After the punk era in the 1970s, a group of British schoolmates founded a band that has lived to see three decades.  Only one of the original members from the band has remained the permanent fixture throughout the band’s career, Robert Smith. In 1976, Smith (lead singer, guitarist), Michael Dempsey (bassist), Porl Thompson (lead guitarist), and Lol Tolhurst (drums), all students from St. Wilfred’s Comprehensive in Sussex, England, formed The Cure, originally named The Easy Cure.  The friends got together and composed songs, which they eventually road-tested at clubs in lower regions of the United Kingdom in 1977. Although they gained some stage experience and publicity, the band decided to make some changes, starting with the removal of Porl Thompson and omitting the “Easy” from their name.

The ball kept moving in 1978, when The Cure sent a demo to Chris Parry from Polydor A&R, and quickly landed a deal to make an album with Fiction Records, with Parry as their manager. The following year, their first album, Three Imaginary Boys, was released, which included the popular single, Boys Don’t Cry, and The Cure began to captivate a formidable audience. In the meantime, the band headed off on their first official tour all over England.

At the brink of the 80s, The Cure underwent another metamorphosis, when Michael Dempsey quit and bassist Simon Gallup was inducted as a replacement.  As synthesizers were becoming popular, Matthieu Hartley joined to contribute his keyboarding expertise. Moving away from a punk sound, the group ventured onto the dark side and wrote some somber pieces that soon became hits in the U.K., such as The Forest and Seventeen Seconds, which made it to number 20 on the charts.

 A world tour spanning Europe, Australia, and the U.S. was booked, as The Cure was in high demand.  After Australia, Hartley couldn’t stand the heat, so he removed himself from the band. Post-tour, the rest of the band hit the studios to work on the album Faith, which edged to number 14 on the charts, prompting another tour called The Picture Tour. Adding a little doom and gloom to their material seemed to be working out well for the group, so the musicians used the same formula to create the depressing album, Pornography, which hit the top ten on the British charts and sent them on another tour.

The band shifted in numbers when Simon Gallup quit and drummer Lol Tolhurst had to fill in on keyboard. Steve Goulding became the next temporary drummer. With all the changes in gear, perhaps they felt the need to ring in some joy when writing the song, Let’s Go to Bed, which was more upbeat, poppy, and electronic-sounding. Fans were digging the new sound and Smith’s stage presence.  More singles were secured at the top of the charts, like Lovecats and The Caterpillar.

Smith’s bizarre appearance was a trademark. The look always included a black teased hairdo, thick, soot-colored eyeliner and crimson lips.  In combination with his distinctly melodic, high-pitched voice, Smith swept up a cult-like following. Some even blame him for starting the goth look, since the goth crowd often closely mimics some of the singer’s ghostly characteristics. However, Smith has detested the correlation and refused to be marginalized as a goth band.

In the mid 80s, there were more changes that took place. Porl Thompson rejoined, and drummer Andy Anderson and bassist Phil Thomalley turned the group  into a quintet. After another successful tour, the World Top Tour, Anderson and Thomalley quit. Drummer Boris Willis signed up for the undertaking and former bassist, Simon Gallup, made a return.

Although the membership was not lasting,  The Cure had the quality of being versatile as far as musical style. The group often changed up their material, always leaving an element of surprise. Songs from the 1987 album, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, ranged from gentler love songs such as,  Just Like Heaven and Catch, and fun, catchy songs, like Why Can’t I Be You?.  Roger O’Donnell became another addition to the band as a keyboardist, replacing the next member voted off in ‘88, founding member Lol Tolhurst. Tolhurst didn’t take the situation lightly and unsuccessfully sued the band, because he felt he deserved more credit for his work in the band. The shuffling of new and old members was probably a reason why the music kept changing. Perry Bamonte, the band’s roadie, who was capable of playing guitar and keyboard, came on board as the new guy.

Still releasing new material, the CD Disintegration, which peaked at 12 on the Billboard Top 200, made a grand entrance in 1989 with yet another obvious change in mood, a rather slow, dark, and eerie style yet beautifully rich and musical at the same time. The song,  Pictures of You, seemed to be a celebration of gloom and doom, serving as a reminder that Smith could do sad like no other. Not long afterwards, O’Donnell left the band.

1992 was a remarkable year, when the disc Wish was released and appealed to the masses, climbing to number 2 on the album chart. The singles, Wish and Friday I’m in Love, became popular, and could be considered mainstream pop. The Wish Tour was a record success, selling out at venues around the world.  Porl Thompson left the band once again after the tour, minus any bitter feelings.

Switching time approached once more in 1994, when drummer Boris Williams withdrew himself. That brought Jason Cooper to fill in on the drums, while Roger O’Donnell came back to tickle the ivories.

Wild Mood Swings, which came out in 1996, couldn’t have been a more fitting name for the following Cure album. Smith delivered a wide range of emotions and howls with the backbeat of exotic percussion instruments.

The Cure seemed to slow down a bit after 20-something years in the business. Instead of cranking out new albums followed by tours nearly year after year since ’76, the band took spans of 3 to 4 years to produce new studio albums, while they released goodies, such as compilations and B-sides to keep fans satisfied.  At the turn of the century, Bloodflowers was released.  The short album returned to an overall somber lineup that pleased old, die-hard Cure fans. Although fans were always left to wonder if the group would make a next album, The Cure was released in 2004.

The Cure were up to their shuffling antics again, when in 2005, Roger O’Donnell and Perry Bamonte took off and founding member, Porl Thompson,  made a third comeback.  In 2007, the foursome headed back to the studio for the making of their 13^th studio album under the Suretone/Geffen label, an eclectic double CD set bearing 33 tracks. To thwart the unlucky number 13, the band decided to release one single on the 13^th of each month, starting May 13, 2008 until the scheduled release date, September 13, 2008. Meanwhile, the band embarked on a North American tour in spring/summer 2008.