The Cure – Pornography

Opening with the oppressively dense ‘One Hundred Years’ (wherein Robert Smith sneered “It doesn’t matter if we all die”), Pornography was harsh and brutal, but while its creators may have been on the brink of collapse they were still capable of innovation. For example, Lol Tolhurst’s monumental drum sound was captured through a (then) radical approach where all the acoustic dividers were removed from RAK’s main room, leaving him to play his parts in a huge open space. Elsewhere, to create the weird, claustrophobic titular song, the band and co-producer Phil Thornalley used a proto-sampling technique whereby they dropped in snatches of commentary recorded from a TV documentary about sex. Though dominated by relentless, hypnotic dirges such as ‘The Figurehead’ and the icy, keyboard-swathed ‘Cold’, Pornography nonetheless yielded one minor hit single courtesy of the insistent, drum-heavy ‘The Hanging Garden’. Its parent LP’s unyielding darkness ensured it was received coldly by the critics on release, yet, commercially, Pornography still out-performed the band’s previous LPs, peaking at No.8 in the UK Top 40. Replicating the record’s sleeve, The Cure sported their soon-to-be trademark big hair and lipstick for the first time when they embarked on their ill-fated Fourteen Explicit Moments tour across Europe. Smith, Tolhurst and bassist Simon Gallup, however, split after inter-band tensions came to a head during the jaunt.

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The Cure; Pornography

A1.  One Hundred Years

A2.  A Short Term Effect

A3.  The Hanging Garden

A4.  Siamese Twins

B1.   The Figurehead

B2.   A Strange Day

B3.   Cold

B4.   Pornography