10 Best Alternative Rock Bands Of All Time
4. The Cure
Quintessential Lyric: (From 'Just Like Heaven')
"Daylight licked me into shape / I must have been asleep for days / And moving lips to breathe her name / I opened up my eyes / And found myself alone, alone / Alone above a raging sea / That stole the only girl I loved / And drowned her deep inside of me"
Anthem: Lullaby
Lullaby combines the gothic grandeur that Robert Smith is adored for with an instrumental dominated by the six-string bass, along with the typical four string variety, giving the track melodic yet misplaced funk. The track allows listeners to dip into either the toe-tapping melody or the dark and elegiac lyrics. The Cure are at their best when they summon and tether disparate inspirations in a way that forms dualities.
Defining Album: Disintegration (1989)
The Cure's 1989 effort remains one of the all-time great albums of alternative rock, and a staple in the art and gothic rock genres. As well as a home for Lullaby, the band ran the gambit of their experimental influences. While the surface of Disintegration presents as a jarring spiral of creativity, some time spent with it sees the tracks become a unified masterpiece that doesn't dull after repeated listening.