by The Reluctant Genius
It was the summer of 1987. I had just moved out to California near Napa Valley because of a girl. We had spent nearly 2 years together on the road in the magazine business and figured it was time to settle down at the ripe old age of 20. We found a little apartment that was on the edge of the bad side of town but at the time, it was all we could afford. There was no furniture – only a couple of blowup mattresses for us and our roommate. We did have one of the coolest living rooms in the neighborhood, though, as we had taken duct tape and divided the room in half and used it as a line to play tennis, soccer and several other indoor ball games. I don’t think our landlords were too happy when we finally moved out because there were ball marks all on the walls from the endless matches between me and my buddy Eric. It was also the beginning of a new era in music, as these new things called CDs had just come into prominence and they just made it so much easier to listen to music, as not having to drag around vinyl EPs seemed just like heaven. I still remember the days when my girlfriend’s brother brought over some of his CDs. I sifted through them and took the time to pick out a couple of newer ones and lo and behold I came across one called “The Head in the Door” by a band called The Cure. I remember hearing about them from several people, but this was the first time that I had actually gotten to listen to a complete album. It was a little strange at first but once I got to hear the song “Close to Me” I was hooked and became a lifelong fan even though there were many more albums to come. Here’s a little more about the band and what made them famous and different than others before …..
The Cure started as Easy Cure with Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Lol Tolhurst and Porl Thompson playing in Southern England in 1977. The “Easy” was dropped in 1978, as was Porl and they became a trio called The Cure who were signed to the new Fiction label by Chris Parry, formerly an A&R representative for Polydor Records. The Cure Released their first album, Three Imaginary Boys, in May of 1979. They embarked on a tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Smith stepped in when the Banshees guitarist left the group. His collaboration with various members of the Banshees would last for ten years. The Cure signed an international deal with Geffen Records in 2003 and released their first album with Geffen in 2004, appealing to a younger audience through their influence on younger bands, who often opened for them on tour. After a three year break, they returned with their Reflections Tour, during which they played their first three albums, Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith in their entirety and toured with Festival shows throughout Europe and North America and headline shows in Latin America. In 2014, they toured again with another series of full album tour, this time featuring The Top, The Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.
