"Sorry this is a little late, but last Sunday (05/03/09) The Buzz alternative radio station in Kansas City played Disintegration in full to celebrate its 20th anniversary release. It was played on the show "Resurrection Sunday" and the DJ, Jason made some very good comments before and in between each track being played. He said that if you have never heard The Cure before that this is a great album to start with and that it defined them as a band and made them more popular worldwide. He also talked about their full catalog and stressed that if you thought The Cure were a depressing band, then think again - you MUST listen to all they have produced and understand that the band mean a great deal to an awful lot of people. He said that Disintegration defined alternative music and was a welcome break from the big hair bands such as Def Leppard in the US.
The show was very enjoyable to listen to and the DJ certainly knew his Cure stuff. (Thanks Steve)
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that album meant so much to me i saved every penny i had to fly back from Hawaii and see them perform it at Dodger stadium. I had the worst seats possible, but fortunately, The Cure were wonderful as always. I'll never forget it. Now, what's up with the reissue? I want it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny that the DJ mentioned Def Leppard. Was it not their album that prevented "Wish" from being #1 in the U.S.?
ReplyDeleteWasn't it Janet Jackson?
ReplyDeleteThe wife and I had this same conversation today. I cant believe it was 20 years ago that this album came out. Not only did it define the genre it made a huge impact on my personal life. I was a geekey 10th grader and this album helped me mature in to the adult I am today.
ReplyDeleteME WANT 1989!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was gonna make the same comment, Teryl72.It WAS Def Leppard that kept Wish from reaching top spot on the US album charts, and I find that just plain ridiculous. How could a bunch of yobbos from Sheffield be more popular than The Cure during their 'golden era'??
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the latest worldwide sales figures for 4:13 Dream? Is it still languishing in oblivion...terribly tragic for such a fantastic album!
And finally, which album has sold more copies overall in the US...Disintegration or Wish?
Just in a curious mood I guess.
"How could a bunch of yobbos from Sheffield be more popular than The Cure during their 'golden era'?
ReplyDeleteA good reflection of who buys records in the US(and the rest of the world for that matter), and you know what...nothing has changed.
Swifty: I don't have the worldwide numbers, but at the beginning of March, the US numbers were still horrible. Only 77,000 copies sold.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the US, Disintegration has sold more than 2 million copies, and Wish has sold more than 1 million. I don't have the exact numbers, but Disintegration has sold more in the US.
Jeff: It was Janet Jackson who kept Lovesong out of the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles.
Hey there, PM. Just checked your profile, and didn't Robert Smith used to live in your part of London, Maida Vale?!
ReplyDeleteBTW i suppose you borrowed your name from the penultimate song on The Glove album. What a fucking glorious record that was!
Thanks, Craig, for answering my trivial queries ;)
ReplyDeleteSwifty.Yes and yes...though i have no idea where Robert lived when he was in the area...it's a really nice part of London..i have lived here for 20yrs..
ReplyDeleteAs for the song it's a great one but it's really the title that does it for me :()
Cheers, PM, for answering my trivial queries ;)
ReplyDeleteI've heard Maida Vale is a lovely neck of the woods, and it was also the location of the BBC studio for those legendary 'Peel Sessions'
Yes indeed..i nearly bought a flat right accross on Delaware road..it still hosts a lot of BBC recordings of great music!!
ReplyDeleteTrivial queries...more fun than work :)
What annoys me most about 4:13 Dreams terrible sales isn't just the fact that it's a brilliant album (are we all agreed on that now?) but the fact The Cure are still insanely popular, yet the vast majority of people had no clue the album was out there.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure the vast majority of people have the Cure on top of their record buying lists(unfortunately), especially in the recession we are in..I think that it is an important factor.They are indeed insanely popular to this day, but so are a myriad of other(maybe more "trendy") bands, and maybe, given the choice people buy other bands albums first...Anyway..yes, fuck..20 years ago..i remember exactly where i stood at a London bus stop when Plainsong started on my Walkman....Happy days indeed!!
ReplyDeleteI AGREE that The Cure are still insanely popular...but NOT with the vast majority of people, unfortunately only with an obsessively devoted minority of outcasts and misfits - that's us fellas!
ReplyDeleteI was a freshman in college, alone in my dimly lit room, headphones on the little CD player my family had bought me for my high school graduation. 21 seconds of chimes, then this explosion of sound, lyrics so poetic they had literary quality, the most amazing music I'd ever heard and I thought, Fuck! Yes! Finally, i have found MY music. Fuck hair bands, fuck everything else I've ever heard before. Nothing has ever or will ever suck me in so immediately, so powerfully as Disintegration did. And it still amazes me to this day.
ReplyDeleteWhen my first girlfriend left me back in those days I put Disintegration on a loop for awhile. It was the perfect Cure, really.
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Chuck D,
ReplyDeleteNINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE!
Thanks for the validation Swifty. I remebered reading an interview where Robert said he hated Def Leppard. Hysterical!
ReplyDeleteDisintegration came out shortly after I moved overseas as a 15 year old. No friends, and in a brand new country, it was the perfect soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteIt seems quite overdramatic to say it now but at times I've honestly felt that this album saved my life.
Hard to believe it's been twenty years since Disintegration came out.
ReplyDeleteBack then I was 20 & I remember buying it like it was yesterday. Went to Tower Records in my home town and waited in line before the store opened up with all the other Cure Fans. They had a mini party at the store too. It was fun and then I took my CD home and listened to it over & over for the rest of the day. I just loved it!
When is the deluxe version coming out? I really want to get it!
And what a cool DJ in KC to play the album in its entirety! Great to read that there is someone in the radio business who is truly a Cure Fan and knows his stuff unlike the noobs in Philly!
I gotta say this and I wonder if anyone else out there feels the same way ... I'd been listening to The Cure for a few years when Disintegration was released ... and I didn't care for it. It really took a while to grow on me. I love it now, but it was a hard sell for awhile. And I really can't say why! Am I the only one? And it can't truly have been twenty years, can it?
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I was very very happy when I found The Buzz radio station in Kansas City. You see, I lived all my life in the UK - was born there and moved here 7 years ago to start a new life with my wife and then unborn daughter. I had been to KC before and what I could see and hear all over was bad country music and big hair band stuff which I absolutely do not like at all.
ReplyDeleteCouple strange (but awesome) things happened since being here. You see - I have been a massive, massive Cure fan since 1987 when I first saw them live at Wembley Arena in London on the Kissing Tour and saw them every chance I got after that, bought everything they did and followed every bit of news I could find - especially here on COF (thanks to Craig). We made the decision to move here and I was very very worried that I would never see The Cure again and I would have to listen to crap music or no music on the radio.
When I bought my first stereo system here in KC, i plugged it in a tried to find something I liked, and there was Plainsong playing on the radio. I found The Buzz and stayed tuned in ever since. It was really great hearing them play Disintegration last weekend and the great comments made by the DJ. But that's not all. My fear of never seeing them play live again was unfounded. You see - they came to Kansas City last summer. How great and how weird is that. From what I have found out - they have not played here in a very long time, or even at all. And here they come after I move here. Its like it was meant to be. They came here for me to thank me for all the support. (that's what it felt like anyway!)
On a last note (cause i've been going on a bit) it was great to be able to give them something back with that book Heron put together. My art is the one with the green hand over an obscured Robert face if you have seen the book (mine will be waiting for me when i get home - thanks Heron.).
I love reading the stuff on here everyday. I don't post very much, but trying to change that. You guys are awesome.
Steve.