How Robert Smith’s Moods Dictated The Cure’s Sound

Music essayist Trash Theory takes a deep dive into the enigmatic history of The Cure and the band’s frequent forays into radio-friendly pop music before once again beating a hasty retreat back to their Gothic roots. Much of this oscillation was caused by moods, fallacies, and follies of frontman Robert Smith, whose enigmatic personality dictated the style of each very different album over the course of many years.

The Cure are weird. In fact that is part of their appeal. They are outsiders, the forgotten and the lost and so invite that subsection of society. But what makes the band especially weird is that there are many different shades of Cure. …To quote the Cure’s frontman Robert Smith: “The music’s always reflected to a very large degree, how I am mentally.”