yasipedia #1: The Cure Part 1 & more
Here is the very first edition of yasipedia for those of you who want a little more.…a little more of what? Who knows, but it’s going to be rough babe because we (my therapist and I) are working on breaking the bondage of the chains of perfectionism okay??? Maybe soon I’ll pivot to making helpful self-care infographics about “boundaries” for instagram but in the meantime the only way I can do this little livejournal moment is if I tell myself it can totally and absolutely suck. Apologies in advance but that’s mento illness luv. *tips hat*
Anyway let’s fucking do this.
Before I get into the DIRECTOR’S CUT or whatever of the episode, here are a few things I’m really into lately if you even care:
-The crushed EP, still and forever
-this Robert and Mary Smith zine I made and also this t-shirt
-THIS Blondshell cover of the Cranberries song “Disappointment”
-The song “Mosaics” by this new LA band Cave Diver
-my Veronica Mars rewatch (that Dandy Warhols theme song hits every single time)
-Allie Rowbottom’s book Aesthetica
-The C Word podcast by Alissa Bennett and Lena Dunham
-making my own cream cheese from raw milk (I have not tried but like, the IDEA of it)
Ok here we go:
BANDSPLAIN: THE CURE PART 1
Frankly this Cure episode could have been a three or four parter, that’s how much juicy gorgeous information there was to discuss and dissect, especially thanks to the good keepers of the thoroughly populated Cure fan sites who do seem have to given up their good keeping sometime in the late 90s (can you blame them). I barely got to scratch the surface of how hot Robert Smith actually was and could have done a tight 30 minutes on his teeth alone…they are just this like special type of pointy sexy? Much like Billy Corgs, you can HEAR my man Bob’s teeth in the songs, it’s just a different toothy vibe. Stay with me okay.
Also he is the funniest man in goth biz? Absolute sad clown vibes but also like, mean clown. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Big Bob:
Re: Labor
“I spent eight or nine months on Social Security until they stopped my money. It came to the point where I’d rather have killed myself than get a job. I told Social Security to give the jobs to those who want them, I’d rather stay at home listening to music but they’d tell me I had to work and I’d just ask ‘Why?’”
Re: Joy Division opening for The Cure at Marquee in 1979
LOL TOLHURST: “I remember Ian Curtis had a very sad aura about him. I wasn’t at all shocked to hear about this passing later.”
ROBERT: “I can’t remember Joy Division at all. Backstage at The Marquee is about as big as a toilet and there were always about 20 people in there. We couldn’t go out to see them play because we were too nervous anyway, so how the fuck Lol noticed Ian Curtis was sad, I’ll never know.”
(this one took me the fuck out)
Re: the song “A Forest” : "It's just about a forest."
Re: The Cure’s first Top Of The Pops Appearance: “I just couldn’t believe how boring it was being on it. You know the people who go ‘whoop whoop’? I really hate them.”
Some other things:
Here is an early “Easy Cure” flyer:
Here is the original HANSA ad for the contest they ran to sign bands (that Easy Cure won):
Here is the cutest fucking little letter that the original Cure trio sent out to record labels:
Here is the very first Cure fanzine (I believe it was made by Robert’s sister Margaret?)
We talk about the “strange green suit” Robert was wearing when he first met Severin. I have reason to believe this is it:
Here’s a pic of Robert in what appears to the same suit with Siouxsie et al:
Here’s a cool German magazine ad for the single “Primary”
Here is a t-shirt from that same era I wish I owned:
Here are two pages from the journal that Lydia Lunch said she and Robert sent back and forth during the affair they started on the Pornography tour (I believe it went up for auction some time ago?)
(In case you missed it, I wrote an essay about Lydia and no wave film for Metrograph)
One of my favorite Robert Smith lyrics is from “Let’s Go To Bed”
Let me take your hands/I’m shaking like milk
Here is the genius annotation of that line (I remain obsessed with these people):
And lastly, here are all (or most) of the literary references used by Robert Smith from Three Imaginary Boys to The Top:
-The Stranger by Albert Camus (“Killing An Arab”)
-At Night by Franz Kafka (“At Night”)
-Other Voices by Truman Capote (“Other Voices”)
-The Vivisector by Patrick White (“The Lovecats”)
-The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peak (“All Cats Are Grey” and “The Drowning Man”)
-Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (“Charlotte Sometimes”)
-“A Perfect Day For Bananafish” by J D Salinger (“Bananafishbones”)
Listen to Bandsplain The Cure Part 1 HERE and the accompanying playlist HERE
Next week…we start feuding with Morrissey…we smear the lipstick on our face…we put out the best albums of our career…and more.