''Disintegration'' is the eighth studio album by English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
, released on 2 May 1989 by
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. It was originally a part of Polydor, ...
. The record marks a return to the introspective
gothic rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist
Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's
pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of
hallucinogenic drugs
Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...
, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album. The band recorded the album at
Hookend Recording Studios in
Checkendon, Oxfordshire, with co-producer
David M. Allen from late 1988 to early 1989. Following the completion of the
mixing, founding member
Lol Tolhurst
Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...
was fired from the band.
The album became the band's first commercial peak, charting at number three in the United Kingdom and at number 12 in the United States, and producing several hit singles including "
Lovesong", which peaked at number two on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. It remains the band's highest selling record to date, with more than four million copies sold worldwide. It was greeted with a warm critical reception before later being acclaimed, eventually being placed at number 116 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine's list of the "
500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called it the "culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s".
Background
The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
's second album ''
Seventeen Seconds
''Seventeen Seconds'' is the second studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 18 April 1980 by Fiction Records. The album marked the first time frontman Robert Smith co-produced with Mike Hedges. After the departure of original ba ...
'' (1980) established it as a prominent
gothic rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
band, which would be followed up by ''
Faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
'' (1981), and ''
Pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, '' (1982). Three singles were released during 1982 and 1983 that were a significant divergence in style; essentially, pop hits. "
The Love Cats" became the band's first single to infiltrate the top ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number seven. This shift is attributed to Smith's frustration over the band's labelling as a predictable gothic rock band: "My reaction to all those people ... was to make a demented and calculated song like '
Let's Go to Bed'." Following the return of guitarist
Porl Thompson
Pearl Thompson (born 8 November 1957 as Paul Stephen ThompsonChris Gerrard (2021)The Cure FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Most Heartbreakingly Excellent Rock Band the World Has Ever Known. Backbeat, ISBN 9781493053988, p. 155) is an E ...
and bassist
Simon Gallup
Simon Jonathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith.
Early years
Born in Duxhurst ...
and the addition of drummer
Boris Williams
Boris Peter Bransby Williams (born 24 April 1957) is a French-born English drummer best known for his extensive work with the Cure (1984–1994).
Biography
Born in Versailles, France, he had previously worked with various artists, including T ...
in 1984, Smith and keyboardist
Lol Tolhurst
Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...
continued to integrate more pop-oriented themes with the release of the group's sixth studio album ''
The Head on the Door
''The Head on the Door'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band the Cure. It was released on 30 August 1985 by Fiction Records. Preceded by the single "In Between Days" which had reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart, ''The Head on the D ...
'' (1985). With the singles "
In-Between Days" and "
Close to Me", the band became a viable commercial force in the United States for the first time.
The band's 1987 double album ''
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 26 May 1987 by Fiction Records.
The album helped bring the Cure into the American mainstream, becoming the band's first album to reach the to ...
'' resulted in further commercial success, with a sold-out world tour booked in its wake. Despite the international success the band was now enjoying, internal friction was increasing due to Tolhurst's increasing alcoholism at the time. Keyboardist
Roger O'Donnell
Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) is an English keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure. O'Donnell has also performed in The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins and Berlin, as well as having an active solo career.
Background
O'Do ...
(who had recently been touring with
The Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene ...
), was soon hired as a second touring keyboardist. As Tolhurst's alcohol consumption increased, the other band members would tease Tolhurst, leading Smith to later comment that his behaviour was similar to that of "some kind of handicapped child being constantly poked with a stick". At the end of the Kissing Tour in support of the album, Smith became uncomfortable with the side effects of being a pop star and moved to
Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...
(in West London) with fiancée Mary Poole. Regularly taking
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
to cope with his depression, Smith once again felt the band was being misunderstood and sought to return to its dark side with their next record.
Recording and production
Smith's depression prior to the recording of ''Disintegration'' gave way to the realization on his 29th birthday that he would turn 30 in one year. This realization was frightening to him, as he felt all the masterpieces in rock and roll had been completed well before the band members reached such an age. Smith consequently began to write music without the rest of the band. The material he had written instantly took a dismal, depressing form, which he credited to "the fact that I was gonna be thirty". The band convened at Boris Williams' home and compared their individual demos that each member recorded, and they rated them '1 to 10', then the group met later at a second session and recorded a total of 32 songs at Williams' house with a 16-track recorder by the end of the summer. Of these 32 songs, 12 would make it onto the final album.
When the band entered Hook End Manor Studios, their attitude had turned sour towards Tolhurst's escalating alcohol abuse, although Smith insisted that his displeasure was caused by a meltdown in the face of recording the band's career-defining album and reaching 30. Displeased with the swollen egos he believed his bandmates possessed, Smith entered what he considered to be "one of my non-talking modes" deciding "I would be monk-like and not talk to anyone. It was a bit pretentious really, looking back, but I actually wanted an environment that was slightly unpleasant". He sought to abandon the mood present on ''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'' and the pop singles they had released, and rather recreate the atmosphere of the band's fourth album ''
Pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, '' (1982). Despite the serious subject matter of the album, O'Donnell commented in 2009 that the atmosphere in the studio was still upbeat during the sessions: "I remember very clearly laughing and joking and fooling around in the control room while Robert was singing 'Disintegration', and then all of us trying to be serious when he came in to listen back.
..It was never a serious atmosphere in the studio, and when you think about the album and how dark it is, I'm sure people think we were sitting around slitting our wrists with candles and chains hanging from the walls."
While Tolhurst had contributed to the foundation of the song "Homesick" (according to O'Donnell),
his musical contributions to the album were marginal as his alcohol abuse rendered him more or less incapable of recording.
The other members, finally, threatened to quit if Tolhurst was not fired before the end of the recording session. When Tolhurst arrived to the mixing of the album, and then became excessively drunk, a shouting match ensued and he left the building furious; three weeks later, Smith decided to terminate his tenure with the band prior to the band's upcoming tour. It was during this period that O'Donnell was asked by Smith to become a full-time member, instead of simply a touring musician. Despite Tolhurst's ejection from the group, Smith told ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' in April 1989, "He'll probably be back by Christmas. He's getting married, maybe that's his comeback." Tolhurst did in fact briefly reunite with the band in 2011 during the Reflection tour.
Music
''Disintegration'' was Smith's thematic return to a dark and gloomy aesthetic that the Cure had explored in the early 1980s. Smith deliberately sought to record an album that was depressing, as it was a reflection of the despondency he felt at the time. The sound of the album was a shock to the band's American label
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
; the label requested Smith shift the release date back several months. Smith recalled "they thought I was being 'wilfully obscure', which was an actual quote from the letter
mith received from Elektra Ever since then I realised that record companies don't have a fucking clue what The Cure does and what The Cure means." Despite rumours that Smith was one of the only contributors to the record, he confirmed that more than half of the dozen tracks on ''Disintegration'' had substantial musical input from the rest of the band.
''Disintegration'' is characterized by a significant usage of
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s and keyboards, slow, "droning" guitar progressions and Smith's introspective vocals. "Plainsong", the album's opener, "set the mood for ''Disintegration'' perfectly", according to biographer Jeff Apter, by "unravelling ever so slowly in a shower of synths and guitars, before Smith steps up to the mic, uttering snatches of lyrics ('I'm so cold') as if he were reading from something as sacred as the
Dead Sea Scroll
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
." Smith felt the song was a perfect opener for the record, describing it as "very lush, very orchestral". The album's third track, "Closedown", contains layers of keyboard texture complemented with a slow, gloomy guitar line. The track was written by Smith as a means to list his physical and artistic shortcomings. Despite the dark mood present throughout ''Disintegration'', "Lovesong" was an upbeat track that became a hit in the United States. Ned Raggett of AllMusic noted the difference from other songs: "the Simon Gallup/Boris Williams rhythm section create a tight, serviceable dance groove, while Smith and Porl Thompson add further guitar fills and filigrees as well, adding just enough extra bite to the song. Smith himself delivers the lyric softly, with gentle passion."
Much of the album made use of a considerable amount of guitar effects. "Prayers for Rain", a depressing track (Raggett noted: "the phrase 'savage torpor' probably couldn't better be applied anywhere else than to this song") sees Thompson and Smith "treating their work to heavy-duty
flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and not ...
,
delay
Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can
* ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film
People
* B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...
, backwards-run tapes and more to set the slow, moody crawl of the track." Others, like the title track, are notable for "Smith's commanding lead guitar lines
hat are
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
scaled to epic heights while at the same time buried in the mix, almost as if they're trying to burst from behind the upfront rhythm assault. Roger O'Donnell's keyboards add both extra shade and melody, while Smith's singing is intentionally delivered in a combination of cutting clarity and low resignation, at times further distorted with extra vocal treatments."
While the album mainly consists of sombre tracks, "Lovesong", "Pictures of You" and "Lullaby" were equally popular for their accessibility. Smith wanted to create a balance on the album by including songs that would act as an equilibrium with those that were unpleasant. Smith wrote "Lovesong" as a wedding present for Mary Poole. The lyrics had a noticeably different mood than the rest of the record, but Smith felt it was an integral component of the album: "It's an open show of emotion. It's not trying to be clever. It's taken me ten years to reach the point where I feel comfortable singing a very straightforward love song." The lyrics were a notable shift in his ability to reveal affection. In the past, Smith felt it necessary to disguise or mask such a statement. He noted that without "Lovesong", ''Disintegration'' would have been radically different: "That one song, I think, makes many people think twice. If that song wasn't on the record, it would be very easy to dismiss the album as having a certain mood. But throwing that one in sort of upsets people a bit because they think, 'That doesn't fit'." "Pictures of You", while upbeat, contained poignant lyrics ("Screamed at the make-believe/Screamed at the sky/You finally found all your courage to let it all go") with a "two-chord cascade of synthesizer slabs, interweaving guitar and bass lines, passionate singing and romantic lyrics." "Lullaby" is composed of what Apter calls "sharp stabs" of rhythmic guitar chords with Smith whispering the words. The premise for the song came to Smith after remembering lullabies his father would sing him when he could not sleep: "
y father
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
would always make them up. There was always a horrible ending. They would be something like 'sleep now, pretty baby or you won't wake up at all.'"
Release
''Disintegration'' was released on 2 May 1989 and peaked at number three on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, the highest position the band had placed on the chart at that point.
In the UK, the lead single "
Lullaby
A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...
" became the Cure's highest-charting hit in their home country when it reached number five.
In the US, due to its appearance in the film ''
Lost Angels
''Lost Angels'' (also known as ''The Road Home'') is a 1989 independent film directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Michael Weller. It stars Donald Sutherland and Adam Horovitz. It was filmed in and around San Antonio, Texas. The film was enter ...
'', the band's American label
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
released "
Fascination Street
"Fascination Street" is a 1989 North-American-only single by the English rock band The Cure from their album '' Disintegration''.
Their American record company refused the band's original choice "Lullaby" as the first single (it was the lead ...
" as the first single. The international follow-up single to "Lullaby", "
Lovesong", became the Cure's highest-charting hit in the United States, when it reached number two on the ''Billboard'' charts.
The success of ''Disintegration'' was such that the March 1990 final single "
Pictures of You" reached number 24 on the British charts, despite the fact that the album had been released a year earlier. ''Disintegration'' was certified silver (60,000 copies shipped) in the United Kingdom, and by 1992 had sold more than three million copies worldwide.
Critical reception
In a contemporary review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', music critic
Michael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad is an American author, music journalist, editor, and musician. A graduate of Columbia University, he has written for publications such as '' Spin'', ''Rolling Stone'', and ''The New York Times''. Azerrad's 1993 biography '' Come ...
gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars and felt that, "while ''Disintegration'' doesn't break new ground for the band, it successfully refines what the Cure does best". He concluded, "Despite the title, ''Disintegration'' hangs together beautifully, creating and sustaining a mood of thoroughly self-absorbed gloom. If, as Smith has hinted, the Cure itself is about to disintegrate, this is a worthy summation."
''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' reviewer Chris Roberts dismissed the claims that ''Disintegration'' was not a miserable record and, noting the tone of the album and its lack of melody ("You'll be lucky to find a tune on here. Or a gag"), he commented that "The Cure have almost invisibly stopped making pop records". Roberts summarised the album as "challenging and claustrophobic, often poignant, often tedious. It's nearly surprising." ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' praised ''Disintegration'' for its tunes, "from the first track 'Plainsong', a swaying, slow narrative, paralysing the listener with sex-poison, to ''Disintegrations last 'Untitled' Smith's lyrical agony of indecision is remorseless". Reviewer Barbara Ellen noted the large range of emotions in Smith's lyrics, "from deep, loving pink to an ugly, violent maroon and almost back again". Although she found the two extra-tracks superfluous, Ellen hailed ''Disintegration'' as "a mindblowing and stunningly complete album".
''
Q'' gave the album a three-star rating out of five, mainly comparing it to
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...
's work. Writer
Mat Snow
Mat Snow (born 20 October 1958) is an English music journalist, magazine editor, and author. From 1995 to 1999, he was the editor of ''Mojo'' magazine; he subsequently served in the same role on the football magazine ''FourFourTwo''.
During the ...
observed: "The Cure have studied well the art of the tragic bass line, the hesitant and melancholy guitar lick, the funereal keyboard coloration". He concluded: "''Disintegration'' is thus well-crafted
.. just don't tell me it's original".
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' gave the album a "C+" grade and felt that Smith attempts to appease a larger audience by broadening "gothic clichés" and "pumping his bad faith and bad relationship into depressing moderato play-loud keyb anthems far more tedious than his endless vamps".
In a retrospective review for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
gave ''Disintegration'' four-and-a-half out of five stars, and applauded the band by saying, "The Cure's gloomy soundscapes have rarely sounded so alluring
ndthe songs – from the pulsating, ominous 'Fascination Street' to the eerie, string-laced 'Lullaby' – have rarely been so well-constructed and memorable."
Erlewine went on to praise ''Disintegration'' for being "darkly seductive", and "a hypnotic, mesmerizing record".
''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' praised the record, admitting "''Disintegration'' stands unquestionably as Robert Smith's magnum opus."
Writer Chris Ott noted that "scant few albums released in the 1980s can boast an opener as grand as 'Plainsong', the most breathtaking, shimmering anthem the band ever recorded."
''Disintegration'' has been included in numerous "best of" lists. In 2000 it was voted number 94 in
Colin Larkin
Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged".
Along wit ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums
''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
''. ''Rolling Stone'' placed the record at number 326 on its 2003 list of the "
500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the ranking in the 2012 update, and raising it to number 116 in the 2020 reboot of the list. The magazine's German counterpart placed ''Disintegration'' at number 184 on the same list.
The album was considered to be the best album of 1989 by ''Melody Maker'',
17th on ''
Q'' magazine's "40 Best Albums of the '80s", and 38th on ''Pitchfork''s "Best Albums of the 80s".
The album placed at number 14 in ''Entertainment Weeklys "New Classics: The 100 Best Albums from 1983 to 2008." In 2012, ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
'' listed the album at number 15 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". In a 2001 article in ''Rolling Stone'', readers selected ''Disintegration'' as number 9 in the "10 Best Albums of the Eighties". The album was also included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''. ''
Paste'' named the album at tenth in their list "The 50 Best New Wave Albums."
In the ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' episode "
Mecha-Streisand
"Mecha-Streisand" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the first season of the American animated television series '' South Park''. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 18, 1998. In the episode, Barbra Streis ...
",
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Matthew Broflovski is a fictional character in the adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the series' four central characters, along with his friends Stan ...
called it "the best album ever"; the show's creators,
Trey Parker
Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. ...
and
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was interes ...
, are fans of the Cure, and had got Smith to voice himself in this episode. The album plays a role in the climax of the 2015
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics
...
film
''Ant-Man'', as "Plainsong" plays when an iPhone's
Siri
Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...
mishears a character saying "I'm going to disintegrate you"; director
Peyton Reed
Peyton Tucker Reed (born July 3, 1964) is an American television and film director. He directed the comedy films ''Bring It On'', ''Down with Love'', ''The Break-Up'', and '' Yes Man'', as well as the superhero film ''Ant-Man'' and its sequels.
...
said that "It's such an epic song that it transcended the joke", and that ''Disintegration'' was the second album he ever bought.
The Prayer Tour and aftermath
![PrayerTour89](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/PrayerTour89.jpg)
Following completion of ''Disintegration'', Smith noted that the Cure had "despite my best efforts, actually become everything that I didn't want us to become: a
stadium rock
Arena rock (also known as AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock; ; ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s. As hard rock bands and those playing a softer yet strident kind of po ...
band." Furthermore, Smith claimed the album's title was the most appropriate one he could think of: "Most of the relationship with the band outside of the band fell apart. Calling it ''Disintegration'' was kind of tempting fate, and fate retaliated. The family idea of the group really fell apart too after ''Disintegration''. It was the end of a golden period."
The Prayer Tour began in Europe shortly after the release of the album. The band performed numerous high-profile concerts, including shows in front of more than 40,000 fans over two nights in Paris and their first performances in Eastern Europe. Following the European leg, the band elected to travel to North America for their upcoming US leg by boat, instead of plane. Smith and Gallup shared a fear of flight, and ultimately lamented the upcoming dates, wishing to reduce the number of concerts they booked. The record label and tour promoters strongly disagreed, and even proposed to add several new shows to the itinerary because of the success of ''Disintegration'' in the US. The first concert in the United States was at New Jersey's
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...
, where 44,000 people attended; 30,000 tickets were purchased on the first day alone.
Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
and
Love and Rockets were the special guests on the biggest concerts of that tour, in addition to the support act
Shelleyan Orphan
Shelleyan Orphan were a British alternative music group that peaked during the 1980s and early 1990s. They played a style of pop influenced by chamber music, and which featured dual male-female vocals.
Career
In 1980, Caroline Crawley and Jem ...
which was present on all the dates. The Cure were extremely displeased with the massive turnout; according to O'Donnell: "We had been at sea for five days. The stadium was too big for us to take it all in. We've decided that we don't like playing stadiums that large." Smith recalls that "it was never our intention to become as big as this".
The band's show at
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
's
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...
attracted roughly 50,000 attendees, grossing over
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.5 million. The band's notably greater popularity in the United States—virtually every concert in the leg was sold out—caused Smith to break down, and threatened the band's future: "It's reached a stage where I personally can't cope with it," he said, "so I've decided this is the last time we're gonna tour." Backstage, there were ongoing feuds between band members owing to the strife caused by Smith. He recalled that towards the end of the tour "I was tearing my hair out ... It was just a difficult tour."
Cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
use was prevalent, and only ended up distancing Smith from his fellow band members.
Upon returning to the United Kingdom in early October, Smith wanted nothing more to do with recording, promoting and touring for an album. In 1990, "Lullaby" won Best Music Video of 1989 at the
Brit Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
. The Cure also released a live album titled ''
Entreat
''Entreat'' is a live album by British alternative rock band The Cure, recorded at London's Wembley Arena in July 1989. It consists entirely of songs performed from the band's 1989 record '' Disintegration''; while they were on their internatio ...
'' (1991), which compiled songs entirely off ''Disintegration'' from their performance at Wembley Arena, and despite claims that the Cure would never tour again, Smith accepted an invitation to headline the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
. O'Donnell, after two years with the group, left to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by the band's guitar technician
Perry Bamonte
Perry Archangelo Bamonte (born 3 September 1960) is an English musician best known as a member of the rock band The Cure from 1990 to 2005, and again since 2022.
Biography
Born in London, England, Bamonte became a guitar tech for The Cure in ...
. Smith, who was influenced by the
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
movement that had exploded in London that summer, released a predominantly electronic remix album, ''
Mixed Up'', in 1990.
Track listing
*US Elektra CD and cassette copies of ''Disintegration'' listed "Last Dance" and "Homesick" as bonus tracks, as they were not included on the original vinyl issue of the album in any country. Vinyl reissues of the album 2010-onwards were expanded to double LPs and include these tracks.
2010 deluxe edition disc two: ''Rarities 1988–1989''
# "Prayers for Rain" – Robert Smith home demo (Instrumental) – 4/88
# "Pictures of You" – Robert Smith home demo (Instrumental) – 4/88
# "Fascination Street" – Robert Smith home demo (Instrumental) – 4/88
# "Homesick" – Band rehearsal (Instrumental) – 6/88
# "Fear of Ghosts" – Band rehearsal (Instrumental) – 6/88
# "Noheart" – Band rehearsal (Instrumental) – 6/88
# "Esten" – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "Closedown" – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "Lovesong" – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "2 Late" (alternate version) – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "The Same Deep Water as You" – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "Disintegration" – Band demo (Instrumental) – 9/88
# "Untitled" (alternate version) – Studio rough (Instrumental) – 11/88
# "Babble" (alternate version) – Studio rough (Instrumental) – 11/88
# "Plainsong" – Studio rough (Guide vocal) – 11/88
# "Last Dance" – Studio rough (Guide vocal) – 11/88
# "Lullaby" – Studio rough (Guide vocal) – 11/88
# "Out of Mind" – Studio rough (Guide vocal) – 11/88
# "Delirious Night" – Rough mix (vocal) – 12/88
# "Pirate Ships" (Robert Smith solo) – Rough mix (vocal) – 12/89
Disc three: ''
Entreat
''Entreat'' is a live album by British alternative rock band The Cure, recorded at London's Wembley Arena in July 1989. It consists entirely of songs performed from the band's 1989 record '' Disintegration''; while they were on their internatio ...
Plus: Live at Wembley 1989''
# "Plainsong"
# "Pictures of You"
# "Closedown"
# "Lovesong"
# "Last Dance"
# "Lullaby"
# "Fascination Street"
# "Prayers for Rain"
# "The Same Deep Water as You"
# "Disintegration"
# "Homesick"
# "Untitled"
Online only: ''Alternative Rarities: 1988–1989''
# "Closedown" (RS Home Instrumental Demo 5/88) – 1:24
# "Last Dance" (RS Home Instrumental Demo 5/88) – 3:11
# "Lullaby" (RS Home Instrumental Demo 5/88) – 2:10
# "Tuned Out on RTV5" (Instrumental Rehearsal 6/88) – 2:20
# "Fuknnotfunk" (Instrumental Rehearsal 6/88) – 2:08
# "Babble" (Instrumental Rehearsal 6/88) – 2:08
# "Plainsong" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 2:24
# "Pictures of You" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 3:11
# "Fear of Ghosts" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 4:04
# "Fascination Street" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 3:45
# "Homesick" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 4:37
# "Delirious Night" (Instrumental Demo 9/88) – 3:26
# "Out of Mind" (Studio Instrumental Jam 10/88) – 2:40
# "2 Late" (Studio 'WIP' Mix 11/88) – 2:30
# "Lovesong" (Studio 'WIP' Mix 11/88) – 3:19
# "Prayers for Rain" (Studio 'WIP' Mix 11/88) –
# "The Same Deep Water as You" (Live Dallas Starplex 9/15/89) – 10:28
# "Disintegration" (Live Dallas Starplex 9/15/89) – 7:08
# "Untitled" (Live Dallas Starplex 9/15/89) – 7:07
# "Faith" (Live Rome Palaeur 6/4/89—Crowd Bootleg) – 14:06
These recordings were found only on www.thecuredisintegration.com, now closed.
Personnel
*
Robert Smith – vocals, guitars, keyboards,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
*
Simon Gallup
Simon Jonathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith.
Early years
Born in Duxhurst ...
– bass guitar, keyboards
*
Porl Thompson
Pearl Thompson (born 8 November 1957 as Paul Stephen ThompsonChris Gerrard (2021)The Cure FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Most Heartbreakingly Excellent Rock Band the World Has Ever Known. Backbeat, ISBN 9781493053988, p. 155) is an E ...
– guitars
*
Boris Williams
Boris Peter Bransby Williams (born 24 April 1957) is a French-born English drummer best known for his extensive work with the Cure (1984–1994).
Biography
Born in Versailles, France, he had previously worked with various artists, including T ...
– drums, percussion
*
Roger O'Donnell
Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) is an English keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure. O'Donnell has also performed in The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins and Berlin, as well as having an active solo career.
Background
O'Do ...
– keyboards
*
Lol Tolhurst
Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...
– credited with "other instrument"; basis for the song "Homesick"
Production
*
David M. Allen – production, engineering
*Richard Sullivan – engineering
*Roy Spong – engineering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
See also
*
List of 1989 albums
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.
__TOC__
Specific locations
*1989 in British music
* 1989 in Norwegian music
* 1989 in American music
Specific genres
*1989 in country music
* 1989 in heavy metal m ...
References
*
Further reading
*
References
External links
*
''Disintegration''(
Adobe Flash
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) at
Radio3Net
Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. A few of the prominent features available on the website are "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Mus ...
(streamed copy where licensed)
''Disintegration'' (Deluxe Edition)(
Adobe Flash
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) at
Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)
*
*
*
''Disintegration''at
Rate Your Music
Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...
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1989 albums
The Cure albums
Albums produced by David M. Allen
Elektra Records albums
Fiction Records albums
Rhino Records albums