Robert Smith (musician)
On the 14th of October 2024, Robert Smith of the Cure said he plans to retire in 2029. His reasoning was tidy. He turns 70 that year, and 2029 marks 50 years since the band's first album, Three Imaginary Boys. Smith added a caveat: he has to make it that far. He called the most recent decade of live shows the best stretch of his time in the band. Smith is an English singer-songwriter, the Cure's co-founder, lead vocalist and only continuous member. His guitar style, his voice and his appearance left a deep mark on the goth subculture that rose in the 1980s. He also played guitar for Siouxsie and the Banshees and co-founded a side band called the Glove. Yet the Cure began as a handful of schoolboys in Crawley, and Smith was not the obvious leader. How did he end up at the microphone? Who really wrote the songs? And how much of his famous look was borrowed?
Blackpool is where Robert James Smith was born on the 21st of April 1959, the third of four children. His father, James Alexander Smith, sang, and his mother, Rita Mary, born Emmott, played the piano. He was raised Catholic and later became an atheist. The family moved to Horley when he was three, and to Crawley when he was six.
Piano lessons went to Smith and his younger sister Janet. He later joked that Janet was "a piano prodigy, so sibling rivalry made me take up guitar because she couldn't get her fingers around the neck." His older brother Richard had already shown him "a few basic chords" in 1966, when Smith turned seven, as he told Smash Hits.
Classical guitar lessons began at the age of nine, with a student of the guitarist John Williams. Smith learned a great deal but lost the sense of fun, and he says he wishes he had stuck with it. He recalls that his tutor was "horrified" by his playing. He quit formal tuition and taught himself by ear, using Richard's record collection.
Until December 1972, Smith had no guitar of his own and borrowed his brother's. He says Richard gave it to him that Christmas, though he had already claimed it. The rock biographer Jeff Apter instead says the guitar came from his parents. Apter identifies it as the Woolworths Top 20 guitar heard on the Cure's earliest recordings. Smith has told several versions, at times saying he bought it himself for £20 in 1978.
Notre Dame Middle School, which Smith called "a very free-thinking establishment", gave him room to misbehave. He says he once wore a black velvet dress all day, and the teachers assumed it was a phase. Apter notes that Smith has told conflicting versions of a beating that supposedly followed. Smith also admits he did virtually nothing for three years.
St Wilfrid's Comprehensive was reportedly stricter. In the summer of 1975, Smith and his school bandmates sat their O Levels, but only he and Michael Dempsey stayed for sixth form. Smith says he was expelled as an "undesirable influence" after his band Malice played a second show at the school shortly before Christmas 1976, which allegedly caused a riot. The biographers Dave Bowler and Bryan Dray say Marc Ceccagno was expelled alongside him. Smith has also said he was only suspended, over a clash with the headmaster or his attitude to religion.
He sat three A levels, failing biology, scraping through French and earning a B in English. Then he spent eight or nine months on social security. When the payments stopped, he decided it was time to make a demo and see what people thought.
The Obelisk gave its only performance at a school function in April 1972, according to the Cure's official biography Ten Imaginary Years. Apter dates the show to April 1973 instead, which conflicts with the boys having left Notre Dame by then. Smith, still on piano, played alongside Marc Ceccagno on lead guitar, Michael Dempsey on guitar, Alan Hill on bass and Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst on percussion. Smith was just 13.
Smith says the school group was known simply as "The Group", because it was the only one there. Dempsey, who later moved from guitar to bass, recalls that they toyed with the name the Brat's Club, a nod to Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. The Group became Malice, which Smith described as a sort of sub-metal punk band.
Regular rehearsals began in January 1976 at St Edwards Church. Smith remembers it happening because Ceccagno wanted to be a guitar hero. The drummer Graham owned a kit, and his brother owned an amp and a microphone, so he became the singer. Over 1976, Pearl Thompson replaced Ceccagno, Tolhurst replaced Graham, and the journalist Martin Creasy of The Crawley Observer replaced Graham's brother. Those involved remember Creasy's short spell as a live disaster.
In January 1977, Malice renamed itself Easy Cure, partly to distance itself from those early shows. Tolhurst had sung a cover of "Wild Thing" at Malice's shows, and Dempsey sang backing vocals on "Killing An Arab". Dempsey even took lead vocals on the debut album's cover of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady".
A singer named Gary X came and went in March 1977. His replacement, Peter O'Toole, has been described as a demon footballer and Bowie fan, and he made his debut in April. O'Toole fronted the band through months of pub gigs and even sang on the home demos that won a contract with Hansa Records. By October 1977, when the band entered Sound And Vision Studio in London, he had left to work on a kibbutz in Israel.
No better candidate appeared, so Smith took over the vocals by default. He told Musician magazine in 1989 that he had been "the drunk rhythm guitarist who wrote all these weird songs." After about five singers, he kept thinking, "I could do better than this." He hated his own voice, but no more than he hated everyone else's. "I've worked on that basis ever since," he said.
A song by Lol Tolhurst gave Easy Cure its name. Another early number, "Grinding Halt", began as a Tolhurst lyric that Smith trimmed to the first half of each line. Easy Cure then shortened itself to the Cure.
Throughout 1978-79, Smith demoed some of the band's defining early songs on his sister Janet's Hammond organ, which had a tape recorder built in. One of them was "10:15 Saturday Night". By October 1979, when NME interviewed the band on tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Smith was acknowledged as the writer of almost all the songs and lyrics. He also said he felt uncomfortable performing material that was not his.
Smith composed most of the music for Seventeen Seconds in his parents' basement, using the Hammond, a drum machine and his Top 20 Woolworth's guitar. Most of the lyrics had been written in a single night in Newcastle. Michael Dempsey left around this time. He said the new songs were a personal statement, entirely Smith's, and that he could not make that statement on his behalf.
Dempsey's replacement, Simon Gallup, described the group's process to Sounds in 1980. For the song "At Night", everyone sat in manager Chris Parry's kitchen until six in the morning, scrawling sheets of paper. Tolhurst stood on the table pressing his head to the ceiling, hoping it would help.
Tolhurst later said that he, Gallup and Smith all supplied lyrics for the early albums. Smith kept a big box of words, drew from it, and chose which ones he sang. Tolhurst claimed the words to "All Cats Are Grey", from the 1981 album Faith, and later re-recorded it with his own project, Levinhurst. Smith, speaking in 1982, claimed to have written "90 per cent of the Pornography album" and said he therefore could not leave, because it would not be the Cure without him.
The first four albums, Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography, gave equal songwriting credits to every member. Then Gallup left, and Tolhurst began keyboard lessons. From July 1982 until Gallup returned in February 1985, Smith says much of the writing and recording became a solo effort. Tolhurst was still credited on five of the eight songs on 1983's Japanese Whispers, including "Let's Go to Bed" and "The Walk". "The Love Cats", "Lament" and "The Dream" went to Smith alone.
Smith called 1984's The Top "the solo album I never made". He played nearly everything himself, apart from drums by Andy Anderson, a saxophone part from Porl Thompson on "Give Me It", and Tolhurst's keyboards on three of the ten songs. The Head on the Door followed in 1985 with Smith as sole songwriter. In 1987, the double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, with the singles "Just Like Heaven" and "Hot, Hot, Hot!", brought growing popularity in the US. From then on, the whole band wrote, with Smith as main composer and arranger.
At a Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire gig at the London YMCA on the 3rd of August 1979, Smith met Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Chris Parry had signed both bands, to Polydor and its imprint Fiction. Smith was already a Banshees fan, and Severin invited him along on a UK tour supporting their second album, Join Hands. The tour began in August, and Siouxsie Sioux sang backing vocals on "I'm Cold", the B-side of the Cure's single "Jumping Someone Else's Train".
In Aberdeen, hours before a show, the Banshees' guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris quit. Smith offered to fill in on guitar, on condition that the Cure stayed on as the opening act. The ex-Slits drummer Budgie took over the drums. The tour resumed on the 18th of September, with Smith playing in both bands every night.
Severin credits that stretch with changing Smith. He thinks Smith learned to front a band by standing beside Siouxsie night after night, and came out of his shell. Early clips, Severin notes, show a shy, retiring performer, and his look changed soon afterward.
In November 1982, John McGeoch collapsed from nervous exhaustion a week before a Banshees tour, and Smith stepped in again. "Once a Banshee, always a Banshee," he remarked. He was fed up and disillusioned with the pressures of the Cure, and the Banshees looked like a good escape. The biographer Jo-Ann Greene noted that the move left a bad taste for many, since McGeoch was told of his sacking only a week after recovering from a brief spell of clinical depression.
Meanwhile, Smith and Severin had first talked about a side project in 1981. From May 1983, with the Cure on hold, recording of the Glove's album Blue Sunshine began in earnest. Jeanette Landray, Budgie's girlfriend and a former dancer, sang, and Andy Anderson played drums. The Venomettes, with Martin McCarrick, supplied strings.
The band's name came from the "murder mitten" in the Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine. The album title came from a B-movie about a strain of LSD that turned people into homicidal maniacs years after their first trip. Smith said the team watched about 600 videos, including Barbarella, The Brood and Evil Dead, then slept, woke at four in the afternoon and went straight back to the studio. Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker later called it a manic psychedelic pastiche. Smith summed up the period by saying he kept making holiday plans, but every week he was in another group.
In August 1983, Blue Sunshine and the single "Like an Animal" came out, and Smith officially became a Banshee. September brought the Banshees' cover of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence", recorded at Smith's insistence to document his time with them. It reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, their biggest hit there. For Channel 4's series Play at Home, the group built a 45-minute Alice in Wonderland special, with all four Banshees dressed as Alice at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It aired the following year.
Smith co-wrote the 1984 singles "Swimming Horses" and "Dazzle". He left in May 1984, citing health problems from his overloaded schedule, and the album Hyæna appeared the following month.
In October 1979 at Morgan Studios, Smith recorded the one-off project Cult Hero with Simon Gallup of the Magspies. Leftover studio time went to producing the Magspies and a young duo, the Obtainers, whom Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker described as two 11-year-olds banging on pots and pans. The recordings came out on Dance Fools Dance, an independent label Smith co-founded with Ric Gallup, Simon's elder brother. The Cult Hero single appeared on Fiction in December 1979.
On the 3rd and the 4th of April 1980 at London's Rainbow Theatre, Smith joined a one-off Stranglers line-up for two protest concerts. They supported Hugh Cornwell, who had been jailed on drugs charges in late 1979. That year he also sang backing vocals on The Affectionate Punch, the debut album by the Associates. Their singer Billy Mackenzie was Smith's friend for more than 20 years. After Mackenzie's suicide in 1997, Smith wrote "Cut Here", released on the 2001 album Greatest Hits. He explained that he kept passing up the chance to sit down for a drink with Mackenzie, and wrote the words to get that regret out of his system.
The Cure's 1992 Wish Tour brought the band Cranes along as support. On the 15th of November 1992 at Liévin in France, Cranes' vocalist Alison Shaw fell ill. Smith covered her vocal melodies on six-string bass, joined by Porl Thompson. In 1993, Smith and Bryan "Chuck" New remixed Cranes' single "Jewel", giving the band its first Top 30 single in Britain and Norway.
At David Bowie's 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden on the 9th of January 1997, Smith duetted with Bowie on "The Last Thing You Should Do" and "Quicksand". There he met Bowie's guitarist Reeves Gabrels and co-producer Mark Plati. Together they rebuilt the single "Wrong Number" around a sampled drum loop by the Cure drummer Jason Cooper. It was released under the Cure's name, though Gabrels laid down what Smith described as "a gazillion guitar tracks". Smith also guested on an episode of South Park, then formed COGASM with Trey Parker for the film Orgazmo.
In 2003 and 2004, a run of releases billed him as a featured guest. They included Blink-182's "All of This", Junkie XL's "Perfect Blue Sky" and Earl Slick's "Believe". A fresh version of the Cure's "A Forest" by the German duo Blank & Jones reached number 14 in the German Top 100. On the 17th of September 2004, he joined Blink-182 onstage at Old Billingsgate Market in London for the MTV Icon tribute to the Cure. On the 21st of October 2004, he guest presented for John Peel on BBC Radio 1, days before Peel died.
Later guest spots included Tim Burton's Almost Alice album in 2010 and Frankenweenie Unleashed! in 2012. In September 2020 he appeared in the animated video for Gorillaz's "Strange Timez". At the 2025 Glastonbury Festival, he performed "Just Like Heaven" and "Friday I'm In Love" during Olivia Rodrigo's set. He is also credited on Foreign Tongues, a Rolling Stones studio album dated for the 10th of July 2026.
In 1967, when Smith was eight, his brother Richard played him Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". Hendrix became a huge influence, and Smith saw him at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, his first rock concert. Richard and his sister Margaret had introduced him to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones at the age of six. Their mother also made him listen to classical music, to widen his sense of what music could be. At ten, in 1969, he first heard Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, and he admired Drake for never compromising his early work.
In 1972, aged 13, Smith watched David Bowie play "Starman" on Top of the Pops. He compared that night to Kennedy being shot for another generation. The first LP he bought with his pocket money was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Glam acts such as Slade, the Sweet and T. Rex followed, along with Roxy Music. At 15 he heard the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the only group he truly followed, and called Harvey his only real idol.
Punk arrived in 1977, and Smith cites the Sex Pistols, the Stranglers, Elvis Costello and the Buzzcocks. He hoped to combine the Buzzcocks' melodies with the Banshees' wall of noise. Supporting Wire at Kent University in October 1978 showed him another path, away from the punk wave. Decades later, in 1991, the album Loveless by My Bloody Valentine so impressed him that he ranked it among his three favourite records.
In 2022, Andrew Daly of Guitar World placed Smith at number four in his list of "22 guitar heroes who shaped the sound of '80s indie and alternative rock". Smith's habits are unusual. He deliberately detunes the high E string, and he says much of what sounds like heavy chorus on the album Wish is really detuned instruments. He often defies tuners in the studio and even changes tape speed to detune parts.
While recording Three Imaginary Boys in 1978, Smith was told by Chris Parry to drop his cheap Top 20 guitar. He bought a Fender Jazzmaster, having seen Elvis Costello play one on Top of the Pops. Then he had the Top 20 pickup installed as a third pickup, which upset Parry. His first single, "Killing An Arab", carried a descending and ascending Middle Eastern sounding riff. On "A Forest" he played an extended solo outro, and on "Play For Today" he used harmonics.
Producer Mike Hedges gave Smith a Fender Bass VI at the end of the Seventeen Seconds sessions. Smith jokes that Hedges stole it from one of his big-name clients. He wrote "Primary" on it, and it became a staple of Faith and Disintegration. From The Top onward, Spanish acoustic guitars appeared on tracks like "Birdmad Girl" and "The Caterpillar". Smith is frank about his limits: "I'm not technically a good player but at least I don't sound like anyone else."
Backcombing his short hair began for Smith between 1980 and 1983. By 1984 he had adopted the full look of a pale complexion, smeared red lipstick, black eye-liner, wiry black hair, black clothes and brothel creepers. That came after 18 months as the Banshees' guitarist and borrowing Siouxsie Sioux's lipstick. Paul Morley said the look became extreme during Smith's second stint, when he started to dress and look like Siouxsie.
Goth took off around the same time, though Smith denied responsibility and called the similarity a coincidence. Although often called a goth icon, he says the look was a theatrical costume. In 1986 he showed up with short spiky hair in The Cure in Orange, and the change made headlines before he returned to his usual style.
The British comedy The Young Ones made an early joke about the band in 1984. In the episode "Sick", Neil hopes that Mike hurries back with the cure, and Vyvyan replies that it is madness this week. The band Madness then performs. In the US, the Steve Martin film Parenthood used a bedroom poster of Smith to signal a confused, miserable teenager.
Tim Burton, director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, asked Smith to appear in a film in 1988. The Cure's keyboardist Roger O'Donnell says Burton also sent the script for Edward Scissorhands during the Disintegration sessions. Entertainment Weekly reported in 1991 that the film's title character drew on punks like the Cure's Robert Smith. Burton also asked Smith to score Sleepy Hollow, but delays meant Smith had moved on to the Cure's album Bloodflowers. In 2009, Burton presented him with the NME Godlike Genius Award and said the music had saved him as a depressed young animator at Disney.
Neil Gaiman based the appearance of the title character in The Sandman partly on Smith. The artist Sam Kieth calls his version the "David Bowie/guy-from-the-Cure" Sandman, and says Gaiman and editor Karen Berger championed the Smith look. Mike Dringenberg claims his own version was more like Peter Murphy or Smith. Kelley Jones, who drew volumes three and four, said he just hated the Cure and drew the character differently.
In 2019 the Cure entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four years later, in 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Smith the 157th greatest singer of all time.
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Common questions
Who is Robert Smith of the Cure?
Robert Smith is an English singer-songwriter, born in Blackpool on the 21st of April 1959. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter and only continuous member of the Cure.
When does Robert Smith plan to retire from the Cure?
Robert Smith announced on the 14th of October 2024 that he plans to retire in 2029. That year he turns 70 and the Cure's first album, Three Imaginary Boys, reaches its 50th anniversary.
How did Robert Smith become the Cure's lead singer?
Robert Smith became lead singer by default in October 1977, after Peter O'Toole left to work on a kibbutz in Israel. Smith was the rhythm guitarist and songwriter, and no better replacement appeared.
Was Robert Smith a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees?
Yes. Robert Smith first filled in on guitar during the 1979 Join Hands tour. He officially joined in 1983 and left in May 1984, citing health issues from his overloaded schedule.
What was the Glove, the band Robert Smith co-founded?
The Glove was a side project of Robert Smith and Steven Severin. It released the psychedelic album Blue Sunshine in August 1983, with Jeanette Landray on vocals and Andy Anderson on drums.
What guitar does Robert Smith use for the Cure's sound?
Robert Smith uses a Fender Jazzmaster fitted with a third pickup from his first Woolworths Top 20 guitar. He also made the Fender Bass VI a staple of albums such as Faith and Disintegration.
How did Robert Smith influence Tim Burton and The Sandman?
Tim Burton has said the Cure's music helped him through his time as a young Disney animator, and Edward Scissorhands drew on Smith's look. Neil Gaiman based the appearance of The Sandman's lead character partly on Smith.
All sources
247 references cited across the entry
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- 3Robert Smith is curating Meltdown this yearJames Manning — 6 February 2018
- 4Barbarian, L., Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith. Ten Imaginary Years (1988) Zomba Books, p. 121;
- 5Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, pp. 3–4;
- 6Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 15;
- 7Sandall, Robert, "Disintegration" (Robert Smith Interview), Q, May 1989
- 8BookCelebrities in HellWarren Allen Smith — chelCpress — 1 May 2013
- 9BookNever Enough: The Story of The CureJeff Apter — Omnibus Press — 2009-11-05
- 10Simmons, Sylvie, "Everything Falls Apart", Revolution, September 1989.
- 11Gore, Joe, "Confessions of a Pop Mastermind", Guitar Player, September 1992.
- 12Heath, Chris. "Robert Smith This Is Your Life", Smash Hits, May 1986
- 13Thompson, Dave, and Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 5;
- 14Tellier, Emmanuel, "Les Attrapes-Coeurs de Robert Smith, The Cure", Les Inrockuptibles, pp. 22–28, October 1997
- 16Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 25;
- 17Thompson, Dave, and Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 8;
- 18Doran, Rachel. "The Cure – A History", Spiral Scratch, 16 April 1992
- 19Staff. "The Gothfather", Guitar World, June 1996
- 20Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 21;
- 21Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, pp. 23–24;
- 22Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 12;
- 23Bowler, Dave & Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 11;
- 24Black, Johnny, "Curious Case of the Cure", London Times, 26 April 1989.
- 25Wilde, John, "Lipstick Traces", Melody Maker, 29 April 1989.
- 26Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of the Cure, (2009), Omnibus Press, p. 26;
- 27Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 10;
- 28Membership "used to fluctuate between five and fifteen" people according to Smith.
- 29Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 33;
- 30Barbarian, L., Steve Sutherland & Robert Smith, Ten Imaginary Years, (1988), Zomba Books;
- 31Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 6;
- 32Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 6; )
- 33Cure News 5, May 1988.
- 34Cure News 11, October 1991
- 35Considine, J. D., "What's The Big Idea? Robert Smith's Conception of the Cure", Musician, 1989.
- 36The Cure Will Retire After 50th Anniversary of Debut Album in 2029Eddie Fu — 14 October 2024
- 37Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith (1995). Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 15;
- 38Apter, Jeff, Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 90;
- 39The Easy Cure "group home demo" of "Grinding Halt" from March 1978, with Tolhurst's longer original lyric, was later released on Deluxe Edition (2004) of Three Imaginary Boys.
- 40BookNever Enough: The Story of The CureJeff Apter — Omnibus Press — 2006
- 42"Robert Smith home demo" version of "10:15 Saturday Night", recorded in February 1978, appears on the 2004 Deluxe Edition of Three Imaginary Boys.
- 43Pearson, Deanne, "No Image, No Style, No Bullshit", NME, 6 October 1979.
- 44Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009), Omnibus Press, p. 106;
- 45Some of the new songs, however, had been debuted live while on the Banshees tour.(Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene, The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 18; )
- 46Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 52;
- 47Sutcliffe, Phil, "Manhattan Interiors", Sounds (UK), 3 May 1980
- 48Lol Tolhurst, el gato grisHispacure.com — April 2007
- 49Sutherland, Steve, "The Incurables", Melody Maker, 18 December 1982.
- 52Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 58;
- 54Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 15;
- 55Sutherland, Steve, "History of the Cure – Part 1", Melody Maker, 1990
- 56Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 16;
- 57Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 53;
- 58The Cure – Out of the Woods (DVD Documentary), Chrome Dreams Studio, 2004.
- 59Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 49;
- 60Gallup, Ric, "A Tale of Incest", Clinic No. 4, September 1980
- 61Butler, Daren, The Cure on Record, (1995), Omnibus Press, pp. 10–15.
- 62Some sources (e.g. Butler's The Cure on Record) suggest that the Magspies/Obtainers single was released in 1979, whereas its release was announced by Ric Gallup of Dance Fools Dance (via the Cure's Cl
- 63Clinic No. 4, September 1980
- 64Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene, The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 23.
- 65Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure-A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, pp. 19, 22;
- 66Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 54; .
- 67Cantin, Paul, "Robert Smith Talks About New Cure Best-of", Jam! Showbiz, November 2001.
- 69"And Also The Trees" (Interview), Abstract Magazine Issue 5, March 1985.
- 70Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene, The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 32;
- 71Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary (1988), Omnibus Press, pp. 38, 51;
- 73"The Cure Join the Dots liner notes" (2004). Fiction Polydor Universal. 981 463-0.
- 74Thompson, Dave, and Jo-Ann Greene, The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, pp. 38–39;
- 75Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, pp. 92–93;
- 76Gilbert, Pat, "A History of The Cure (Part 2)". Record Collector, August 1993.
- 77When Crawley ruled the music world!Crawleyobserver.co.uk
- 79Sutherland, Steve, "History of The Cure Part 2", Melody Maker, 1990.
- 80Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, pp. 94–97;
- 81"Say Fast 12 Times: British Switch Hitters", Trouser Press, 2 January 1983.
- 82Greene, Jo-Ann. The Cure, (1986), Bobcat Books, p. 33.
- 83Thompson, Dave, and Jo-Ann Greene, The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 42.
- 84Severin was unavailable for the television appearance, so Porl Thompson appeared miming the bass, disguised in a long coat and hat.
- 85Almond, Marc. Tainted Life: The Autobiography, Sidgwick & Jackson, (1999), p. 205;
- 86Sutherland, Steve, "The Glove Will Tear Us Apart", Melody Maker, 3 September 1983.
- 87Hoskyns, Barney, "Don't Look Back", NME, 24 December 1983.
- 88Butler, Daren, The Cure on Record, (1995), Omnibus Press, pp. 47–50;
- 89Paytress, Mark. Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography, (2003), Sanctuary, pp. 137, 143; .
- 90Houlston, Billy. "Play at Home", The Siouxsie and the Banshees File: Phase Three, Issue 3 & 4, October 1984.
- 91Thompson, Dave, and Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary, (1988), Omnibus Press, pp. 51–58;
- 92Paytress, Mark. Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography, (2003), Sanctuary, pp. 142–143; .
- 94Butler, Daren, The Cure on Record, (1995), Omnibus Press, p. 56.
- 95"Tim Pope – I Want To Be A Tree" (Fiction/Polydor Promotional Folder), 1984.
- 96Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray, The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, p. 108;
- 97"Questions and Answers", Cure News 10, December 1990
- 101Smith, Jerry, "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me FM", NME, 15 September 1990.
- 104The Cure – Disintegration... THE PUFFThe Cure — Thecure.com
- 107"Loved Cranes" (Dedicated/Arista Press Release), 1994.
- 108Hartmann, Olivier, & Laurence Fabien, "Forever Interview", Prémonition (No. 14), September 1993.
- 109Thompson had also joined the group on stage on 8 November, and on the final night of the tour in Ireland on 3 December, Cranes joined the Cure on stage for the final encore of the Cure's "Forever".
- 110Moed, Alison, "Cranes", NET Magazine, June 1993.
- 113Sullivan, Jim. "Robert Smith Gets Happy", The Boston Globe, 28 November 1997
- 115Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009), Omnibus Press, pp. 279–280;
- 116Chain of Flowers Interview with Robert SmithChainofflowers.com
- 122Livewire's One on One: Earl Slick's 30-year affair with The Thin White DukePhil and Tony Bonyata — Concertlivewire.com
- 124Blank & Jones feat. Robert Smith, A Forest @ charts.deOfficialcharts.de
- 130NewsThe Cure receive MTV icon honourNews.bbc.co.uk — 2004-08-16
- 132Cure News Archive 2004Chainofflowers.com
- 133Underworld presented the show on 19 October, and Siouxsie Sioux on 20 October. Peel died on 25 October 2004.
- 135News Archive – Dec. 2004Chainofflowers.com
- 142Robert duets with Anik JeanCraigjparker.blogspot.co.nz — 2010-01-22
- 143"Anik Jean" (artist profile)Spirit-of-rock.com
- 144Pitchfork: The Playlist: Crystal Castles: "Not in Love" ft. Robert Smith27 October 2010
- 151NewsListen to The Cure's Robert Smith cover the Twilight SadHarriet Gibsone — 22 May 2015
- 152Gorillaz announce new song with the Cure's Robert Smith7 September 2020
- 15724HR
- 160Olivia Rodrigo Brings Out The Cure's Robert Smith at Glastonbury for 'Friday I'm in Love' and 'Just Like Heaven'Ellise Shafer — 29 June 2025
- 163NewsBlack Celebration27 December 1999
- 164MagazineHi 5December 1993
- 165MagazineBad MedicineJames Oldman — February 2000
- 166MagazinePractical poprockIan Birch — 24 March 1979
- 167MagazineSiamese Twins – The Cure and the BansheesJames Oldham — August 2004
- 168JournalThe Best Guitar Breaks In The World Our six favourite guitarists choose their 30-odd favourite guitar tracksDavid Sinclair — May 1984
- 169NewsTimeless tunesmithWill Hodgkinson — 30 May 2003
- 171MagazineThe Cure1 September 2014
- 172The Cure's 'Disintegration' at 30: Amanda Palmer, Davey Havok, Randy Blythe & More on Its ImpactRon Hart — Billboard Charts — 2 May 2019
- 173The Guide to Getting into The CureDavid Anthony — Vice magazine — 8 November 2017
- 174MagazineGear Rundown: Robert SmithWill Brewster — 24 August 2020
- 17522 guitar heroes who shaped the sound of '80s indie and alternative rockAndrew Daly — 14 November 2022
- 176Confessions of a Pop MastermindJoe Gore — MacroMusic, Inc — September 1992
- 178MagazineThe Gothfather Robert Smith interviewAlan Di Perna — June 1996
- 179JournalMiracle Cure Robert Smith interviewJon Lewin — August 1987
- 181"The Cure - Out of the Woods DVD documentary". Chrome Dreams. 2004.
- 182Robert Smith: Not Goth, Has Writer's Block6 December 2006
- 184BookTen Imaginary YearsL. Barbarian et al. — Zomba Books — 1988
- 185The Cure BiographySing365.com
- 187Bowler, Dave, and Bryan Dray. The Cure – Faith, (1995), Sidgwick & Jackson, pp. 126–127;
- 188Balfour, Brad, "Cure All", Spin, March 1988.
- 193Tim Burton Seeking Johnny Depp-Sized Monster SuitIwatchstuff.com
- 194Jarno, Stephane & Frederic Peguillan, Télérama, 24 April 1996.
- 196The Cure proclaimed Godlike Geniuses by Tim Burton25 February 2009
- 197Comics in Context #72: F. O. G.Peter Sanderson — February 11, 2005
- 198BookHanging Out With the Dream King: conversations with Neil Gaiman and his collaboratorsJoseph McCabe et al. — Fantagraphics — 2004
- 199McCabe & Quach (2004) p. 76
- 200McCabe & Quach (2004) p. 92
- 202MagazineLet The Picture Tell The Story" (Interview With "The Crow" Author, Artist, Musician James O'Barr)Arlene R. Weiss — September 26, 2011
- 203"Questions & Answers", Cure News 15, September 1994.
- 204Shirley, Ian, Can Rock & Roll Save the World?: An Illustrated History of Music and Comics, (2005), S.A.F. Publishing, p. 132; .
- 206BookCan Rock & Roll Save the World?: An Illustrated History of Music and ComicsIan Shirley — S.A.F. Publishing — 2005
- 207NewsThe Cure's Robert Smith, David Sylvian, and other New-Wave icons in bizarre Japanese MangaJanuary 29, 2018
- 208MagazineA post-mortem on Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and RuinColin Raff — October 3, 2000
- 209"Robert Smith of The Cure on "This Old House"7 March 2009
- 210The Mary Whitehouse Experience – The Cure6 April 2011
- 211The Cure – The Mary Whitehouse Experience (Part 2)29 June 2006
- 212History Today – Robert Smith Parody27 September 2006
- 213The Cure – Newman and Baddiel TV sketch (1993)10 March 2006
- 214Stevenson, Jane, "Surviving The Cure", Toronto Sun, November 2001.
- 215BookNever Enough: The Story of The CureJeff Apter — Omnibus Press — 2009
- 216Disintegration Rules19 February 1998
- 218Malins, Steve, "Robert Smith – Cash For Questions", Q, February 2000.
- 219Simonart, Serge, "The Bats in the head of Robert 'THE CURE' Smith are ok", Humo, 23 February 2000.
- 220MagazineA Cure ouvertBrian Molko — November 2001
- 221MagazineIdol ChatterGilbert Cruz — 22 November 2006
- 223English press kit This Must Be The PlaceFestival-cannes.com
- 224News'Love' story: The Cure's 'Disintegration' and Robert Smith's romance, 30 years laterLyndsey Parker — 2 May 2019
- 225Crawley and District Observer Wednesday 24 August 1988, page 17
- 226Robert Smith – What becomes of the broken-hearted?Andy Gill — 7 November 2008
- 227MagazineRobert Smith Happy Without ChildrenWENN — 23 July 2004
- 228The Cure's Robert Smith: "I'm uncomfortable with politicised musicians"Louis Pattison — 10 September 2011
- 229Collins, Britt. "An interview with Robert Smith", Lime Lizard, March 1991.
- 230MagazineThe Perfect Cure!David Wigg — 26 May 1986
- 231NewsNew Wave – romantiek op de Orient Express" (New Wave romance on the Orient ExpressJuly 1986
- 232MagazineA Suitable Case for TreatmentOctober 1985
- 233MagazineStrange DaysMiranda Sawyer — May 1992
- 234Cure, The – Seventeen SecondsDiscogs.com — 25 April 2005
- 235Barbarian, L., Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith. Ten Imaginary Years, (1988) Zomba Books;
- 236Thompson, Dave & Jo-Ann Greene. The Cure – A Visual Documentary (1988), Omnibus Press, p. 22;
- 237"Questions and Answers", Cure News 4, January 1988
- 238Butler, Daren, The Cure on Record, (1995), Omnibus Press, p. 61;
- 239Tesseyre, Cecile. "The Cure", Paris Match, August 1986.
- 240Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009), Omnibus Press, pg. 34;
- 241"Questions and Answers", Cure News 5, May 1988
- 242Phillips, Shaun. "Making Up The Cure", VOX, November 1992
- 243Apter, Jeff. Never Enough: The Story of The Cure, (2009) Omnibus Press, p. 250;
- 244Watch The Cure debut new song "I Can Never Say Goodbye" in PolandBill Pearis — 21 October 2022
- 245MagazineThe Cure's Robert Smith Looks Back: 'I've Never Thought About Legacy'Kory Grow — 2019-10-18
- 246This video of Robert Smith's withering putdown of the monarchy has gone viralWill Lavin — 27 April 2019
- 247Reading Festival, Richfield Avenue, ReadingSimon Price — September 2012
- 248NewsABBA, The Cure and Radiohead musicians sign statement against using creatives’ work to train AIDavid Mouriquand — 23 September 2024