 |
| Phil Thornalley got in touch with Boris Williams, a drummer he knew through work with The Thompson Twins and Kim Wilde. Boris learned the songs very quickly and got along well with the other members in the band. He was asked to join permanently and he agreed to do so. Thornalley then decided that he wanted to start a solo career and thereby left an open door for Robert to meet again with Simon and make up. Simon had started a group called Cry, but he was melancholy away from The Cure. He was happy to rejoin the band as they started their next album, The Head on the Door, 1985. The recordings went very well; however, Lol began drinking excessively and was not contributing enough to the band. The first single to be released, �In Between Days,� was thought to be The Cure�s greatest work in years; and The Head on the Door received great reviews. It made the UK music charts at number seven and became the bands� most successful album and Standing On a Beach, a compilation album, was released in May of 1986, and it contained �Killing An Arab.� The whole racist issue was raised again, and so the album was sold with a disclaimer on it. �Why Can�t I Be You?� was released in 1987 from the album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. This new album reached the music charts. It was a unique album filled with emotion and helped The Cure gain huge popularity. By this time, Lol had basically become an inactive member of the band; and so in 1988, Roger O� Donnell, a friend of Boris, was brought in to play keyboards. After the completion of the new album, Disintegration, in 1989, Robert fired Lol from the. By 1990, Simon and Boris were not getting along with Roger; and so he quit the band. Roadie Perry Bamonte took over on keyboards. During the summer of 1991, Robert received a memo from Lol. He was taking Robert to court because he felt that he should have been given more money for his contributions to The Cure. Robert was shocked, upset, and hurt. �He�ll lose and he�ll have to pay costs and it�ll cost him more than he could hope to win.,� said Robert. He said that Lol had stopped being a functioning member of the group and his drinking was way out of control. �Everyone was disgusted by his behavior,� said Robert. �He became a victim and it was a downward spiral.� While The Cure was recording Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Robert told Lol that, if he didn�t get himself together, he would be out of the band. �But I think that he was too sure of his position,� said Robert. �He�d believed when I said in 1981 or whenever, that without Lol there is no Cure.� Even though Lol didn�t play on Disintegration, he still got paid for it and was listed under �other instruments� in the album sleeve. Robert said that Lol had earned more than enough money; and Smith, at times, felt as though he himself earned too much money. Robert gave often to different charities. During the next five years,1992-1996, many things happened. The Cure came out with four more CD�s: Wish, Show, Paris and Wild Mood Swings. In 1994, Lol lost his suit with Robert over royalties from the Kiss Me album. Lol was left with over one million pounds in legal bills. Boris quit the band to play with his girlfriend�s band, The Piggle. Porl left the band in 1993, and O�Donnell returned. The Cure also got a new drummer, Jason Cooper. It�s hard to believe that, with everything that The Cure went through from 1977 through 1996, they still exist as the most popular cult band in the world. They are still going strong today and even released a compilation CD of singles from 1987-1997 called Galore. Yes, there were times when Robert was totally fed up and said that he was going to quit the band and never come back. However, he has put so much into The Cure that he knows that it would be tragic to throw it all away now. Besides, Cure fans are some of the most faithful fans in the world. They�ve been following Robert and his gang for 20 years, and will probably continue for at least 20 more. Back to It Was Written |
|