1973–1979: Formation and early years The founding members of the Cure were school friends at Notre Dame Middle School in
Crawley. They first performed in public at an end-of-year show in April 1973 as members of a one-off school band called Obelisk. That band consisted of Robert Smith on piano,
Michael Dempsey on guitar,
Lol Tolhurst on percussion, Marc Ceccagno on lead guitar, and Alan Hill on bass. They called themselves Malice and rehearsed
David Bowie,
Jimi Hendrix and
Alex Harvey songs in a local church hall. By late April 1976, Ceccagno and the other two members had left, and Tolhurst (drums), Martin Creasy (vocals), and
Porl Thompson (guitar) had joined the band. This lineup played all three of Malice's only documented live shows during December 1976. In January 1977, Creasy departed from the band. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of
punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure; this name was derived from a song written by Tolhurst. After winning a talent competition, Easy Cure signed a
recording contract with German record label
Ariola-
Hansa on 18 May 1977. None were ever released. The band continued to perform regularly around Crawley (including the Rocket, St Edward's, and Queen's Square in particular) throughout 1977 and 1978. On 19 February 1978 they were joined at the Rocket for the first time by a support band from
Horley called Lockjaw, featuring bassist
Simon Gallup. Hansa, dissatisfied with the group's demos, did not wish to release their original song "
Killing an Arab". The label suggested that the band attempt cover versions instead. They refused, and by March 1978 Easy Cure's contract with the label had been dissolved. Smith later recalled, "We were very young. They just thought they could turn us into a teen group. They actually wanted us to do cover versions and we always refused." before guitarist Porl Thompson was dropped from the lineup because his lead-guitar style was at odds with Smith's growing preference for
minimalist songwriting. Smith soon renamed the remaining trio the Cure. Later that month the band recorded their first sessions as a trio at Chestnut Studios in Sussex, producing a demo tape for distribution to a dozen major record labels. The demo found its way to
Polydor Records scout
Chris Parry, who signed the Cure to his newly formed
Fiction label – distributed by Polydor – in September 1978. The Cure released their debut single "Killing an Arab" in December 1978 on the
Small Wonder label as a stopgap until Fiction finalised distribution arrangements with Polydor. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy. While the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is based on French author
Albert Camus's novel
The Stranger. The band placed stickers that denied the racist connotations on the single's 1979 reissue on Fiction. An early
NME article on the band wrote that the Cure "are like a breath of fresh suburban air on the capital's smog-ridden pub-and-club circuit," and noted: "With a
John Peel session and more extensive London gigging on their immediate agenda, it remains to be seen whether the Cure can retain their refreshing
joie de vivre." The Cure released their debut album,
Three Imaginary Boys, in May 1979. Because of the band's inexperience in the studio, Parry and engineer
Mike Hedges took control of the recording. The band, particularly Smith, were unhappy with the album; in a 1987 interview, he admitted: "a lot of it was very superficial – I didn't even like it at the time. There were criticisms made that it was very lightweight, and I thought they were justified. Even when we'd made it, I wanted to do something that I thought had more substance to it." The band's second single,
"Boys Don't Cry", was released in June. The Cure then embarked as the support band for
Siouxsie and the Banshees'
Join Hands promotional tour of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales between August and October. The tour saw Smith pull double-duty each night by performing with the Cure and as the guitarist with the Banshees when
John McKay quit the group in Aberdeen. That musical experience had a strong impact on him: "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with the Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like the
Buzzcocks or
Elvis Costello; the punk
Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing." The Cure's third single, "
Jumping Someone Else's Train", was released in October 1979. Soon afterwards, Dempsey was dropped from the band because of his cold reception to material Smith had written for the upcoming album. Dempsey joined
the Associates, while Simon Gallup (bass) and
Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from
the Magspies joined the Cure. The Associates toured as support band for the Cure and
the Passions on the
Future Pastimes Tour of England between November and December – all three bands were on the Fiction Records roster – with the new Cure line-up already performing a number of new songs for the projected second album. Meanwhile, a spin-off band comprising Smith, Tolhurst, Dempsey, Gallup, Hartley, and Thompson, with backing vocals from assorted family and friends and lead vocals provided by their local postman Frankie Bell, released a
7-inch single in December under the name
Cult Hero.
1980–1982: Early gothic phase Due to the band's lack of creative control on their first album, Smith exerted a greater influence on the recording of their second album,
Seventeen Seconds, which he co-produced with Mike Hedges. The album was released in 1980 and reached number 20 on the
UK charts. A single from the album, "
A Forest", became the band's first UK hit single, reaching number 31 on the singles chart. The album was a departure from the Cure's sound up to that point, with Hedges describing it as "morose, atmospheric, very different to
Three Imaginary Boys." In its review of
Seventeen Seconds the
NME said, "For a group as young as the Cure, it seems amazing that they have covered so much territory in such a brief time." At the same time, Smith became concerned about the concept of an alleged "anti-image". Smith told the press he was fed up with the anti-image association that some considered to be "elaborately disguising their plainness", stating, "We had to get away from that anti-image thing, which we didn't even create in the first place. And it seemed like we were trying to be more obscure. We just didn't like the standard rock thing. The whole thing really got out of hand." That same year
Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged for the American market as ''
Boys Don't Cry'', with new artwork and a modified track list. The Cure set out on their first world tour to promote both releases. At the end of the tour, Matthieu Hartley left the band. Hartley said, "I realised that the group was heading towards suicidal, sombre music – the sort of thing that didn't interest me at all." The band reconvened with Hedges to produce their third album,
Faith (1981), which furthered the dour mood present on
Seventeen Seconds. The album peaked at number 14 on the UK charts. Smith has said that during the recording of
Pornography he was "undergoing a lot of mental stress. But it had nothing to do with the group, it just had to do with what I was like, my age and things. I think I got to my worst round about
Pornography. Looking back and getting other people's opinions of what went on, I was a pretty monstrous sort of person at that time". He subsequently became a full-time member of that band, and was featured on the live video and album
Nocturne. He then recorded the album
Hyæna with them, but left the group two weeks before its June 1984 release to concentrate on the Cure.
1983–1988: Commercial success With Gallup's departure from the Cure and Smith's work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, rumours spread that the Cure had broken up. In December 1982, Smith remarked to
Melody Maker, "Do the Cure really exist any more? I've been pondering that question myself ... it has got to a point where I don't fancy working in that format again." He added, "Whatever happens, it won't be me, Laurence and Simon together any more. I know that." Parry was concerned about the state of his label's top band, and became convinced that the solution was for the Cure to reinvent its musical style. Parry managed to convince Smith and Tolhurst of the idea; Parry said, "It appealed to Robert because he wanted to destroy the Cure anyway." With Tolhurst now playing keyboards instead of drums, the duo released the single "
Let's Go to Bed" in late 1982. While Smith wrote the single as a throwaway, "stupid" pop song to the press, it became a minor hit in the UK, reaching number 44 on the singles chart, These singles and their B-sides were compiled on the
Japanese Whispers compilation, which was released in December 1983. In 1984, the Cure released
The Top, a generally psychedelic album on which Smith played most of the instruments except drums (played by
Andy Anderson) and saxophone (played by early Malice member Porl Thompson, who then officially joined the Cure). The album was a Top 10 hit in the UK, and was their first studio album to crack the
Billboard 200 in the US, reaching number 180.
Melody Maker praised the album as "psychedelia that can't be dated", while pondering, "I've yet to meet anyone who can tell me why the Cure are having hits now of all times." The Cure then embarked on their worldwide
Top Tour with Thompson and Anderson, along with Phil Thornalley who had produced
The Top and assumed bass duties for live performances. Released in late 1984, the Cure's first live album,
Concert, consisted of performances from this tour. Near the tour's end, Anderson was fired for destructive behaviour, and was temporarily replaced for a few shows by Vince Ely of
the Psychedelic Furs. The drummer position was then officially filled by
Boris Williams, who had previously been the touring drummer for
Thompson Twins. Ely and Williams had both been recommended by Phil Thornalley, from his previous experiences as a producer and engineer. Soon thereafter, Thornalley also left because of the stress of touring. Former Cure bassist Simon Gallup, who had formed the band
Fools Dance in the interim, rejoined the Cure after roadie Gary Biddles brokered a reconciliation between Gallup and Smith. Smith was ecstatic about Gallup's return and declared to
Melody Maker, "It's a group again." In 1985, the new line-up of Smith, Tolhurst, Gallup, Williams, and Thompson (now on guitar and keyboards) released
The Head on the Door, an album that managed to bind together the optimistic and pessimistic aspects of the band's music between which they had previously shifted.
The Head on the Door reached number seven in the UK and number 59 in the US, This compilation made the US top 50, The concert ended in a riot after fans who had purchased counterfeit tickets were denied entry to the venue. The Cure did not play in Argentina again until 2013. and was the band's first entry into the US top 40 at number 35; the album was also certified platinum in the US. The album's third single, "
Just Like Heaven", was the band's most successful single to date in the US, being their first to enter the
Billboard Top 40.
Disintegration also reached number 12 on the US charts. Because Tolhurst was still on the payroll during the recording of
Disintegration, he is credited in the album's liner notes as playing "other instruments" and is listed as a co-writer of every song; however, it has since been revealed that while Tolhurst had contributed to the song "Homesick", his contributions to the rest of the album were minimal due to his alcoholism. In May 1990, O'Donnell quit and was replaced by
Perry Bamonte, who played both keyboards and guitar and had been a member of the band's road crew since 1984. That November, the Cure released a collection of remixes called
Mixed Up. The one new song on the collection, "
Never Enough", was released as a single. In 1991, the Cure were awarded the
Brit Award for
Best British Group. That same year, Tolhurst filed a lawsuit against Smith and Fiction Records over royalties payments and claimed that he and Smith jointly owned the name "The Cure"; the lawsuit finally ended in 1994 in favour of Smith. In the meantime, the band returned to the studio to record their next album.
Wish (1992) reached number one in the UK and number two in the US and yielded the international hits "
High" and "
Friday I'm in Love". In the autumn of 1993, the band released two live albums,
Show and
Paris, featuring recordings from concerts on their
Wish world tour.
1994–1998: Transition In 1994, the band composed the original song "Burn" for the
soundtrack to the movie
The Crow, which went to number one on the
Billboard 200 albums chart. Between the release of
Wish and the start of sessions for the Cure's next studio album, the band's line-up shifted again. Porl Thompson left the band to tour with
Page and Plant and was not replaced, while Boris Williams quit and was replaced by new drummer
Jason Cooper (formerly of
My Life Story).
Wild Mood Swings, finally released in 1996, was poorly received compared with previous albums and marked the end of the band's commercial peak. Early in 1996, the Cure played festivals in South America, followed by a world tour in support of the album. In 1997 the band released
Galore, a compilation album containing all of their singles released between 1987 and 1997, as well as the new single "
Wrong Number", which featured longtime
David Bowie guitarist
Reeves Gabrels. In 1998 the Cure contributed the song "More Than This" to the
soundtrack for
The X-Files film, as well as a cover of "
World in My Eyes" for the
Depeche Mode tribute album
For the Masses.
1999–2005: The Trilogy and more personnel changes With only one album left in their record contract and with commercial response to
Wild Mood Swings and the
Galore compilation lacklustre, Smith once again considered that the end of the Cure might be near and thus wanted to make an album that reflected the more serious side of the band. The
Grammy-nominated album
Bloodflowers was released in 2000 after being delayed since 1998. According to Smith, the album was the third of a trilogy along with
Pornography and
Disintegration. The band embarked on the nine-month Dream Tour, which included 20 dates in the United States. In 2001, the Cure left Fiction and released their
Greatest Hits album and DVD, which featured the music videos for a number of their songs. The band released
The Cure: Trilogy as a double
live album video, on two double layer
DVD-9 discs, and later on a single
Blu-ray disc. It documents the Trilogy Concerts, in which the three albums
– Pornography,
Disintegration, and
Bloodflowers – were played live in their entirety one after the other each night, the songs being played in the order in which they appeared on the albums.
Trilogy was recorded on two consecutive nights, 11–12 November 2002, at the
Tempodrom Arena in
Berlin. In 2003, the Cure signed with
Geffen Records. In 2004, they released a new four-disc boxed set on Fiction Records titled
Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978–2001 (The Fiction Years). The album peaked at number 106 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart. While attendances were lower than expected,
Curiosa was still one of the more successful American summer festivals of 2004. The same year the band was honoured with an
MTV Icon award in a television special presented by
Marilyn Manson. In May 2005, O'Donnell and Bamonte were fired from the band. O'Donnell claims Smith informed him he was reducing the band to a three-piece. Previously O'Donnell said he had only found out about the band's upcoming tour dates via a fan site and added, "It was sad to find out after nearly twenty years the way I did, but then I should have expected no less or more." The remaining members of the band
– Smith, Gallup and Cooper
– made several appearances as a trio In July 2005, the band performed a set at the Paris concert of the
Live 8 series of benefit concerts.
2006–2018: 4:13 Dream and Reflections The Cure began writing and recording material for their thirteenth album in 2006. The Cure postponed their autumn 2007 North American 4Tour in August to continue working on the album, rescheduling the dates for spring 2008. The group released four singles and an EP
– "
The Only One", "
Freakshow", "
Sleep When I'm Dead", "
The Perfect Boy" and
Hypnagogic States respectively
– on or near to the 13th of each month, in the months leading up to the album's release. Released in October 2008,
4:13 Dream was a commercial failure in the UK compared to their previous album releases, only staying in the charts two weeks and not peaking higher than number 33. In February 2009, the Cure received the 2009 Shockwaves
NME Award for Godlike Genius. O'Donnell officially rejoined the Cure in 2011 before the band performed at the
Vivid Sydney festival in Australia. The band performed seven additional Reflections concerts in 2011, one in London, three in New York City and three in Los Angeles. On 27 September, the Cure was announced as a nominee for 2012 induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In
NME's cover article for March 2012, the Cure announced that they would be headlining a series of summer music festivals across Europe, including the Leeds/Reading Festival. On 1 May, Porl Thompson announced that he had left the Cure for the second time. On 26 May, the Cure embarked on a 19-date summer festival tour of Europe, commencing at the
Pinkpop Festival, joined by Reeves Gabrels on guitar. On the same day, it was announced that Gabrels would be standing in for the tour, but at that point was not a full-fledged member of the band. Several weeks into the tour, the band invited Gabrels to become a member and he accepted. In 2013, the Cure toured South America, where they had not performed since 1987 apart from two 1996 concerts in Brazil. In early 2014, Smith announced that the band would release a follow-up to
4:13 Dream later that year titled
4:14 Scream. The releases would be compiled together as a double album named
4:26 Dream. However, this project was eventually abandoned. The Cure paid tribute to
Paul McCartney on the album titled
The Art of McCartney, which was released on 18 November 2014. The Cure covered
the Beatles' song "
Hello, Goodbye" which featured guest vocals and keyboards from Paul's son
James McCartney. A video of the band and James performing the song was released on 9 September 2014; it was filmed at
Brighton Electric Studio in Brighton. Robert Smith also covered McCartney's "
C Moon" on the album's bonus disc. In the summer of 2015, the
Disintegration track "Plainsong" was featured in a humorous moment in the movie
Ant-Man, but did not appear on the movie's soundtrack. In June 2018, the Cure headlined the 25th annual
Meltdown Festival in London. Smith also selected the festival's lineup, which included several of his personal favourite artists, including
Nine Inch Nails,
My Bloody Valentine,
Deftones,
Placebo,
Manic Street Preachers, and
Kristin Hersh, among others. On 7 July 2018, Cure performed a 40th anniversary concert at
Hyde Park as part of the
British Summer Time concert series. For
Record Store Day 2018, the Cure released a remastered, deluxe edition of
Mixed Up, along with a sequel titled
Torn Down featuring 16 new remixes all created by Robert Smith.
2019–present: Songs of a Lost World In a March 2019 interview with
Rolling Stone, Smith revealed that the band recorded 19 songs, several of them lengthy, and planned to release an album later that year. He reiterated a 2019 release date in a subsequent July interview with
NME, admitting that a few songs needed to be re-recorded in August. The year passed with no new studio release, as did the following four years. The Cure embarked on a 23-date summer tour, consisting mostly of festival performances along with four dates in
Sydney, Australia. The final Sydney show on 30 May was live-streamed. The band performed at the
Austin City Limits Music Festival in October 2019. Later that same month, the band issued
40 Live: CURÆTION-25 + Anniversary, a Blu-ray, DVD and CD box set featuring their Meltdown and Hyde Park performances from 2018 in their entireties. In interviews in June 2021, Smith referenced the recording of two new Cure albums, saying "One of them's very, very doom and gloom and the other one isn't," and that the recordings have been completed, "I just have to decide who's going to mix them." On 15 August 2021, bassist Simon Gallup posted on his social media that he had left the Cure. No official statement concerning his departure was made by Smith or the band and Gallup subsequently deleted the post. On 14 October 2021, Gallup confirmed that he was still in the band. In March 2022, Smith confirmed that the first of the band's two projected new albums would be titled
Songs of a Lost World. An update was provided in May 2022, when Smith claimed that the album would be released prior to the band's European tour in October 2022. This, however, did not happen, as the tour got underway with no new album being released, although new material was performed.
Perry Bamonte returned to the band for their Lost World tour beginning with their 6 October 2022 concert in
Riga, Latvia. In March 2023, the Cure announced a 30-date North American leg of the
Shows of a Lost World tour, set to take place in May through July, the band's first full United States tour since 2016. Smith was outspoken against
Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model and
ticket scalpers, setting base prices as low as $20 before fees; he also negotiated with the company to issue partial refunds to fans who were subjected to excessive fees above the list price. The Cure released a 12-inch single on 1 October 2024 featuring live recordings of two new songs, "And Nothing Is Forever" and "I Can Never Say Goodbye", that were recorded at a concert in France in 2022. In September 2024, the band began sending out cryptic postcard messages to fans who signed up for their mailing list along with a poster unveiled in a pub in Robert Smith's hometown where the band played some of their earliest shows. On 26 September, the first single from the album, "
Alone", was released. The album was produced by Smith and
Paul Corkett, who Smith previously worked with to produce
Bloodflowers.
Songs of a Lost World, their first studio album in sixteen years, was released on 1 November 2024.
Songs of a Lost World reached number one on the
UK Albums Chart, and was the Cure's first chart-topping album since
Wish in 1992. In the United States,
Songs of a Lost World debuted at number four on the
Billboard 200, and was the band's first top ten album there since
The Cure in 2004. In October 2024, Smith said the Cure would release a follow-up album to
Songs of a Lost World and tour in 2025, and would release a documentary in 2028. He also suggested that the Cure would retire in 2029, which would be the year he turns 70 and the 50th anniversary of their debut album,
Three Imaginary Boys. A 24-track album,
Mixes of a Lost World, was released in June 2025, featuring remixes of songs from
Songs of a Lost World by artists including
Chino Moreno,
Trentemøller, and
Paul Oakenfold. Perry Bamonte died on 24 December 2025 at the age of 65 following a short illness. At the
68th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2026, the Cure won their first Grammys, for
Best Alternative Music Album for
Songs of a Lost World and
Best Alternative Music Performance for "
Alone". ==Musical style==