The Cure's Pornography As Psychedelic Post Punk Masterpiece

From The Quietus:

"While punk did indeed make a lasting impression on those who were touched by it, there were enough influences coming through from the 60s to also make a difference in the early 80s. The passage of time has served to rub out the impact that psychedelics made on the music of the post-punk era, but LSD was still popular and a strange legislative loophole meant that magic mushrooms were legal on the proviso that they weren't prepared in any way. In theory, picking and eating them at source wouldn't be tarnished by the threat of legal sanction.

It was in this environment, with the real world issues of the threat of nuclear war and harsh economic conditions also looming, that The Cure - then a trio of guitarist and vocalist Robert Smith, bassist Simon Gallup and drummer Lol Tolhurst - released their fourth album, Pornography. Dark, claustrophobic and densely packed, it unwittingly set a benchmark for subsequent generations while adjusting the vernacular for psychedelic music. Made under the influence of LSD and alcohol and in tense circumstances, it not only concluded a run of albums that had seen the band's sound evolve over a period of four years, it would also destroy that incarnation of the group."

Read the rest at The Quietus.