and, if anything, enhance the stark hopelessness of the albums theme. I feel like an album like this is one that you really need to listen to at a volume that allows the full weight of the record to push down on you, as that oppressive ambience really needs to be given the opportunity to overpower and consume your senses in order to deliver it’s full impact. It’s an album that, to me, is probably greater than the sum of its parts. There’s not many individual tracks that have stuck with me, but the overall weight of the album is one that has left an impression on me that I can’t quite explain. If art is designed to evoke or echo an emotional response, the Cure have certainly achieved that goal and, while it’s not an album for everyday listening, at least for me, it’s probably a worthy companion for those times when the weight of life is becoming overwhelming. One Hundred Years - It’s a hypnotically insistent start. That drum machine drives it along from underneath a swirling and throbbing wash of distortion, delay and reverb. It’s one of those tracks that is fairly compositionally simple, but the sound design and production elevates it into something that wraps itself around you and envelops you in its atmosphere. There’s actually a little bit more range to the different sections than might first be apparent, and it certainly creates a very compelling, dark vibe. A Short Term Effect - If you were to grab a poppy new-wave band and keep them chained up in a dark basement for a month, this is the kind of song that they’d probably create on their release. There is a poppy sensibility to the vocal melody and underlying chord structure of this, but it pulses away under a sea of effects modulated guitars that tease away at the edges of that structure, never losing it completely, but doing it’s best to pull at the threads, which is only enhanced by the dissonance of the piano that drifts in and out. The Hanging Garden - The tempo ramps its way up now. It’s fairly frantic underneath Robert Smith’s vocal. There are some nice little production tricks here with panning and depth of the vocals and some cool reversed tonal sounds that shimmer out at you. It all builds in energy and weight of sound as it moves along. There are moments of stark respite from that wash of sound, but it continues to be rhythmically persistent throughout. It perhaps drags on the idea a little too long, but it’s still a solid execution. Siamese Twins - Again, this really throbs its way along in an insistent manner. It’s fairly harmonically stark, but the bass and drums give it an underlying thickness and weight that balances against the starkness in the higher frequency range. It perhaps plods along a touch too much, but I think that relentless pulse is a very deliberate artistic choice, like time driving forwards with complete indifference to the human experience. The Figurehead - This is less rhythmically in your face, but remains insistent in its delivery. Again, it’s very darkly evocative and the instrumental and vocal parts, aside from the drums and bass, weave in and out in a wash of reverb and effects, building a fascinating, ever-moving cloud of sound. It actually manages to pull out something quite hooky in there too with the “never be clean again” vocal motif. It’s a slow, brooding effort, but it’s really good. A Strange Day - There’s a nice modulating synth line in here that adds extra weight to the rhythm section. Again, this has got almost poppy new-wave sensibilities to the melodic writing, but it’s set against something that grinds away underneath it in a very brooding, un-pop music way. There are moments when it teases an emotional uplift in the chord structure, but it cycles round and round and never finds it. Again, solid atmospheric song writing and production. Cold - This is super heavyweight in the bass and then becomes gothically melodramatic when the synth strings come in. It’s fantastic sound design that really builds a fantastic bed of atmosphere. As with much of the album, it’s very insistent, but there’s a particularly unique drama about this track that makes it more bold and forward than most of the other tracks. There are also some lovely pieces of reverb and delay heavy sound design that add ear candy and depth. Pornography - This is almost a sound collage that takes place over that trademark brooding and insistent underlying bass and rhythm, although the drums take on quite a different tone here. As a sound design piece, this is great and it ebbs and flows as a soundscape, evolving as it goes. I could imagine this being quite impenetrable to some people, but this conjures such a dark, menacing vibe, with an edge of frenetic insanity that I find at really compelling. Tone sort of drifts in and out of the fuzz, but that droning anchor keeps everything pinned together really nicely. It’s a really cool way to end an album too.

Difficult to rate but

8.5/10 I really enjoyed the dark lyrics and how heavy the instrumentation feels. Pretty good vocals too.

The Cure really are two very different bands: dark goth some days and sunshine art pop others. Pornography sits squarely in dark goth land. I remember buying this album used decades ago and I couldn’t get into it because the mix was so low and muddy, but ultimately that’s the sound they likely set out to achieve. A good remastering does wonders for my spoiled ears. This sound didn’t click for me until I used the song Cold in a Halloween mix where it fit in perfectly. Time has been good to this album. While it sounds totally 80’s goth, it still sounds cool and original. The Cure are truly a great band.

Deprimerend (“it doesn’t matter if we all die”) en verontrustend (“something small falls out of your mouth and we laugh”). Zo begint dit duistere album, en de rest van de looptijd bevat weinig tot geen lichtpuntjes. In mijn ogen niet de beste van The Cure maar man ze slepen me wel mee. Ik hou van de stem van Robert Smith, en die werkt wat mij betreft het beste in deze donkere context. Highlights: One Hundred Years, Cold, Pornography.

Enjoyed more than I thought I would. Some interesting songs in here

Decent 4,5

Gothic rock, post-punk, neo-psychedelia.

4.5

i've got a lot of room in my heart for depression music. great bass tone, surprisingly good enunciation on the lyrics, fun percussion work. good stuff.

Kind of nice, although very "The Cure".

3,5 - Düster, atmosphärisch, aber ich könnte kein Lied danach nennen. Ist auch nicht schlimm, da es insgesamt ein toll anzuhörendes Album ist. Highlights: One Hundred Years, Siamese Twins

I've been a Cure fan since I was 13 so yeah I loved this record. This was the record where they started to coalesce around what would be the signature heavy goth pop sound that is the Cure. A couple of key songs, 100 Years, Hanging Garden, A Strange Day and mostly solid album tracks. Not a fan of the title track, but this is the sound of Robert Smith coming into his own. A few years later they perfected the sound with the incredible trio of Head on the Door, Kiss Me, and Disintegration, all of which should be here before Pornography (but only one of which is actually on the list)

Good test run for Disintegration

pretty good

Feels strange to "like" an album like this. Drugs, band drama, depression. Obviously to like a piece of art it doesn't have to be overtly positive. Or overtly anything. I guess I'll steer clear of asking myself if I "like" this album and frame it more as "is this album good?" Which also feels absurd. Who the fuck am I? Anyway. Whatever. I listened to this album at least 5 times in a row. Wanted to keep listening. Apparently I like the darkness. Is darkness cool? I just really dig the huge atmospheric sounds and drums and passion. 4.5

Dienstag, 03.01.2026 In der Ringbahn und S1 auf dem Weg zum schwimmen im 'James-Simon' Stadtbad. Ringbahn und S7 auf dem Weg zum Eislaufen auf dem Schlachtensee. Ringbahn, M6 Tram und Spaziergang durch den Volkspark Friedrichshain auf dem Weg zum Filmtheater Friedrichshain um 'One Battle After Another' nochmal mit meinem Vater zu schauen

8/10

I enjoyed it. Would be good to mix some songs in to a house cleaning mix

Dark evening, fog, winter, snow - is when you listen to the dark post punk rock

Courtney: great, but a little repetitive Craig: good, was hoping it would be better

nothing bad about this album in my eyes, however I also don't think there is much to write home about, it earns a C+ or B-

I love the instrumentation; it's very much the goth vibe, dark, moody, and reflective. The lyrics however, slide off my brain like water off a duck's back. It took me a couple listens to hear anything other than the music, really. When I did hear the lyrics though, I did like them. This does make me curious about other goth music, but maybe with a vocalist whose lyrics I can follow better.

I listened to this album while building a shelf, hammer and drill in hand. I wore a Jane Remover crewneck covered in bones. My only exposure to The Cure before this album were the songs Boys Don't Cry and Friday I'm In Love, both of which are very different vibes from Pornography; I had this described to me as "the goth album", and I now understand what that meant. The vibe and aesthetic curated by this album is unrelenting, a total commitment to this anguished sound, mixed super rough and heavy with layers upon layers of reverbed sound. Picking out individual songs was hard on a first listen, not because the transitions are particularly hard to notice, but rather because this album hits you with an unrelenting and all-encompassing atmosphere that completely washes over you. Even if this album is not necessarily a vibe I am always seeking out in my music, I can absolutely appreciate the maximal effort on display here, achieving this gothic rock sound at its furthest possible extents. If ever I find myself in search of something goth and heavy, then this is the album I will come back to. Highlights: One Hundred Years, A Short Term Effect, The Hanging Garden, Pornography

I liked this, though it was very repetitive

Continuing my established tradition of giving four stars to vibey early Cure records.

I've had a pretty mixed relationship with goth music over the years, first loving it, then getting bored with it, then being indifferent towards it, and then slowly drifting back to (selectively) loving it in the last decade or so, and through all those phases The Cure has been one of the few goth bands I've continued listening to. Yet until today I don't actually remember listening to this one. This is quite possibly The Cure at their darkest and most fkd up. A lot of fans class this as one of their greatest albums, but if I'm being honest, I can't see it myself. Sure, it's a good album, but it feels way too self-referential, way too spaced-out, to be a truly great album. It carries a lot of the hallmarks of early Cure, with the distorted guitar and the almost tinny electronic-sounding drums, and for that alone I'll be adding a copy to my physical music library, but It doesn't quite hit the full five stars for me. My rating, a steady 4 out 5.

I am all in favour of the list including a band's most distinctive album, and this is The Cure at their most Cure

This is probably a much more difficult album to get into and evaluate from one listen, so I took 2, however, I’m still finding the vibes more difficult to enjoy against some of the albums I know - I think finding the right mood to listen to this is key. There’s a lot here that makes for a great Cure album and I can confidently give this a good rating already. I have to say I really enjoy the drums throughout the album.

Gothic, reverberating, pounding, textured, disorienting, aetheric with a degree of abrasiveness. Grounded in the lithosphere while soaring in the atmosphere. Brooding, dreary, foreboding, but there’s and intensity to the depression here. A darkness both familiar and novel. Pretty classic for The Cure and I dig it.

Klassiker, aber etwas faserig. Dennoch immer widergut

this was very heady and artful. loved all the BIG sounds. not the most easy listening (like I probs wouldn't put it on unless I was listening intentionally) but peak superb craft. one of the songs got added to my spooky playlist

Good Cure record but I spaced out often

The rhythmic and harmonic structuring creates a hypnotic pattern to this uncompromising journey. A unique atmosphere which I like.

Different sound but pleasant listening experience

9/10 Have already heard. Relisten Hightlights: One Hundred Years The Figurehead Cold Pornography

I like this much better than radioheads experimental rock. It didnt have the transition and flow into a full album like pink floyd but it did seem to have a bit of deeper thought into its themes. I like a song where I catch some of the lyrics, think "thats a weird thing to say" and I will go look them up and try and find the artists intent. Some of this album does seem to just be edgy arts student for little reason (one hundred years), but theres a good chunk where I can get on board with the emotions behind the lyrics.

This felt a bit Cold.

The beautiful place somewhere between industrial and early 80s pop and shoegazer. No clear singles. No obvious melodies. Yet it keeps hold of your ears the whole way through.

This is best Cure album I’ve listened to to date. This provides really great atmosphere. The bass lines and echoey drums are really excellent. Favorite songs were One Hundred Years, The Hanging Garden, The Figurehead, and A Strange Day.

Dark and nasty, both in terms of how it sounds and what it's about. Manages to be both restrictively claustrophobic and overwhelmingly expansive - it's a dizzying, hypnotic album! Fucking love the bass. Favourite tracks: One Hundred Years, The Hanging Garden, Siamese Twins, The Figurehead (amazing run of tracks), Cold

heavy, dark, moody. genre creating. xo

No. 72 Great voice, Great sound. Love the Cure, percussion really stands out. Great listen.

Hard to rate my favorite band. This album has two of my very favorite Cure songs on it as well. Do I like it MORE than albums I gave 5 stars to here? Yes. Do I think it should be rated as 5 stars? Maybe not. It's gonna have to be 4.

It's a fair bit different to the sound I'm use to from The Cure, however the mood sort of works and some of the songs here are excellent, or nearly so.

What you’d expect from The Cure, who are great. Although I’m not going to give this one 5 stars at is slightly too samey for my liking and they’ve done other things that have I have enjoyed more. Still loved it.

Not my favorite album by The Cure, but still solid. I love its almost haunting, predatory feel. It always made me think of vampires for some reason. 4/5

Love the cure, maar niet beste album voor mij.

I began being a Cure fan at the Head On The Door stage, by this point they had reengaged with their more poppy side which was there at the start on Three Imaginary Boys. In my opinion a mixture of melancholy and pop sensibilities bring out the best songs from the band, but as a moody teen i loved a bit of wallowing in the misery of these early albums. There is still beauty here in A Strange Day and Cold especially and i still know most of the lyrics to Siamese Twins and The Figurehead although i couldn't really tell you what they're about. Not quite enough for a 5.

Sausio 6d. Pirmas albumas (iš trijų, tai nėra taip blogai), kuris man iš tiesų patiko. Tai yra kabiau mano muzikos skonis. The Cure aš žinau jau kurį laiką, žinau ir klausau šios grupės dainas. Vertinu 8/10

#233/1001. I was just praising 80s goth drums on an Echo and the Bunnymen album, asking for more, and sure I got what I deserved. All engraved to what must be one of the most depressing albums in popular music history. Kind of feels like listening to someone's suicide note - which according to Wikipedia quoting Smith it more or less is. Sonically and probably also lyrically I guess it should be considered as the ISO standard Goth Rock album all other works are compared to. But the absence of hope, humour, playfullness or openness make the album perhaps a bit too much of an inner journey, in which the protagonist (guess who) is fighting against his own personal demons. I guess he won since the later albums start to present at least a little bit cured Cure. Dystopian masterpiece, but should we praise dystopia?

gostei desse, até porque eu já conhecia e admirava um pouco do trabalho do the cure, muito melancólico, gótico e dramático, da uma vontade de não viver mais e nunca mais acreditar em ninguém, minha favorita foi cold. a única coisa que me incomodou é que as vezes parecia que eu tava escutando a mesma música repetidamente, o álbum tem uma sonoridade fixa, mas tenho total consciência que isso é proposital e compreendo o conceito e intenção.

good doom'y vibes but i rarely hear what he's singing.

Robert Smithy as hell. I haven't been a diehard Cure fan since high school, but this album was always one of the best, along with Disintegration.

- 80tero. - mom music - ultima es una banger

Dark, moody and atmospheric. Classic album that to me stands the test of time. As a non teenage goth, but now Joy Division fan I appreciate this greatly but understand why others mightn't like it. The first one the list for me that had a second playback straightaway, although I'm still under 10 albums in. 4 out of 5 stars

Some of these lyrics read like teenage angst but I enjoy the post-punk sound too much to give a shit about that.

347/1089 - Not my favorite Cure album for sure. For the record, I love Wish, Disintegration, and The Head on the Door. Pornography is a bit repetitive and the songs go on for too long given the lack of musical ideas but thankfully there are enough differences in the actual songs. I'm confused by how many people are calling this dark, nothing in the music suggests that to me (besides the last song maybe), if anything the main emotion I feel the album gives off is persistence/steadfastness. If you like dark music, I recommend Shostakovich's String Quartet no. 8, or really anything later in Shostakovich career.

Love that guitar effect. Probably a 3.5 but rounding up

More apocalyptic than emo. One Hundred Years is an unbelievable track.

The Cure – *Pornography* (1982) In-Depth Review --- ### 1. **Themes & Lyrics** A single 43-minute exorcism of despair, *Pornography* is built around **death, self-loathing, political dread and psychological collapse**. - **Apocalypse as metaphor**: “One Hundred Years” opens with *“It doesn’t matter if we all die”* and ends with *“over and over we die one after the other”*, turning private depression into a universal cataclysm . - **Domestic horror**: Images of *“a little black-haired girl waiting for Saturday”* and *“the death of her father pushing her white face into the mirror”* sit next to soldiers and black cars, showing war outside and trauma inside the home . - **Guilty confessions**: “The Figurehead” finishes with the chant *“I’ll never be clean again”*, one of the most direct statements of self-disgust Smith ever put on tape . - **No narrative, only atmosphere**: Lyrics work like shards from a diary—cryptic, repetitive, sometimes nonsensical—whose job is to sustain a mood rather than tell a story . --- ### 2. **Music & Arrangements** - **Drums**: Lol Tolhurst abandons cymbals almost entirely; relentless tom-tom patterns mimic a dirge-march and give the record its *pulsing, tribal backbone* . - **Bass**: Simon Gallup plays high-register, melodic lines that *constantly move*, preventing the dirge from becoming plodding . - **Guitars**: Robert Smith layers **reverse-reverb leads, dissonant bends and Arabic-sounding scales** (“A Short Term Effect”, title track) to produce a *psychedelic, nauseous swirl* . - **Synths**: Used sparingly, more as *ominous smears* than hooks; the drone under the closing “Pornography” sounds like slowed-down choir-loops dissolving in acid . - **Song structures**: Simple, cyclical chord progressions repeated until they become hypnotic; most tracks end in **walls of stacked noise** rather than choruses, giving the impression of songs *imploding under their own weight* . --- ### 3. **Production** Engineer **Phil Thornalley** (later producer for Pixies, Psychedelic Furs) captures everything in **murky mid-range**; the kick drum *thuds* instead of punches, vocals sit *inside* the mix, guitars are soaked in **plate reverb and tape slap-back**. - **No 80s sheen**: No shiny Simmons pads, no gated snares—just *claustrophobic darkness* that feels basement-real . - **Tape saturation**: Over-driving the 16-track gives cymbal-swells a *hissing, almost tape-decay* quality that adds to the sickness. - **Dynamic range**: Side-A closer “The Hanging Garden” is the only track mastered *hot* enough to pass for a single; everything else is **uniformly oppressive**, making the album feel like **one long piece in eight movements** . --- ### 4. **Influence & Legacy** - **Goth blueprint**: Alongside Joy Division’s *Closer* and Bauhaus’ *In the Flat Field*, *Pornography* codified the **gothic-rock sound**: tribal drums, high melodic bass, cavernous guitar . - **Dark-wave & shoegaze**: Bands like Clan of Xymox, The Sisters of Mercy, and later Slowdive cite it as **the** template for making depression sound majestic. - **Black-metal & post-rock**: Norwegian black-metal acts (esp. early Ulver) borrowed its *apocalyptic sermon* style; Swans’ later drone-period mirrors the album’s *repetitive crescendos of dread*. - **Critical reappraisal**: Initially called *“a toothache of a record”* (Rolling Stone) , it now sits in the **top-3 Cure albums** on virtually every fan poll and was celebrated with a 40-year deluxe box in 2022 . --- ### 5. **Pros** ✅ **Cohesive vision** – No filler, every track serves the mood; 8 songs/43 min = *exactly* the right dose . ✅ **Rhythm-section chemistry** – Gallup/Tolhurst create a *tense, danceable* undertow rare in nihilist rock. ✅ **Raw honesty** – Smith’s lyrics feel *unfiltered*; no poetic distance between singer and breakdown. ✅ **Guitar innovation** – Reverse-reverb, atonal bends and Middle-Eastern scales **pre-date** similar tricks in early U2/Psychedelic Furs. ✅ **Closure effect** – The final *“I must fight this sickness, find a cure”* offers **microscopic optimism**, making the horror circular rather than endless . --- ### 6. **Cons** ❌ **Monotone production** – Mid-range mud means **no sonic relief**; casual listeners find it *“a 43-minute headache”* . ❌ **Same tempo territory** – Most songs hover 90-100 BPM; without melodic choruses the **mid-album can blur together**. ❌ **Vocal delivery** – Smith’s *“vast-hall”* croon + endless echo becomes **fatiguing** if you don’t sync with the despair . ❌ **Lack of hooks** – Only “The Hanging Garden” has a recognisable riff; **no sing-along salvation** for the uninitiated. ❌ **Emotional prerequisite** – If you’re *not* in the mood for existential dread, the album feels **self-indulgent** rather than cathartic. --- ### Bottom line *Pornography* is **The Cure’s most concentrated poison**: no daylight, no jokes, no synth-pop escape hatch. When it clicks, it’s *transcendentally bleak*; when it doesn’t, it’s *“a toothache”*. Either way, its **tribal rhythms, bass-led melodies and claustrophobic production** forged a language that **an entire sub-culture** still speaks four decades later.

Not a Cure record I knew very well. But I enjoyed its Moody and atmospheric sound.

I'm not really familiar with The Cure apart from their greatest hits and Disintegration, so this was a treat! I really liked it! Really great songwriting, some probably experimental ambient sounds going on. Can't wait to listen to it again.

Classic album by The Cure.

This has a really cool, really oppressive atmosphere going on for it that would probably be really great accompaniment for when I'm Going Through It mentally, if I ever thought to listen to them in those times. Otherwise, it's still a pretty cool atmosphere but I always listen to it with a bit of emotional distance. My impression is that it's the coolest Cure album to have as a favorite, but also it's easily the one that you least want to tell people all about your love for (like when you're on a first date and connecting about music, do you really want to be saying "Yeah, I really love Pornography"?)

listened in jam with april while we did chores and it rocked

I'm not THAT familiar with The Cure's discography, but I had a hunch I would enjoy this. Of course I know some of their songs, but I was never that big of a fan as to actively search out more music from them. Something about Robert Smith's voice makes me not LOVE their stuff. I would listen to these songs outside of the challenge though. I really like the instrumentals. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing groundbreaking, but I enjoy the vibes they convey; it's calming for me. This was truly a rare discovery on this list.

Good album with a terrible title (and the title track, incidentally, was also my least favorite).

Listened to this with an awful hangover. Horrible experience

Nothing special compared to other stuff I've heard from them but god I looove the soundscapes these guys create it'll always hit High high high 4

Nice

Transported to coffin club!

I was really put off by this on my first listen, but it grew on me song after song. Again, The Cure is a band that should be on my regular listening, but haven't made it there for some reason.

Put on your black lipstick and light a candle! It’s that dark creepy shit goth kids listened to in the 80’s and early 90’s. Brilliantly dark and depressing, brilliantly performed.

I was 7 years old in 1982 and the 7 year old me wouldn’t have liked this. It’s no Adam and the Ants! However as a 50 year old I can now appreciate this much more and really quite liked this. Just a shame they’re from Crawley!

Another band that I was too young to appreciate when they were in the prime but have picked up the odd good song since. Never listened to a complete album and assumed that I liked the more catchy upbeat stuff. But no, this one is very dark and also a great listen. Possibly a bit too dreary in places but really well written and constructed and a clear influence on British indie music to come.

The second best band to come out of Crawley. Obviously, Spitfire being the greatest. Although The Cure’s vibe probably captured the largely miserable nature of the place much more effectively! Actually I never really cared for The Cure until very recently when I listened to the Songs of a lost World album, and loved it. Weird mid life crisis or something? Listening to this in light of that was therefore quite an interesting comparison. Mr Smith’s vocal style feels very consistent, and is their iconic selling point. Obviously this is musically very moody, and the drums are quite to the fore, kind of a slowed down Krautrock style. Not sure if I like them hugely. But all in all, fuck it, I’m a Cure fan now (except Friday I’m in Love - I bet he hates that it’s their biggest hit and worst song).

I love the Cure, but I will admit that I was not as familiar with this or their earlier albums before starting this project. I was more in tune with the poppier mid to late 80s Cure, but the haunting, gritty Cure is a revelation for me. Not surprisingly the song that I feel most encapsulated the entire vibe of the album is the final, title track "Pornography." Listening to that song, the backwards audio, staring at the album cover really puts you in a specific state of mind. I think right where the band wants you which is sort of a brilliant acheivement.

I'm not quite as big on earlier Cure stuff as I am their late 80's and 90's stuff, but this is still a great album. It's got that classic Cure sound, but without the refinement of Disintegration.

I love this so much. Cold is The One.

Favorite song- Siamese twins Different from other projects of the cure I’ve heard

I pretty much know The Cure only from their new wave hits "Friday I'm In Love" etc and this album caught me completely by surprise with how dark and gothic it is. Basically, lead singer Robert Smith was either going to kill himself or get all his emotions out in album form. The result is this almost over the top dark and dreary album. The struggles of being 23. It seems like "Emo" accompanies Punk music and "Gothic" accompanies rock. It's the same type of "Woe is me, my life sucks" topics, but at least gothic is a bit more artistic about it whereas emo doesn't leave anything to the imagination. I really liked this album. It's such a different sound from New Wave and I think it fits The Cure so much better. It still has heavy synth throughout the album as required by the 1980's and of course, Robert Smith's voice is incredibly recognizable. I really liked Cold as it really just epitomizes that dark gothic feeling of the album and the end feels almost optimistic?

Muy bueno el primer tema. A veces el disco se hace repetitivo pero supongo que esa es la idea

Nunca me hizo clic del todo The Cure, pese a haber hecho varios intentos con distintos discos a lo largo de mi vida. Creo que de esta va la vencida. Es cierto que Pornography ya era el disco con el que más veces había intentado introducirme a The Cure, sorprendiéndome al reconocerlo desde su primer temazo, One Hundred Years, que era de los pocos temas que históricamente sí que me habían gustado de forma indudable. No soy tan intenso, tan edgy, tan dark, tan profundo, hay algo de The Cure que se escapa para mi, me gustan las sonrisas, los gatitos y las hojas del otoño sin necesidad de que despierten connotaciones de muerte en mi oscuro interior. Aun así, de esta vez me sorprendió un disco más catchy de lo que me esperaba, con riffs profundos y oscuros acompañados de acordes de synths que le aportan verdadera emoción a los mecánicos ritmos ochenteros. Siento que algo falla en solo apreciar a esta banda de drogadictos depresivos por su musicalidad y no por la desgarradora emoción que claramente quieren transmitir, pero mi adolescencia ya ha pasado, así que it is what it is.

I appreciated the aesthetic of the album; I feel like the songs are very compelling even if I don't love the vocals on their own. Some jumped out more than others, and there were definitely some longer songs that overstayed their welcome. Still, probably my favorite experience with The Cure so far.

Mixed Cure album with a couple of bangers...100 Years and Hanging Garden. Doesn't have the polish of Disintegration but still worth a listen.

Can't wait for some guy with big hair to shame me for having a wank.

The cure are best known for a select few songs so going into this I knew it would be odd to hear them perform music I've never heard despite knowing them my whole life. Listening front to back this album did not disappoint my expectations. It definitely was odd! Their sound is familiar yet foreign. The classic ethereal sound on the vocals paired with the striking percussion of their radio hits are fully present. I had trouble understanding the lyrics without listening carefully so my ears instead treated them like instruments. Of course we can't forget the album title of "Pornography" which maybe shouldn't have caught me off guard but did regardless. "Friday I'm in love" may have alternate meanings than I had considered all these years if they're so bold to give an album such a name.

The sound of the album is definitive Cure, but eventually becoming noise. The lyrics are very challenging. Not an album to lighten the mood. A cure is needed.

Magical beyond expectation for works of its time, sparkled with just a little less life than Disintegration yet to come at the other end of the decade Shy of the 5 mark, but still all you could ask for, it's a dreamy and entrancing album

Very moody

Good album, timeless sound

not their best, but the best pornography I've listened to hands down

8/10

The Cure. Nothing different. But, The Cure.

This prefigures emo a bit, but I like this side of the Cure more than their more mainstream stuff.

3.7 - classic Cure, not necessarily for me

A thunderstorm without lightning. The darkness before the pop dawn of the cure, this is an album of despairing desperate depression from the bleakest British night. It's an incredible achievement of swirling synth textures, guitars picking out melodies through a heavy cloud of modulation effects, of vocals the fade and decay before drawing breath to go again. none of this has the hooks or choruses of their greatest hits, but makes up for it with the full spectrum lush wallowing.

Klasyczne The Cure

Rv/g

This felt like I really got the Cure for maybe the first time (although I've just remembered that I said that about Disintegration). Maybe the challenge is that unless I'm listening to the Cure, I don't think about the Cure. But while I'm listening to them, it's all I do think about. Weird huh? Anyway, this was excellent. Dark, foreboding and atmospheric. It passed in a flash too.

this was super cool - extremely cohesive + atmospheric (which is what i like in an album). original but very listenable (in a way that i find the cure sometimes are Not).

The darkest album out of their catalog. I love this record.

Good

Very goth nice vibe

A phenomenal listen, having heard this all the way through before I was expecting to remember this better than I did. I think that this album is The Cure perfecting their sound and for me is a little bit off where they reach the top of their game. For me although this album is experimental and innovative some of it is slightly more jarring than the melodic beauty we all know them for. Love you Robert x