Why Can’t I Be You?

The first time I heard the modern rock band The Cure, I laughed. I thought it was a joke.
The Cure’s lead singer, Robert Smith — who wore makeup and teased up his long black hair — had the whiniest voice I had ever heard.
At the time I was to listening to a lot of British pop bands, heavy on the synthesizers and over production, so The Cure was an oddity.
A friend of mine in high school, I think his name was Richard, made me a copy of “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.” He told me it was one of the best tapes had ever heard.
Needless to say, my first impression was not has high as his. But over the next month or so, I started to listen to it more. While it was strange sounding, both vocally and musically, there was a sonic quality to it that was undeniable.
The tape spawned a few hits, including “Why Can’t I Be You?” and “Just Like Heaven,” and hearing those songs on the radio probably helped nurture the group’s appeal.
During my senior year, I bought a lot of Cure tapes (again with the tapes—scroll down). Like locusts, The Cure took over my music collection. I can now even say that I may have gotten a little obsessed with The Cure, not an unhealthy obsession, but an obsession nonetheless.
I stopped listening to The Cure around the turn of the century. The band, which has been around since the late 1970s, got geezeritis —that special time in a rock band’s life when they should just hang it up.
But, when I got my iPod, I loaded all of my Cure CDs into iTunes, and started rediscovering The Cure. They really had some solid music, especially on “Disintegration” from 1989 and “Head on the Door” from 1985.
The band is still making music, and they released an impressive self-titled CD in 2004 (produced by Ross Robinson who also worked with Korn and Limp Bizkit).
I no longer have that taped copy of “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me,” but I have the whole CD loaded on my iPod. It rocks. So much for first impressions.

Listen to an acousic version of "Just Like Heaven"
click to listen, right click to save