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Jealousy grew in the band because of Smith�s new superstar status. Michael and Robert grew further apart, and, after the release of �Jumping Someone Else�s Train,�Michael left the band and was replaced by a friend of Robert�s, Simon Gallup. Matthew Hartley, a friend of Simon�s, joined the band to play keyboards. The new Cure toured until the end of the year with the Associates (Michael�s new band) and the Passions on the �Future Pastimes Tour.� �Jumping Someone Else�s Train� got terrific reviews but didn�t chart.

By 1980, The Cure had an impressive cult following when they released their
second album, Seventeen Seconds. Its songs were all sad and angry because, as Robert said, �We were all realizing that we were no longer young.� While touring in Europe, the band was arrested in Holland as well as attacked and tear-gassed in Germany and France; and, by the time they were in New Zealand, Robert and Matthew were sick of each other. There was a huge fight in a hotel room; and, after a 24-club date tour in Australia, Matthew quit.

The year of 1981 brought with it a huge amount of chaos and sadness in to the band that would take many years to go away. In June, Lol�s mother died and, of course, he was completely heartbroken. He felt that touring would be the best cure for his grief, and so the band played in America. Those American dates are considered by many to be The Cure�s worst ever. At concerts, crowds were rowdy to the songs from the new album, Faith, and shows often ended with fights between the band and the audience.

The recording of the next album in 1982, Pornography, was an awful experience. Smith was unable to explain his ideas about how he wanted to make the album, and he was growing tired of the lack of interest of the other band members. He tried to find the way he felt all the way down inside of himself by sleeping on the floor of the Fiction offices, pushing himself to the edge. Smith had lost touch with himself, andhis mindset was deteriorating gradually.

When Pornography was released, it got horrible reviews; and the tour that
followed was a complete nightmare. The tension between the band was so bad that even Robert and Simon, who were the best of friends, were constantly fighting. Things went from bad to worse when Simon hit Robert in a club one night. Once the tour was over, Simon was out of the band.
At this point, The Cure was in shambles. Everyone took vacations to get their minds off things. When Lol returned, he announced that he was giving up the drums for keyboards. Chris Parry was worried because he knew that the band was in disarray; and so, in an attempt to take everyone�s mind off the mess of their last album, Chris convinced Robert to record �Let�s Go To Bed,� which Robert hated instantly.

The Banshees asked Robert to rejoin them again, and Chris Parry became furious and threatened to sue Robert. Robert threatened to beat Chris up. Eventually, Robert toured with The Banshees anyway.

In 1983, The Cure was offered a spot on The Oxford Show . Smith gathered Lol and two other musicians to play a few songs. Robert felt so good singing again that he decided to give The Cure another try. In April and May of 1984, The Cure went back on the road with Phil Thornalley playing bass and Andy Anderson on the drums. Also, Porl Thompson was asked to rejoin the band.

Smith was getting worn out touring with the Cure, and he knew that a Bansheestour would be coming up shortly. Therefore, he told Steve Severin that he couldn�t handle being in two bands anymore. Robert then took a much needed rest in Wales.

When The Cure toured the Far East, Andy went crazy in Japan and attacked other members of the band. Smith fired him, and The Cure ended up in America without a drummer. Vince Ely, the original drummer for The Psychedelic Furs, filled in for eleven dates but could not continue playing in the band because he had other commitments.