Day 333: The Cure – Pornography

I wanted to go for something a bit autumnal today, and I think the Cure is definitely that. I don’t know what’s up with me this summer, I’m practically frothing at the mouth to get to autumn, and I’m usually such a summer person. Anyway, I’ve covered Seventeen Seconds before on day 99, so today I thought I’d go for a bit of Pornography.

Album cover courtesy of Fiction

Released in 1982, Pornography was the Cure’s fourth studio album, and it was their first time working with producer Phil Thornalley, who later became the band’s bassist. It was also the last album to feature Lol Tolhurst on the drums, as he became their keyboardist after, as well as the last album to have Simon Gallup as bassist, as he left the band after their tour due to mounting pressures within the band leading to a fistfight with singer Robert Smith.

When the group was recording Pornography, Smith was experiencing a bad bout of depression, and he thought that he wanted to make the group’s magnum opus before the band falls apart, which it did shortly thereafter. The band also partook heavily in drugs and alcohol and immersed themselves in disturbing films and imagery to try to create a mood. They went as far as to record some of the songs in a filthy toilet to try to build atmosphere into what they were doing.

Credit to them, it does feel like you can hear that on the album. It’s an almost oppressively dark, depressed and intense album, and there’s something about it that’s simultaneously a bit uncomfortable to listen to and a little bit comforting in all of its sadness. Smith said he has bad memories of recording it but it’s also some of their best work, and added “People have often said, ‘Nothing you’ve done has had the same kind of intensity or passion.’ But I don’t think you can make too many albums like that, because you wouldn’t be alive.”

I like this so much more than the first one of theirs I listened to – Seventeen Seconds wasn’t a bad album by any means, but I think this one is leaps and bounds ahead of it. I always think it’s interesting to hear what was channelled into an album, and this one manages to capture the essence of having a very bad time almost perfectly. It’s great, but so good at what it does that I don’t particularly want to hear it for a while. Pornography is a strong 9/10.