Robert Smith (musician)
Robert Smith | |
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Background information | |
Born | Blackpool, England | 21 April 1959
Origin | Crawley, England |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 1972–present |
Member of | The Cure |
Formerly of | |
Website | thecure |
Robert James Smith (born 21 April 1959) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band the Cure since 1978. His unique guitar-playing style, distinctive singing voice, and fashion sense—almost always sporting a pale complexion, smeared red lipstick, black eye-liner, unkempt wiry black hair, and all-black clothes—were highly influential on the goth subculture that rose to prominence in the 1980s.
Smith's other work includes playing the lead guitar for Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1982 to 1984 and being a member of the short-lived band the Glove in 1983. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cure in 2019,[1] and Rolling Stone magazine ranked him as the 157th greatest singer of all time in 2023.[2]
Early life
Robert James Smith was born in
Smith began taking classical guitar lessons from the age of nine with a student of guitarist
Smith described Notre Dame Middle School as "a very free-thinking establishment" with an experimental approach, a freedom he claims to have abused. On one occasion, he said that he wore a black velvet dress to school and kept it on all day: "The teachers just thought, 'Oh, it's a phase he's going through, he's got some personality crisis, let's help him through it.'"
Smith has said that he was expelled from St Wilfrid's as an "undesirable influence" after his band Malice's second live performance shortly before Christmas in 1976, which took place at the school and allegedly caused a riot: "I got taken back [in 1977] but they never acknowledged that I was there [...] I did three
Music career
School bands: 1972–1976
Smith has said that his first band when he was 14 consisted of himself, his brother Richard, their younger sister Janet, and some of Richard's friends. He remarked, "It was called the Crawley Goat Band – brilliant!"[11] However, while the Crawley Goat Band may have been Smith's first regular group, he would have been just 13 when he and his Notre Dame schoolmates gave their first one-off performance together as the Obelisk, an early incarnation of what would eventually become the Cure. The Obelisk featured Smith (still playing piano at this point) alongside Marc Ceccagno (lead guitar), Michael Dempsey (guitar), Alan Hill (bass), and Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (percussion) and, according to the Cure's official biography Ten Imaginary Years, gave their only performance at a school function in April 1972. Jeff Apter, however, dates the performance to April 1973,[25] which is at variance with Smith and his bandmates having already left Notre Dame Middle School by this time.[3]
During the latter part of 1972, the nucleus of Smith, Ceccagno, Dempsey and Tolhurst had gone on to secondary school together at St Wilfrid's Comprehensive, where they and their friends continued playing music together. Smith said that they were known simply as "The Group" "because it was the only one at school so we didn't need a name."
The Cure: 1976–present
As singer and frontman
Smith did not intend to become the lead vocalist of the Cure. Bowler and Dray note that the Obelisk had "featured Dempsey and Ceccagno as guitarists and him [Robert] on piano as very much a background player."[26] As the Group gradually became Malice and began regular rehearsals in January 1976, Smith was still one of several floating members.[26][27] Of their first "proper" rehearsal at St Edwards Church, Smith said:
I think it all came about because Marc Ceccagno wanted to be a guitar hero. Michael had a bass, I had got hold of a guitar and our first drummer, Graham, had a drum kit. His brother had an amp and a mic, so he sang.[28]
By December 1976, Graham's brother had been replaced by vocalist Martin Creasy, a journalist with The Crawley Observer, whose brief tenure with the group was a live débâcle according to those involved.[29] By January 1977 Malice had changed their name to Easy Cure,[30] partly to distance themselves from these earlier shows. Both drummer Lol Tolhurst and bassist Mick Dempsey are also noted as having performed vocals with the group in the early years. Tolhurst also sang on a cover of "Wild Thing" at Malice's early shows,[31] and Dempsey sang backing vocals on songs like "Killing An Arab", and even recorded lead vocals on one track on the Cure's debut album, their cover of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady".[32][33] During March 1977, a vocalist named Gary X came and went, and was replaced by Peter O'Toole, described as "a demon footballer and Bowie fan" who made his singing debut in April.[29] O'Toole remained Easy Cure's steady front man for several months while the group played the local pub circuit, "building up an enormous local following", and was even the singer on the home demo tapes that landed them their first recording contract with Hansa Records.[30]
However, by the time Easy Cure entered London's Sound And Vision Studio to record for Hansa in October 1977, O'Toole had left to work on a Kibbutz in Israel.[29] Smith then fell into the vocalist role by default, since no better replacement appeared. He told Musician magazine in 1989:
When we started, and were playing in pubs, I wasn't the singer ... I was the drunk rhythm guitarist who wrote all these weird songs. We went through about five different singers – they were fucking useless, basically. I always ended up thinking, 'I could do better than this.' ... I mean, I hated my voice, but I didn't hate it more than I hated everyone else's voice ... So I thought, 'If I can get away with that, I can be the singer.' I've worked on that basis ever since.[34]
As principal songwriter
Smith was also not the sole songwriter or lyricist in the group during their early years; the band name 'Easy Cure' came from a song penned by Lol Tolhurst,[35] while "Grinding Halt" began as a Tolhurst lyric that Smith shortened to the first half of each line.[36][note 1] Easy Cure condensed its name to the Cure shortly afterwards.[37] During 1978–79, Smith composed and recorded demo versions of some of the Cure's definitive early songs on his sister Janet's Hammond organ with a built-in tape recorder, including "10:15 Saturday Night".[38][note 2]
By the time the NME interviewed the band in October 1979 during their tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Smith was acknowledged as the principal writer of "almost all of the Cure's songs and lyrics", and stated that he was uncomfortable playing and singing songs that weren't his own.[39] Following his return from the Banshees' tour, Smith also composed most of the music for the album Seventeen Seconds using the Hammond, a drum machine and his trademark Top 20 Woolworth's guitar, during a home demo session in his parents' basement. Most of the lyrics had been written in one night in Newcastle.[40][note 3] Michael Dempsey, discussing his own departure from the group at this time, later remarked:
Robert's new songs were more of a personal statement – entirely personal to him – and I couldn't make that statement on his behalf.[41]
Although Smith wrote most of the lyrics for Seventeen Seconds, many were also rewritten by the group during the recording of the album itself. Dempsey's replacement Simon Gallup described the collective writing process to Sounds in 1980:
When we play new songs live Robert ad libs [vocals] a lot until he gets the feel of it. Then when we record it if it's still not right it means everyone sitting around Chris Parry's (their manager's) kitchen all night scrawling sheets and sheets of paper – for "At Night" we got really desperate and finished up at six in the morning with Lol standing on the table pressing his head against the ceiling because he thought that might help.[42]
Lol Tolhurst later stated that he, Gallup and Smith all wrote lyrics for the Cure's early albums, and that the group dynamic only changed after their 1982 album Pornography:
Generally as Robert had to sing the words he chose which ones he sang but they were from all of us. He kept a big box of words to which I contributed from time to time (Simon too) and he would use them all for songs.[43]
Tolhurst claimed to have written the lyrics for "All Cats Are Grey" from the 1981 album Faith, which he later re-recorded with his own project, Levinhurst.[43] In contrast to Tolhurst's recollection of their songwriting as a group effort until after Pornography, in 1982 Smith claimed to have written "90 per cent of the Pornography album", and that he therefore couldn't leave the Cure, because it wouldn't be the Cure without him.[44]
For their first four albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography), all members of the group had received equal songwriting credits. With Simon Gallup's departure reducing the group to a duo, and Tolhurst quitting drums to start taking keyboard lessons,[44] from July 1982 until Gallup's return in February 1985, according to Smith, much of the writing and recording process within the Cure effectively became a solo effort. Nonetheless, Tolhurst was credited as co-writer of five of the eight songs featured on 1983's singles and b-sides collection Japanese Whispers (including "Let's Go to Bed" and "The Walk"), while "The Love Cats", "Lament" and "The Dream" were credited to Smith only.[45] Of 1984's The Top, Smith would say it was "the solo album I never made",[46] having played nearly all instruments himself except for drums (by Andy Anderson),[47] with Porl Thompson contributing saxophone to one song ("Give Me It"),[48] and Tolhurst contributing keyboards to 3 of the album's 10 songs.
In 1985, the band had success with
Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Glove, and collaborations
Smith, Severin, and Siouxsie on tour: 1979
Robert Smith met
Severin has attributed Smith's transition from a reticent figure to a more enigmatic front person to Smith's early experiences playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees:
I think he learnt how to be a front person, just by standing next to Siouxsie for a couple of months every night. I think he completely changed his persona on stage because of that; he came out of his shell. I think that he learnt how to be a bit more flamboyant, and how it was okay, and I think he saw how, y'know... how should I put it... Siouxsie's more "diva" moments were kind of acceptable because they were the front person, and I think he learnt how to get away with stuff. And just a bit about stagecraft, and how to use the audience a bit more. Because if you look at early clips of their performances you can see he's sort of much more shy and retiring than he becomes a bit later on, and of course, his whole look changes as well.[53]
Cult Hero and Dance Fools Dance label: 1979–1980
Smith meanwhile conceived the
The Stranglers and Associates: April 1980
On 3 and 4 April 1980 at the
I kept passing on the opportunity to sit down and have a drink with him, have a chat ... I was very regretful. I had never used the words. I wrote them down to get it out of my system ... It is nice to sing a song that meant something, and to think it is going to be a single is a good thing. Strangely enough, it turned out to be the record company's favourite one (of the new songs).[61]
And Also the Trees: 1981–1982
During 1981, the Cure received a home demo tape from
Smith would again collaborate with And Also the Trees in 1991.Post-Pornography projects: 1982
In the wake of the Cure's Fourteen Explicit Moments tour, which culminated in the departure of Simon Gallup and the temporary dissolution of the Cure, in June 1982, Smith began collaborating with Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees again. Although released under the name of the Cure, the only personnel to perform on the original Flexipop single release of "Lament" in August 1982 were Smith and Severin, and soon afterwards, Smith admitted that the Cure as a band now existed in name only.[17][67][68] That August, Smith briefly resurrected the Dance Fools Dance label to record and release the single "Frame One" by Crawley gothic/post-punk outfit Animation.[69][70][71] In September, Smith with Tolhurst (now on keyboards) and session drummer Steve Goulding went into the studio to record a "blatant pop single" at the instigation of Fiction Records manager Chris Parry. Smith was reportedly so unhappy with the resultant track "Let's Go to Bed" that he attempted to have the single released under the name of Recur, feeling that the single let Cure fans down.[67][72][73] During October, Smith and Severin also recorded early demos for what would become the Glove's "Punish Me With Kisses" single, at Mike Hedges' studio "The Playground".
Smith also returned to touring as a live guitarist with Siouxsie and the Banshees from November, following the collapse of then-Banshee John McGeoch from nervous exhaustion one week before the band were due to go on tour.[67][68][72][74] His return to guitar duties with the group prompted Smith to remark:
Once a Banshee, always a Banshee.[75]
He later said that he was "fed up" and "really disillusioned" with the pressures of playing in the Cure, and that "the Banshees thing came along and I thought it would be a really good escape".[68] Journalist/biographer Jo-Ann Greene noted that Smith's replacement of McGeoch "left a bad taste in many people's mouths, as [McGeoch] was informed of his sacking only a week after his recovery from a brief spell of clinical depression".[75]
The Venomettes and Marc and the Mambas: 1983
Returning to England from the Banshees' tour of
Smith and Severin meanwhile co-wrote the music to Marc and the Mambas' song "Torment", which appeared on the album Torment and Toreros.[77] Between March and June 1983, Smith recorded with the Glove and (ostensibly) the Cure; prompting him to remark: "I need a holiday ... I keep making plans to go every week, but every week I'm in another group."[76]
The Glove: 1983
Smith and Severin had first discussed collaborating on an external side-project in 1981, although their respective commitments to the Cure and the Banshees had previously left no time for the project.[75] From May 1983, however, with the Cure on hold and Siouxsie and Budgie working together as the Creatures, recording of the Glove's album Blue Sunshine began in earnest.[72][76] Budgie's then girlfriend Jeanette Landray, formerly a dancer with Zoo, was recruited to perform vocals, while Andy Anderson from Brilliant was brought in to play drums.[72][75] The Venomettes with Martin McCarrick were hired to perform strings in studio. The Glove took its name from the "murder mitten" from the Beatles' animated feature Yellow Submarine, while the album title came from a B-movie by the same name about a potent strain of LSD that caused people to lose their hair and turn into homicidal maniacs many years after their first trip.[78] Severin said of the project:
Obviously there was an interest in psychedelia. We didn't have any set idea of what we wanted to do. After a few pointless discussions we just went in and started writing songs, and eventually honed in on shared interests, one of which happened to be late 60's garbage, but nothing hippy-dippy. The problem for us was how can we get Barbarella onto a record sleeve and not be seen as idiots.[79]
Smith described the creation of the album by saying:
I thought it was a real attack on the senses when we were doing it. We were virtually coming out of the studio at six in the morning, coming back here and watching all these really mental films and then going to sleep and having really demented dreams and then, as soon as we woke up at four in the afternoon, we'd go virtually straight back into the studio, so, it was a bit like a mental assault course towards the end ... I mean, God, we must have watched about 600 videos at the time![78]
As well as Barbarella, Yellow Submarine and the eponymous Blue Sunshine, films cited as having fuelled the project included The Brood, Evil Dead, The Helicopter Spies and Inferno.[78] Retrospectively, the Melody Maker's Steve Sutherland described the Glove as "a manic psychedelic pastiche".[72]
Member of the Banshees, single with Tim Pope: 1983–1984
The Glove's Blue Sunshine album and its lead single "
Shortly before the group's scheduled
Meanwhile, in between commitments to the Cure, the Glove and the Banshees, Smith also found time to perform on
Remixes, Cranes, Pirate Ships, And Also the Trees: 1989–1993
With the completion of the Blue Sunshine project and his departure from Siouxsie and the Banshees, by 1984 Robert Smith had returned to recording and touring with the Cure as his full-time primary band. Between 1985 and 1996, his musical outings beyond the Cure were comparatively rare, with notable exceptions including remix work for And Also the Trees and Cranes. During 1989, Smith and producer Mark Saunders remixed 7 and 12 versions of the song "The Pear Tree", by And Also the Trees. The "Round Mix" of the song also appeared on the band's album Farewell to the Shade in 1989, followed by a US-only release of The Pear Tree EP the following year.[89][90][91] In December that year while mixing the Cure's live album Entreat, he also recorded a solo cover version of Wendy Waldman's "Pirate Ships",[note 6] originally intended for Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary; a compilation album celebrating the history of the Cure's US label Elektra Records.[92] Instead, however, the full band line-up of the Cure recorded "Hello, I Love You" by the Doors for Elektra,[92] and "Pirate Ships" did not see official CD release until Disintegration's "Deluxe Edition" reissue in 2010.[93][94][95][note 7]
In 1992, Smith invited Cranes to support the Cure live on the
Bowie, Reeves Gabrels, Mark Plati, and COGASM: 1994–1999
From 1993, Smith's primary musical engagement was the recording of The Cure's album
In February 1998, Robert again collaborated with Reeves Gabrels in the studio, co-writing, singing and playing on the song "Yesterday's Gone" (eventually finding its way to CD release in 2000).
More collaborations: 2003–2007
In 2002, as
January 2004 also saw the single release of
In June 2005, Smith appeared on
More guest vocals, plus solo cover versions: 2010–2021
From 2010–2012, as well as continuing to collaborate with other artists as a guest performer, many cover versions were released by Robert Smith performing solo. Unlike his previous solo covers (such as "Pirate Ships" and "World in My Eyes"), these were officially released under the name of Robert Smith, rather than the Cure. In 2010, he contributed a cover of "Very Good Advice" from the
In 2015, Smith contributed vocals to the song "Please" from the album 8:58, a project by Paul Hartnoll. The track is in fact a reworking of the track of the same name from the Ideal Condition, which he also contributed vocals for.[138] On 15 June 2015, the Twilight Sad released a single featuring Smith covering "There's a Girl in the Corner", originally from the Twilight Sad's album Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave.[139] In 2015, Smith also contributed vocals to "In All Worlds", a single from Eat Static's album Dead Planet.
In September 2020, Smith appeared on the Gorillaz' song "Strange Timez" from their Song Machine series and also appeared in the song's animated music video.[140]
In December 2020, Smith took part in two live stream charity events, including The Cosmic Shambles Network's "Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People" 24-hour charity live stream, 12 December 2020.
In June 2021, Smith appeared on the Chvrches song "How Not To Drown" from their album Screen Violence.
Musical influences
Smith has credited his older siblings Richard and Margaret with exposing him to rock music such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones when he was six years old.[13] He has said that his early songwriting "was influenced by early Beatles – the sense of a three-minute guitar-pop song",[148] and early in his career the Cure's second single "Boys Don't Cry" was compared by British music paper Record Mirror to "John Lennon at 12 or 13".[50] His parents encouraged their children's musical development, as he told French magazine Les Inrockuptibles: "My parents were lending us their stuff; my mum made me listen to a lot of classical music to enable me to have a larger vision of music."[13] When Smith was eight years old in 1967, Richard played him "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix, who became hugely influential.[149] Of this period, he went on to say, "My brother was also crazy about Captain Beefheart, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, so much so that when I was 7 or 8, to the despair of my parents, I became some kinda little devil fed on psychedelic rock."[13]
Smith was 10 years old in 1969 when he first heard
Smith said that he was 15 when he first heard
Smith was influenced by
Along with the Banshees, early Cure gigs from 1978–1979 supporting other post-punk bands such as Wire and Joy Division also influenced Smith's shift in musical direction from the Cure's 1979 album Three Imaginary Boys to 1980's second album Seventeen Seconds.[148] Playing support for Wire (at Kent University in October 1978) gave Smith the idea "to follow a different course, to hold out against the punk wave [...] Wire pointed out another direction to me".[18] When asked what were his five favorite guitar tracks, Smith listed "Purple Haze" by Hendrix, "Hanging Around" by Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers, "Head Cut" by John McGeoch of Siouxsie and the Banshees, "White Riot" by Mick Jones/Joe Strummer of the Clash and "White Light/White Heat" by Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground.[154]
Stage persona and image
Smith began sporting his trademark physical appearance of a pale complexion, smeared red lipstick, black eye-liner, a dishevelled nest of wiry black hair, all-black clothes, and
Although his public persona could be deemed to portray an image of despair, Smith has stated that his songs do not convey how he feels all the time: "At the time we wrote Disintegration [...] it's just about what I was doing really, how I felt. But I'm not like that all the time. That's the difficulty of writing songs that are a bit depressing. People think you're like that all the time, but I don't think that. I just usually write when I'm depressed."[158]
In 1986, Smith famously altered his image by appearing on-stage and in press photos sporting short spiky hair and bright polo shirts, which can be seen in The Cure in Orange. His new look made the headlines.[159] He soon returned to his usual style.
Musicianship
Songwriting
In an interview in 2000, Smith said that "there is one particular kind of music, an atmospheric type of music, that I enjoy making with The Cure. I enjoy it a lot more than any other kind of sound".[160] When Smith was asked about the 'sound' of his songwriting, Smith said that he did not "think there is such a thing as a typical Cure sound. I think there are various Cure sounds from different periods and different line-ups."[160]
Guitar playing
Smith is considered to be one of the most influential and underrated guitarists of the 20th century.[161][162][163][164] In a 1992 interview with Guitar Player magazine, Smith shared insights from his first guitar lessons—undertaken at the age of 9 years—and his guitar-playing style, as well as his habit of purposely detuning the high "E" (first) string on his guitars. Of his first lessons, Smith stated:
I started on classical guitar, actually. I had lessons from age nine with a student of John Williams, a really excellent guitarist. [...] I learned a lot, but got to the point where I was losing the sense of fun. I wish I'd stuck with it. I still read music, but it takes me too long to work through a piece.[165]
Smith also described his detuning process: "I don't know what it adds, but the guitar just doesn't sound quite right to me normally. In the studio, I often defy the tuners, particularly with keyboard overdubs. I even change the speed of the tape to detune some parts. I think a lot of players presented with the same guitar and told to tune it themselves would come up with something drastically different. And the way you play [the guitar] affects the perceived tuning. If Porl [Thompson] and I tune together and play the same thing, but he plays hard and I play soft, it will sound completely off."[165]
Speaking about Wish in 1992, Smith also offered the following input on how detuned instruments played a significant role in the album, and the challenges of capturing the sound live. "A lot of things on our record Wish that sound like heavy chorusing are actually just detuned instruments. The only drawback to that is onstage it's very confusing sometimes, especially with lots of phasing effects going on. It turns into this overwhelming pulsing sound, and you can't hear anything."[165]
While recording the Cure's debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, in 1978, Smith was using a Woolworth's Top 20 electric guitar, and he was advised by Chris Parry to use a better instrument. Smith bought a Fender Jazzmaster, having recently seen Elvis Costello playing one on Top of the Pops.[166] However, he then decided to have the Top 20 pickup installed in the Jazzmaster, giving it a third pickup. Smith explained this guitar customization in 1992: "The third pickup [in the Fender Jazzmaster] is from a Woolworth's Top 20 guitar, my very first electric. I took it in to record our first album, along with a little WEM combo amp. [Manager/producer] Chris Parry, who was paying for the record, said," you can't use that!" We went out and bought a Fender Jazzmaster, and I immediately had the Top 20 pickup installed in it, which really upset Chris. I played the entire Three Imaginary Boys album through a Top 20 pickup. It's a brilliant guitar, though I actually bought it because of how it looked."[165]
Smith's guitar work was first heard on the first Cure single "Killing An Arab", which was released in December 1978, where Smith performed an intricate Middle Eastern sounding descending and ascending guitar riff to accompany the song, as well as the B-side "10:15 Saturday Night", where Smith played a heavily-distorted 'tremolo bar' solo. Smith would soon expand on his guitar style further with the Cure's second album, Seventeen Seconds, notably on the single "A Forest", where Smith played an extended solo-outro on his Jazzmaster, as well as the single "Play For Today", where Smith demonstrated an intricate use of
With every Cure album release onward, Smith would incorporate a number of different guitars and sounds into the Cure's repertoire with stylistic versatility and craftsmanship over the course of 30 years. Notably, starting with The Top, in 1984, Smith started incorporating Spanish acoustic guitars (notably on the songs "Birdmad Girl", and "
I added the six-string bass on the Faith album. I think [producer] Mike Hedges stole it. I'm not sure from whom, but he said they'd never miss it. He worked with a lot of big-name artists and he felt it was his duty as a socialist to relieve them of some of their worldly possessions. So he gave me that at the end of Seventeen Seconds. I actually wrote "Primary" on it and incorporated it into a few other things.[152]
He wrote several songs on bass. He commented during an interview for Making Music in 1987: "A lot of the songs that we've done over the years I've written on the bass. I think I've been influenced by listening to [Steven] Severin play really, strumming bass chords. I was given the six-string bass... and as soon as I got that I thought — ah, unusual sound, and I translated that back on to guitar".[167]
Smith started incorporating more distortion and feedback sounds and textures on albums such as Wish where Smith predominantly played a Gibson Chet Atkins as well.[152]
Speaking to The Hit, Smith gave a frank assessment of his approach to guitar playing, and musicianship in general. "I'm not technically a good player but at least I don't sound like anyone else. For me the idea of being a musician has nothing to do with technical ability, but I suppose you have to have a certain amount to be able to put ideas into music. I think it's important to get past the stage of being comfortable with an instrument. You need the capacity to learn – most people tend to stay at the same level, which [I think] is boring to listen to."[168]
In popular culture
Early television and film references
An early "
Edward Scissorhands and influence on Tim Burton (1988–2012)
In 1988, a Spin magazine interview with Smith reported that "the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (i.e. Tim Burton) had asked Smith to make an appearance in a film.[171] The Cure's keyboardist Roger O'Donnell has since said that during recording of the Disintegration album (1988–89), Burton approached the group about providing the soundtrack to the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, and even sent them the script.[172]
In a 1991 article discussing inspirations behind the look of the film's title character, Entertainment Weekly (citing Burton and costume designer
The Sandman (1989–1996)
The Crow (1989–1994)
Smith's lyrics, as well as those of
Other comic book and fan fiction references
Television parodies and cameos: 1990–1993
In television comedy programs during the early 1990s, Smith was sometimes the subject of
Another sketch on The Mary Whitehouse Experience revolved around "Ray: a man afflicted with a sarcastic tone of voice", also portrayed by Newman, and presented in the style of a medical case history. Ray's catchphrase was "oh no, what a personal disaster". In the series' final episode, Ray is given a copy of the Cure's Disintegration LP as a present, and is so overwhelmed that he can no longer speak in a sarcastic tone, and spontaneously begins speaking Flemish. In the closing scene, Ray has a chance meeting with the real Robert Smith in a cameo appearance, who punches Ray in the face and declares "oh no, what a personal disaster".[195] Rob Newman and David Baddiel's live comedy video, History Today (1992), also features Newman's Robert Smith character, singing the children's songs "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "I'm a Little Teapot".[196] Smith later made another cameo in the comedy duo's spin-off series Newman and Baddiel in Pieces (1993). In a scene where David Baddiel fantasizes about his own funeral, Smith appears graveside, saying: "I've never been this miserable. I always preferred him to the other one" before leading a conga of mourners in party-hats around the graveyard.[197]
Career Girls (1997)
Mike Leigh's 1997 film Career Girls depicts the reunion of two women who formerly shared both a flat and a love of the Cure as teenagers in the 1980s, featuring the band's music and imagery throughout. Smith was invited by Leigh to the premiere, which Smith described as "one of the weirdest afternoons of my life ... There's one bit in the film when they see a poster for 'The 13th', the first single from the last album, and she says to her friend, 'Are they still releasing records?' And I thought that was really unfair -'The unchanging man in the changing world.'"[198]
South Park: Mecha-Streisand (1998)
In 1998, Smith voiced an animated version of himself in "
At the time, the episode brought South Park its highest ratings to date, with approximately 3,208,000 viewers; about 40,000 more than tuned into
When my nephews had seen that, they worshipped me, but [kept] asking: What is a disintegration, uncle Bob? I simply answered it was something I had made a long time ago. Still funny how everything I do – travel, experiencing so many things, having interesting meetings, making good-selling records – means nothing to them while since my appearance in South Park I'm immortal and famous to them .... Bastards.[203]
Interviewed by Placebo's Brian Molko for Les Inrockuptibles magazine, Smith said that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone sent him the script, but deliberately left some portions blank "to keep the surprise". He said, "They didn't want anybody to know, they wanted to shock. When I saw myself, I found it surrealistic."[204] In another interview set up by Entertainment Weekly, Smith told Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz that the "Disintegration is the best album ever!" scene was one of his "greatest moments in life"[205] and described the process:
I stayed up all night and went into this radio station and recorded my words down a phone line. I had no idea what it was all about. I had one of them on the other end of the line directing me, saying, "Please sound more like Robert Smith. Come on!" About six months later I saw it and I was completely thrown by what they had done with it.[205]
The Mighty Boosh: Nanageddon (2004)
In 2004, in an episode of the BBC surreal comedy series
This Must Be the Place (2011)
The look of Cheyenne (played by Sean Penn), the main character in director Paolo Sorrentino's 2011 film This Must Be the Place, is inspired by Smith's appearance.[207]
Personal life
Marriage
On 13 August 1988, Smith married Mary Theresa Poole (born 3 October 1958), whom he met in drama class at St Wilfrid's when he was 14.[11][208] They have no children.[209] Smith said he was against having children as he not only objects to having been born but refuses to impose life on another.[210][211] Smith adds that he also "does not feel responsible enough to bring a child into the world".[211] Smith and Poole have 25 nieces and nephews.[211]
Smith later revealed that early in his musical career, Mary had not always shared his confidence and vision for the Cure's future, which was a significant motivating factor in his ensuring that the band was successful.
Smith told The Face that he had once left a video camera running in their home "and after a couple of hours you forget that it's on and I was quite horrified at the amount of rubbish we say to each other. It's like listening to mental people ... I feel more natural in the company of people who are mentally unbalanced because you're always more alert, wondering what they're going to do next...". He claimed that Mary "used to dress as a witch to scare little children", that she sometimes dressed up as Robert Smith in his pyjamas, and that he could never take people home "because I never know who is going to answer the door".[215]
While the Cure was recording the Wish album at Shipton Manor, Oxfordshire, between 1991 and 1992, among the objects pinned to the wall was "Mary's Manor Mad Chart", listing seventeen members of the Manor's staff and residents (including the Cure and their entourage) "in order of instability". Mary was ranked in second place, after a woman named Louise who worked in the kitchen. "We all voted", said Smith, "and we had an award night. It was very moving".[216]
Family
Smith is the third of four siblings, and has said his mother Rita "wasn't supposed to have me", which was the reason for the significant age gap between him and his two elder siblings. "And once they got me, they didn't like the idea of having an only child, so they had my sister. Which is good, because I would have hated not having a younger sister."[9] He has described his younger sister Janet as a "piano prodigy"[10] and "the family's musical genius", but said that she was too shy to become a performer herself.[9] As well as having participated in the Crawley Goat Band since around 1973, Janet played keyboards as a member of Cult Hero in 1979, and their older sister Margaret contributed backing vocals to the project.[217][218] Janet, together with Simon Gallup's then-girlfriend Carol (both dressed as schoolgirls), with real-life schoolboys "the Obtainers", sang backing vocals for the Cult Heroes' live performance at the Marquee Club, opening for the Passions in March 1980.[219]
The Cure's in-house design company Parched Art created the album cover for the Cure's The Head on the Door using a manipulated photograph of Janet Smith taken by the Cure's guitarist and album cover artist Porl Thompson.[220][221] Janet had known Thompson since they were children,[222] and the pair began dating during Thompson's early tenure as lead guitarist for Malice and the Easy Cure.[223] During the mid-1980s, Janet gave up a professional career as a pianist to spend more time with Porl and the Cure,[213] and the couple were married in March 1988, making Robert Smith and Thompson brothers-in-law until the couple divorced in 2000.[224] Janet is also credited with having taught Robert's guitar technician Perry Bamonte to play piano while the band were recording Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, prior to Bamonte joining the group as keyboardist in 1990.[225] According to Bamonte, "With the patience of a saint, she spent a month teaching me the rudiments of playing piano. Before this, I knew nothing."[226]
During a concert at Tauron Arena in Kraków on 20 October 2022, the Cure introduced the song "I Can Never Say Goodbye", dedicated to Smith's recently deceased brother Richard.[227]
Views
Smith says that he is generally uncomfortable with interviews and conversations with strangers, and does not express an interest or desire to engage in either.[210] He has been shown to have a typically British dry sense of humour, as exemplified by a video of his induction into the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that went viral due to his deadpan reaction to an excited American interviewer.[228] He has a presence on multiple social media sites, but uses them solely to share Cure-related announcements and prevent people from following fake accounts.[210]
Smith has described himself as a "
Discography
- With the Cure
- With Cult Hero
- "I'm a Cult Hero" single (1979)
- With the Glove
- Blue Sunshine (1983)
- With Siouxsie and the Banshees
- As solo artist
- "Very Good Advice" (2010) Sammy Fain & Bob Hilliard cover, from Almost Alice
- "Small Hours" (2011) John Martyn cover, from the Johnny Boy Would Love This tribute album
- "Witchcraft" (2012) Cy Coleman & Carolyn Leigh cover, from Frankenweenie Unleashed!
- "C Moon" (2014) Wings cover, bonus from The Art of McCartney
- "There's a Girl in the Corner" (2015) The Twilight Sad cover, from a split single
Collaborations
Release | Year | Collaborator | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
The Affectionate Punch | 1980 | The Associates | Backing vocals on "The Affectionate Punch" and "Even Dogs in the Wild" |
"Yeh Yeh Yeh" and "Lifeblood" (split single) | The Magspies/The Obtainers | Producer | |
"Frame One" (single) | 1982 | Animation | Producer |
From Under the Hill | 1982 | And Also the Trees | Co-producer |
Torment and Toreros | 1983 | Marc and the Mambas | Smith co-wrote the song "Torment" with Marc Almond and Steve Severin |
"I Want to Be a Tree" single | 1984 | Tim Pope | |
The Pear Tree EP | 1989 | And Also the Trees | Smith and Mark Saunders co-produced the remixes; one of which also appears on some CD editions of the Farewell to the Shade album |
"Jewel" single | 1993 | The Cranes
|
Smith remixed and played on the single versions |
The Stranglers and Friends – Live in Concert | 1995 | The Stranglers | Guitar on "Get a Grip" and "Hanging Around". Recorded 1979 |
"A Sign From God" single | 1998 | COGASM | From the Orgazmo soundtrack |
Ulysses (Della Notte) | 2000 | Reeves Gabrels | Vocals and other instruments on the track "Yesterday's Gone" |
Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin | 2003 | Junkie XL | Vocals on the track "Perfect Blue Sky" |
Blink-182 | Blink-182 | Vocals on the track "All of This" | |
Zig Zag | Earl Slick | Vocals on the track "Believe" | |
Monument | 2004 | Blank & Jones | Vocals on the cover version of "A Forest", previously releases as a single in 2003. |
Trust It | Junior Jack | Vocals on the track "Da Hype", previously releases as a single in 2003. | |
2 a.m. Wakeup Call | Tweaker | Vocals on the track "Truth Is" | |
TheFutureEmbrace | 2005 | Billy Corgan | Backing vocals on the cover version of "To Love Somebody" |
To All New Arrivals | 2006 | Faithless | Vocals on the track "Spiders, Crocodiles & Kryptonite" |
The Ideal Condition | 2007 | Paul Hartnoll | Vocals on the track "Please", previously releases as a single. |
MTV Unplugged: Korn | KoRn | Vocals on the track "Make Me Bad/In Between Days" | |
We Were Exploding Anyway | 2010 | 65daysofstatic | Vocals on the track "Come To Me" |
"J'aurai tout essayé" single | Anik Jean | Vocal duet | |
"Not in Love" single | Crystal Castles | Vocals | |
Controlling Your Allegiance | 2011 | The Japanese Popstars | Vocals on the track "Take Forever" |
"It Never Was the Same" single | 2015 | The Twilight Sad | Vocals on the cover version of There's a Girl in the Corner |
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez | 2020 | Gorillaz | Featured vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, and music box on the track "Strange Timez", previously released as a single. |
Screen Violence | 2021 | Chvrches | Vocal duet on "How Not to Drown" |
Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. | 2023 | Crosses | Featured vocals on "Girls Float † Boys Cry" |
Notes
- ^ The 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.
- ^ "Robert Smith home demo" version of "10:15 Saturday Night", recorded in February 1978, appears on the 2004 Deluxe Edition of Three Imaginary Boys.
- ISBN 0-7119-1387-0)
- ^ Some 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 Clinic newsletter) as a new single in late 1980.
- ^ Severin was unavailable for the television appearance, so Porl Thompson appeared miming the bass, disguised in a long coat and hat.
- ^ Credited by Smith to Judy Collins, who had previously also recorded a version of the song – see "Judith – Judy Collins" (review), Allmusic. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ^ "Pirate Ships" did, however, see release as a download from the Cure's website in 2001 – see "The Cure's 'Disintegration' gets 3CD deluxe reissue in 2010, plus 'In Orange' on DVD", Slicing Up Eyeballs, 8 August 2009; retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ^ Thompson 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".
- ^ Underworld presented the show on 19 October, and Siouxsie Sioux on 20 October. Peel died on 25 October 2004.
- ^ The album was released in Japan in March 2011, and teasers of the Robert Smith track were available from the Chain of Flowers fan-site. See: "Teaser: The Cure's Robert Smith and the Japanese Popstars, 'Take Forever'", Slicing Up Eyeballs, 19 March 2011; retrieved 12 October 2012.
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...Smith told one reporter, "I don't believe in God. I wish I did." In The Face (1989), Smith said, "I used to lay myself open to visions of God, but I never had any. I come from a religious family, and there have been moments when I've felt the oneness of things, but they never last, they fade away, leaving me with the belief that it's only fear that drives people to religion. And I don't think I'm ever going to wake up and know that I was wrong."
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{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Oldham, James (August 2004). "Siamese Twins – The Cure and the Banshees". Uncut. No. 87. p. 60.
- ^ Sinclair, David (May 1984). "The Best Guitar Breaks In The World [Our six favourite guitarists choose their 30-odd favourite guitar tracks]". One Two Testing.
[Robert Smith:] 1) Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967): "There's a quality about it that nobody else has ever quite achieved. It sounds so effortless and everything sounds as it should be." 2) Hugh Cornwell "Hanging Around" The Stranglers (1977): "This has got a really good understated solo bit in it. I like unusual guitar playing... original sounds and interesting ideas." 3) John McGeoch "Headcut" Siouxsie And The Banshees (1981): "This is really harsh funk in a weird way – clever choppy chords." 4) Joe Strummer/Mick Jones "White Riot" The Clash (1977): "It had a complete disregard for technical merit, but sounded extremely vibrant, very exciting." 5 Lou Reed "White Light/White Heat" Velvet Underground (1967): "Hypnotic... a kind of drone that builds up and up around a repetitive motif. Noise and sound rather than defined sequences of notes.
- ^ "Robert Smith: Not Goth, Has Writer's Block". Stereogum. 6 December 2006. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ "The Cure's Robert Smith doesn't consider himself goth: "I never really took the whole culture thing seriously"". Consequence. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ "Robert Smith: 'One day my hair will fall out and I won't look gothic any more'". Time Out. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ "The Holy Hour". Imaginaryboys.altervista.org. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "The Cure Biography". Sing365.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Robert Smith on Craziness, Commercialism and Cure by Numbers (NY Rock Interview)". Nyrock.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ "The Cure". Total Guitar. 1 September 2014.
Robert Smith is highly underrated as a guitarist and songsmith, and this 1979 hit is a classic example of his proclivity for hooky singles.
- Billboard Charts.
Underrated guitar hero Robert Smith
- Vice magazine.
... Smith's proficiency as a guitarist—something he's long been underrated for...
- ^ Will Brewster (24 August 2020). "Gear Rundown: Robert Smith". Mixdown Magazine.
... often considered to be one of the most influential yet underrated guitarists of the 20th century...
- ^ a b c d Joe Gore (September 1992). "Confessions of a Pop Mastermind". Music Fan Clubs Organization (from Guitar Player magazine). MacroMusic, Inc. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ [5] Archived 11 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lewin, Jon (August 1987). "Miracle Cure [Robert Smith interview]". Making Music.
- ^ "Robert Smith's Critical Guide to Robert Smith". Archived from the original on 5 April 2015.
- ^ "Memorable quotes for "The Young Ones Sick" (1984)". IMDb. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ISBN 0-283-06229-0
- ^ Balfour, Brad, "Cure All", Spin, March 1988.
- ^ "The Cure's Robert Smith contributes rare solo song to 'Alice in Wonderland' soundtrack". Slicing Up Eyeballs. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
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- ^ Collis, Clark. "'Alice in Wonderland' soundtrack details revealed: Robert Smith, Pete Wentz, and Franz Ferdinand to contribute tracks"; 12 January 2010: "The soundtrack ... features contributions from Burton hair-a-like Robert Smith..."; retrieved 27 October 2012.
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- ^ "The Cure's Robert Smith, David Sylvian, and other New-Wave icons in bizarre Japanese Manga". Post-Punk.com. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- ^ Raff, Colin (3 October 2000). "A post-mortem on Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin". New York Press. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
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- ^ "The Cure – Newman and Baddiel TV sketch (1993)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ Stevenson, Jane, "Surviving The Cure", Toronto Sun, November 2001.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84772-739-8.
- ^ "Disintegration Rules". 19 February 1998.
- ^ "Chain of Flowers News Archive: February 1998". Chainofflowers.com. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
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- ^ "English press kit This Must Be The Place" (PDF). Festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Parker, Lyndsey (2 May 2019). "'Love' story: The Cure's 'Disintegration' and Robert Smith's romance, 30 years later". Yahoo Music. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ Gill, Andy (7 November 2008). "Robert Smith – What becomes of the broken-hearted?". The Independent.
- ^ a b c d Pattison, Louis (10 September 2011). "The Cure's Robert Smith: "I'm uncomfortable with politicised musicians"". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c WENN (23 July 2004). "Robert Smith Happy Without Children". Contactmusic.com.
- ^ a b Collins, Britt. "An interview with Robert Smith", Lime Lizard, March 1991.
- ^ a b Wigg, David (26 May 1986). "The Perfect Cure!". Daily Express.
- ^ "New Wave – romantiek op de Orient Express" (New Wave romance on the Orient Express". Hit Krant (in German). July 1986.
- ^ "A Suitable Case for Treatment". The Face. October 1985.
- ^ Sawyer, Miranda (May 1992). "Strange Days". Q.
- ^ "Cure, The – Seventeen Seconds". Discogs.com. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ISBN 0-946391-87-4
- ISBN 0-7119-1387-0
- ^ "Questions and Answers", Cure News 4, January 1988
- ISBN 0-7119-3867-9
- ^ Tesseyre, Cecile. "The Cure", Paris Match, August 1986.
- ISBN 978-1-84772-739-8
- ^ "Questions and Answers", Cure News 5, May 1988
- ^ Phillips, Shaun. "Making Up The Cure", VOX, November 1992
- ISBN 978-1-84772-739-8
- ^ Pearis, Bill (21 October 2022). "Watch The Cure debut new song "I Can Never Say Goodbye" in Poland". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ Interview prior to 2019 induction ceremony 29 March 2019
- ^ "Reading Festival, Richfield Avenue, Reading". The Independent. September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "This video of Robert Smith's withering putdown of the monarchy has gone viral". NME. 27 April 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ Grow, Kory (18 October 2019). "The Cure's Robert Smith Looks Back: 'I've Never Thought About Legacy'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
External links
- Robert Smith at Pictures of You
- Robert Smith discography at Discogs
- Robert Smith at IMDb
- Robert Smith at the better source needed]