“Boys Don’t Cry” - a career-defining, classic single. Pure pop. A three-minute wonder. Timeless, if you like. So why didn’t it even scrape the lower end of the UK singles chart in its release in the summer of 1979? Released on Friday, 29 June ’79, the single was timed to coincide with The Cure’s headline … Continue reading 29 June 1979: Who killed “Boys Don’t Cry”?
“Lullaby” was the first single to be released in fourteen months and The Cure’s first new material in two years. The promo for it was not inconsiderable. You could buy the record on plain old 7”, clear vinyl picture disc 7”, gatefold sleeve 7”, or on a pretty 12” in pink vinyl. The CD single … Continue reading 20 April 2019: The “Lullaby” video and promo
There’s no doubt that “Grinding Halt” was seen by Chris Parry as one of the key tracks from the Three Imaginary Boys album. A 12” promo single, packaged in plain white sleeve, made its way out to select journalists and jocks in late April. Ian Penman found it in a pile of records up for … Continue reading 19 April 2019: Was “Grinding Halt” going to be The Cure’s second single?
The 12” is a peculiar beast. In the right hands, it can be a monster. Look at the success of "Blue Monday", for example. Some of New Order’s tunes work better as extended versions: "Everything’s Gone Green", "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle". They all sound right. The 12” mix, when done correctly, can be a … Continue reading 10 April: Is “Lullaby” the best 12” The Cure ever released?
This day saw the official launch of Fiction Records with the arrival of FICS 001: the reissue of The Cure’s first single, “Killing An Arab”/“10.15 Saturday Night”. The same day, the band performed a show at the Nashville Room in Kensington - Lol Tolhurst recalls a contingent from the National Front turning up, thinking that … Continue reading 9 February 1979: Is “Killing An Arab” racist?
Having rushed to get the first Cure single released before Christmas on the Small Wonder label, Chris Parry found that he’d missed the end of year deadlines for the weekly music press, meaning that most reviews of the 45 appeared in dribs and drabs into January 1979, with some writers noting it in live reports. … Continue reading 20 January 1979: “Killing An Arab” and the critics
Christmas 1978 was intended to be key moment for two post-punk labels that would go on to redefine the industry… but it didn’t quite work out like that. The legend is that Factory Records’ first single appeared on Christmas Eve ’78. But it seems that despite Tony Wilson’s intentions, nobody actually got their hands on … Continue reading 1 January 1979: A Tale Of Two Cities #2 – “Killing An Arab” and “A Factory Sample”
Crying For Yesterday 