Few bands can claim anything like the longevity, sincerity, and sheer creative breadth of The Cure. From their beginnings as literate punks through their early bleak masterpieces that ended with Pornography (1982), to the pop years that followed and their worldwide success with the mercurial Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987) and the monolithic Disintegration (1989), they have built a reputation as idealistic iconoclasts and sustained a dearly devoted audience that hangs on Robert Smith's every impassioned word.
Their epic live sets regularly include deep cuts from every era and run the gamut from unabashed romanticism to harrowing sorrow, from dance to dirge and back again. As prolific in the studio as they are on stage, their history is littered with remarkable B-sides, rare tracks, live records, remixes, and more. This book examines the entirety of The Cure's quixotic catalogue, from the surly departures of Three Imaginary Boys (1979) to the triumphant return of Songs Of A Lost World (2024) and all points in between. For every mood, there's a Cure song to match, and you'll find it here.
Matthew R. Davis is a Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author and musician from Adelaide, South Australia. He has published one hundred short stories and eight books to date, including the horror collections If Only Tonight We Could Sleep and Songs of Shadow, Words of Woe. He was the vocalist/bassist and lead songwriter in Blood Red Renaissance, has supported Anathema and Queensrÿche with icecocoon, and has written even more songs than appear in this book. A diehard Cure fan since the age of nineteen, he shares his life (and love for the band) with the award-winning artist Meg Wright, aka Red Wallflower.
