The Cure : Lots of Personnel Changes, Robert Smith the genius behind the success of The Cure

Originally called the Easy Cure, the band was formed in 1976 by schoolmates Smith, Michael Dempsey, and Laurence Lol Tolhurst. Initially, the group specialized in dark, nervy guitar pop with pseudo literary lyrics, as evidenced by the Albert Camus inspired Killing an Arab. A demo tape featuring Killing an Arab arrived in the hands of Chris Parry, an A&R representative at Polydor Records. by the time he received the tape, the band's name had been truncated to the Cure. Parry was impressed with the song and arranged for its release on the independent label Small Wonder in December 1978. Early in 1979, Parry left Polydor to form his own record label Fiction, and the Cure was one of the first bands to sign with the upstart label. Killing an Arab was then re-released in February of 1979, and the Cure embarked on its first tour of England. The Cure's debut album Three Imaginary Boys was released in May 1979 to positive reviews in the British music press. Later that year, the group released the non LP singles Boys Don't Cry and Jumping Someone Else's Train. That same year, the Cure embarked on a major tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees. During the tour, the Banshees guitarist John McKay left the group and Smith stepped in for the missing musician. For the next decade or so, Smith would frequently collaborate with members of the Banshees. At the end of 1979, the Cure released a single I'm a Cult Hero, under the name the Cult Heroes. Following the release of the single, Dempsey left the band to join the Associates, he was replaced by Simon Gallup at the beginning of 1980. At the same time, the Cure added a keyboardist Mathieu Hartley, and wrapped up production on the band's second album Seventeen Seconds, which was issued during the spring of 1980. The addition of a keyboardist expanded the group's sound, was which now more experimental and often embraced slow gloomy dirges. Nevertheless, the band still wrote pop hooks, as demonstrated by the group's first UK hit single A Forest, which peaked at number 31. After the release of Seventeen Seconds, the Cure launched its first world tour. Following the Australian leg of the tour, Hartley exited the lineup and his former bandmates chose to continue without him, releasing their third album in 1981 and watching it peak at number 14 in the charts. Faith also spawned the minor hit single Primary. The Cure's fourth album, the doom laden introspective Pornography was released soon after in 1982. Pornography expanded their cult audience even further and cracked the UK Top Ten. After the Pornography tour was completed, Gallup quit the band and Tolhurst moved from drums to keyboards. At the end of 1982, the Cure released a new single the dance tinged Let's Go to Bed. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed the video please! ​follow my INSTAGRAM : @egi_alamsah All materials featured in the video are owned by their respected owners. We do not claim their videos as our own. All videos/photos/used in the explanation are for visualization purposes only. #thecure #robertsmith #fridayiminlove #justlikeheaven

Added 19 Aug 2026