10 Most Slept-On Tracks by The Cure
A deep dive into some of The Cure's most-overlooked songs
Between "B-Sides & Rarities" compilations becoming commonplace and the ease-of-access provided by internet, making lists like this is getting difficult when it comes to bands I listened to as a teenager. There isn’t much left unexplored these days.
If this was 1993-99, this list would not only be 2x as long, but a lot easier for me to make. I struggled to get 8 tracks that I still really like but don’t already have 10-300+ million plays on Spotify (and I had to cheat a bit to get to 10 tracks).
Back in the early to mid-90s The Cure was still mostly grouped in with “college rock” and it seemed most people just didn’t know who they were — and if they did it was likely only the songs "Friday I'm In love" and/or "Just Like Heaven".
Even in 1994, when "Burn" from The Crow soundtrack was getting played on mainstream radio for a few months, people my age really didn’t seem to care that much. There were so many good songs that The Cure song wasn’t even that big of a deal. IIRC, the STP, Helmet, NIN, and RATM songs were the most popular at the time.
Then, in February of 1998, the South Park episode Mecha-Streisand aired and the “Disintegration” cliché was born.
I never really got into that album as a whole — I do like a few of the songs, but I actually prefer the versions on "Show".
Back then South Park wasn't quite as popular, so the idea didn't spread too much for the first few years after it aired, but by the mid aughts — during the peak of the Pitchfork era of music — the idea of Disintegration being the best thing ever was effectively cemented into pop culture despite it never being mentioned in media or by musicians/celebrities.
The album itself only reached #12 on the Billboard charts [the same as Wild Mood Swings], and the highest charting single hit #2 at the end of October, 1989... and then by December was at #83. The only mainstream attention it got after a few months at the end of the 80s was that South Park episode a decade later... at the end of the 90s. Really makes you think.
Seriously, try to find covers of songs from Disintegration from before 1998 — or any Cure cover for that matter. Dinosaur Jr’s version of “Just Like Heaven”… and that embarrassing Smashing Pumpkins cover of “A Night Like This” (love SP, but that was… not good) are the only examples I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure there are some others, but the vast majority of them don’t show up until the 2000s, after The Cure had been memed back into the mainstream.
Eventually, it seems people started to focus on The Cure's more New Wave stuff. Something like "A Forest", which got obsessive levels of play on my mix tapes back in the mid-90s, is currently the 7th most popular Cure song overall — so, no point in trying turn people on to that.
Despite all this, I think there’s still something to contribute to the conversation, and hopefully you'll hear something new... or at least something you haven't listened to in a while.
Bananafishbones
Generally seen as the worst Cure album, The Top did have a few good songs on it. “Dressing up” and “The Caterpillar” are worth checking out if you haven't already… and, while I'm not a fan of “Shake Dog Shake”, it is the second most popular track on the album with over a million plays — so, someone likes it.
The track I want to highlight is “Bananafishbones”. I couldn't find a single mention of this song in any of the album reviews I've read online in the last few days. Not even Pitchfork. While not my favorite Cure song, it’s my favorite off this album. It's definitely a stand-out and deserves more attention, IMO.
Purple Haze
From Stone Free, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix released in 1993. This song is kinda the perfect distillation of early 90s hip-pop production. It's the first song on the album for a reason, but it has fewer than half a million plays on Spotify (for reference: the 10th most popular Cure song currently has 50 Million+ plays).
Note: Body Count's version of Hey Joe and PM Dawn's You Got Me Floatin' from Stone Free are worth checking out as well.
A Night Like This
“A Night Like This” was originally released in 1985 on The Head on the Door. It's not the most popular song on the album — currently ranked 5th with 7m+ plays — but the superior live version on Show has just over half a million plays. Show & Paris (Show’s sister album) both have a handful of songs that are better than the studio versions, IMO… check ‘em out if you haven’t already.
M
This one might not be all that overlooked, it is the 3rd most popular song on 17 Seconds, but I kinda have to include it. Forget Disintegration, back in the day, 17 Seconds, and specifically "A Forest" & "M" were my go-tos when recommending Cure songs. “A Forest” is currently the 7th most popular Cure song, so... maybe check out “M”.
A Man Inside My Mouth
The Exploding Boy
I'm Cold
These 3 tracks I originally heard on a bootleg of B-sides & rarities I bought in the West Village of NYC back in the late 90s… which I bought mostly for Another Journey By Train, but found a few more good tracks as well. Especially “A Man Inside My Mouth” — there’s something about the bridge that never gets old to me… or the photograph will spoil and cut you off at the head.
All 4 songs (plus “Purple Haze” and ton of others) can be found in one spot on the 2004 compilation Join The Dots (B-Sides & Rarities 1978-2001 The Fiction Years)
Jupiter Crash
When Wild Mood Swings came out, it was both the first album to come out since I really got into The Cure, and the last album that had anything I actually listened to on it. I taped an early live performance of the album off the radio, listened to that until the album was officially released, and remember kinda being disappointed in the most of the studio versions when eventually hearing them. Despite this, "Jupiter Crash" is still in my top 10 favorite Cure songs. "This is a Lie" and "Numb" are also worth a listen.
Mouth To Mouth
A Blues In Drag
Mr Alphabet Says
Technically not songs by "The Cure", but a neat side project of Robert Smith & Steven Severin (of Siouxsie and the Banshees) called The Glove.
Bonus Tracks
The Cure's 1991 appearance on MTV's Unplugged - featuring the debut of A Letter To Elise, really good versions of The Blood & If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, and apparently a cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, but I've never heard it or been able to find it online.
BTW: did anyone else catch Robert saying "This is from The Top album.." before playing "The Blood" during their MTV performance?
It's actually from "The Head on the Door"... wonder if it was written during the recording of "The Top" and he just forgot which album it went on... or maybe he just misspoke. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I know this substack is nearly two years old but the version of love will tear us apart is the b-side to burn (i believe, i may be wrong) and you can find it on youtube!