If you’re on the emo or indie side of music or have ever listened to the 96.3 radio station, you know The Cure. 

Formed by pianist Robert Smith, lead guitarist Marc Ceccagno, guitarist Michael Dempsey, percussionist Laurence Tolhurst, and bassist Alan Hill, the band first performed in April of 1973 at an end-of-year show as a school band known as Malice. The band would continue to go through some changes of names, such as ‘Malice’ and ‘Easy Cure’, until finally landing on ‘The Cure’ in 1978 after some complications with one of the band’s members who got dropped from being lead-guitarist. There would continue to be band member changes until we got the line-up we have today, Robert Smith being the only consistent member.

With a new name and a reformed band of vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist Robert Smith, bassist Michael Dempsey, and drummer Lol Tolhurst, The Cure released their first debut single, “Killing an Arab” in December of 1978. This song caused a lot of controversy as people thought the title had a racist background; however, the band stood behind their inspiration being the novel, ‘The Stranger.’ This controversy quickly cleared, and the band released their debut album of “Three Imaginary Boys” in May of 1979, Quickly followed by their classic, “Boys Don’t Cry,” in June of the same year. 

With all this music released, there has been a curious ongoing argument in The Cure’s fans (The Cureheads) on whether their tunes are goth or emo. Someone outside of the scene would assume the band identifies with being goth; however, in several interviews the band’s members have confirmed that the band was never supposed to be goth, it’s been an emo band through and through. Robert Smith told a ‘Louder Than War’ Reporter, “ I’m aware we played a part in it, and I think that we’re part of the history of goth, without question, but like a footnote. The Cure just aren’t a goth band. When people say it to me, you’re goth, I say you either have never heard us play or you have no idea what goth is. One of those two has to be true because we’re not a goth band...” Goth and Emo are subcultures often confused with one another, but they have their own distinct differences, especially in music. Each subculture is mainly rooted in music; Emo relates most to post-hardcore, pop punk, and indie rock while Goth relates most to punk rock, glam punk, and post punk. Researching what genre The Cure falls into, each result states Goth while Robert Smith continues to claim that the band has never been Goth.

Through the years, ‘The Cure’ has released several amazing albums and gone through several band-member changes. Through it all, they’ve consistently toured and performed live shows, and this year is no different. The Cure has recently announced a 2023 North America tour and they, luckily, are making a stop to Utah. On June 4th The Cure will be performing at Vivint Arena with the current members of  Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Roger O’Donnell, Perry Bamonte, Jason Cooper, and Reeves Gabrels. Tickets are on sale now and a quick read through the internet will tell you it’s a band worth seeing. They’re well known for their summer performances and their impressive ongoing dedication to their shows after so many years of performing. The band went on tour with their new album, “Songs of a Lost World”, last year in the UK and it’s planned to be released at some point in 2023, so we can assume that’s what we’ll be listening to when they tour North America. No matter what they perform, we can assume it’ll take the audience into a chokehold.