The Cure Albums Ranked: What Are the Band’s Undeniable Masterpiece and Their Weakest Album?

The Cure is more than just a doom & gloom, famous goth-rock band. Led by Robert Smith, The Cure is responsible for some of the best, most highly ranked, and praised albums since the late 1970s. That, and a million questionable sugar-propped hair-dos.

Stranger still, The Cure might not even be a goth band at all when minutely investigating the evidence. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Smith has never delved into misanthropic self-parody and has rarely revved up the bleakness of his music for record sale purposes.

That’s why today I’m dropping sugar in my hair, smearing on some make-up, and ranking the illustrious discography of The Cure from their worst to their very best studio albums.

14. “4:13 Dream” (2008)

The Cure delivered an unexpectedly ethereal and optimistic record with “4:13 Dream.” While it proved that Smith had, once again, managed to surround himself with excellent musicians, it lacked the instant thrills of albums like “Wish” or “Disintegration.”

Bringing on board producer Ross Robinson for this project may seem odd. Robinson is, after all, the man most responsible for the sound of nu-metal. But those sins aside, the mix finds a nice balance between the classic dynamics of The Cure’s albums and modern tendencies.

“The Only One” or “Sleep When I’m Dead” are bittersweet pop-rock tracks. And it’s mighty nice to hear Smith producing new music. However, many of the album’s best ideas feel like they’re not fully formed. “4:13 Dream” is a nice addition to your collection of The Cure’s music, provided you insist on having it complete.

13. “The Top” (1984)

How much more black can it be? The Cure’s music and worldview was ventablack. There was simply no place further down to sink. And so, the band made “The Top.”

“The Top” is one of The Cure’s most musically diverse records. While the band is brave in trying to escape their famous image as doom peddlers, the record isn’t quite as consistent as previous releases.

Still, “The Top” contains some remarkable gems such as “Shake Dog Shake” and “The Caterpillar.” The fact is that Smith can really play, sing. and arrange songs. Pure punk was long gone and there was simply no reason to hide his musical abilities any longer.

Having departed Siouxsie and the Banshees and gone through the band’s drink and drug phase, Smith, along with Tolhurst, were free to focus on making The Cure one of the biggest groups of the 1980s.

12. “The Cure” (2004)

By 2004, The Cure was back by popular demand, and the general public had learned to miss the goth-rock group. The band doesn’t disappoint and provides a revamped look to go along with their most familiar sounds.

Critics took longer to warm to the merits of the self-titled record. But songs like “The End of the World” and “Taking Off” proved to be surprising late-career hits.

The Cure was back on radio and television, and countless modern bands were now citing them as influences. When even Blink-182 sings your praises, that’s when you know your art has travelled far and wide.

11. “Wild Mood Swings” (1996)

With The Cure’s lineup severely altered, Robert Smith runsto the drawing board and returns once more with a wide palette of sounds and emotions for “Wild Mood Swings.”

While I don’t think Smith is trying to play catch up with the past, clearly, he is exploring some of the ideas that have worked best for his songs. There are clear traces of deep, dark melancholy here. However, many of these songs also draw on Robert Smith’s gift for writing pristine pop melodies.

“Mint Car” and “Strange Attraction” are two of the album’s best songs. The Cure was no longer chasing hit singles. They simply didn’t need to anymore.

10. “Bloodflowers” (2000)

Returning to the scene of the crime didn’t seem to be on the cards. However, “Bloodflowers” allows The Cure to pen a fittingly darkly atmospheric follow-up to their best work, “Disintegration.” While not as many of the songs are just as instantly recognizable, this is a worthy follow-up.

Fans and critics appreciated how Smith delved back into the dark, hollow ground of “Disintegration.” Songs like “Out of This World” and “Maybe Someday” were some of the best that the band had produced in years.

Just how should “Bloodflowers” be remembered? As an album that further solidified The Cure’s reputation.

9. “Faith” (1981)

And you thought things were dark before! Life in the music biz is bound to make anyone glum. “Faith” erases all hopefulness on The Cure’s debut record.

There’s plenty of despair to be found here. And, while the atmosphere is, at times, overbearing, the artistry involved in making this is something I cannot overlook, and you shouldn’t either.

I remember hearing the record for the first time, being impressed, but struggling to listen to it the whole way through—the feeling of melancholy envelopes everything here.

“Primary” and the title track, “Faith,” are two of the best songs here. The album was a surprise hit and allowed Smith to continue with this musical direction.

8. “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” (1987)

Emboldened by the success of its predecessor, The Cure threw the kitchen sink at “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me,” resulting in one of the most musically eclectic and instantly pleasing albums of their discography.

“Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” can best be likened to rides at an amusement park. Some are fun. Others are scary. The best ones seem to zoom by too quickly.

The record helped the band add to their pop hits with songs like “Just Like Heaven” or “Why Can’t I Be You?”

Songs such as “Hot Hot Hot!!!” or “Just Like Heaven” proved that the quintet could now challenge any of the biggest bands and artists of the time. This was a triumph for alternative music in general and Robert Smith in particular.

By this stage, The Cure wasn’t compared to any other group and had even managed to give the slip to its numerous imitators who were unable to keep up with this kind of musical diversity.

7. “Songs of a Lost World” (2024)

Robert Smith and The Cure spent nearly 16 years before releasing “Songs of a Lost World.” On what Smith himself hints at being a possible closing chapter, the songs are long, mysterious, and filled with both love and hopelessness. This is a concept album about the passing of time, about history itself eroding under its weight. It’s a funerary album, not a crowd-pleaser, and most touchingly, a love letter. 

Fans also breathe a sigh of relief at the quality of the songs. While the band sounded like it was double-guessing itself on some of the 2000s releases, “Songs of a Lost World” features songs that can stand right alongside their best work. 

Using the template set by the set of songs found on “Disintegration,” The Cure’s best album is a good idea. The songs are long, create their unique ambience and are almost always melodically pleasing. But it’s the emotional weight that Robert Smith brings to each that makes them special. 

In my review of album, I called “Songs of a Lost World” a revenge album. This is Robert Smith having a fight with destiny itself, realising he’s going to lose and making no attempt to pull back. The Cure achieved most of their success on their own terms and if they should go now, they’ll keep it on their own terms.  

6. “Seventeen Seconds” (1980)

For how big The Cure became, the band never played by the rules nor settled for doing the most predictable thing. “Seventeen Seconds” is an atmosphere-first record that prizes economic playing.

Sure, this is an angle that Smith would polish later on. But it’s telling that the singer and songwriter would be willing to take such risks immediately after finding an audience responsive to his band’s pop-rock hooks.

“A Forest” and “Play for Today” are undisputed highlights. The sound, and particularly the band’s image at this time, helped create some of Goth-rock’s trademarks despite Smith’s protests.

Is The Cure a goth band?

Later, when asked if he saw a connection between his band and bands like Specimen or Alien Sex Fiend, Smith claimed he couldn’t find many reasons for labelling The Cure as goth. I’ll politely disagree.

Why was The Cure album called “Seventeen Seconds”?

While no clear explanation has ever been provided, fans of the band has speculated that the title “Seventeen Seconds” may reference the time in-between deaths, the law of attraction, or the passing of time itself.

Regardless, Robert Smith has said that he belives this to be the de-facto debut album by The Cure. He went on to say that during making the record, he felt that the group was creating something that no other band had done before.

5. “Wish” (1992)

Having reached their commercial and artistic zenith with “Disintegration,” Robert Smith opts for optimism and arena-rock for the follow-up, “Wish.”

There’s a sense that the album is split between distinct halves. The first contains songs that the band’s newly acquired fans could easily enjoy. “Friday I’m in Love” was The Cure’s biggest hit. “High” and “A Letter to Elise” are similarly catchy. There’s nothing here that would make a record executive want to pout.

However, songs like “To Wish Impossible Things” or “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea” show that the musicians are still interested in pleasing their musical curiosity. These could fit easily within the material recorded on the by-now legendary “Pornography.”

“Wish” proved to be a transitional record for The Cure. It’s the last to feature guitarist Porl Thompson, with founding member Lol Tulhurst having left around the making of “Disintegration.”

4. “Three Imaginary Boys” (1979)

If punk rock did anything, it is to make it alright for bands like The Cure to exist, thrive and find an audience. “Three Imaginary Boys” is a wildly imaginative post-punk record.

The Cure debut album doesn’t strictly sound of its time, either. Sure, it adheres to the alt-rock, DYI idea of musical freedom. But Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, and Michael Dempsey’s art project is bizarre and musically infectious all at the same time.

“10:15 Saturday Night” or “Fire in Cairo” showed just how many musical ideas these novices had. While technique was never a concern of post-1977 rock bands, the songs sound well-rounded and focused.

Had this turned out to be The Cure’s only release, it would be enough to warrant a place in the history books. Shirt sales featuring the “Three Imaginary Boys” artwork would rival that of Joy Division t-shirts. Imagine such a world!

3. “Pornography” (1982)

“Pornography” is a landmark record. It’s one of the most essential albums in the goth-rock canon and one of the most inventive records of its time. And it’s certainly no easy-listen either.

Once more, the trio is taking considerable musical risks. “Pornography” is not a record that fishes for a single. Nor does the album offer respite from each track’s moody, brooding atmosphere. While seemingly on a suicide mission, these elements would help create countless copies of The Cure.

“One Hundred Years” and “A Strange Day” are great songs, but, Pornography” is best appreciated when listened to the whole way through. Just make sure you have a comedy on hand for afterwards just to wash some of the bitterness away.

What is the gothiest Cure album?

“Pornography” certainly sets the template for much of what people recognize as goth-rock, even though The Cure’s leader, Robert Smith, has never been wholly comfortable with this label.

2. “The Head on the Door” (1985)

“The Head on the Door” represents the precise moment that The Cure found a way to incorporate the band’s multitude of musical interests seamlessly. It showed the group’s growth as musicians and provided the band with the catchiest set of songs they’d recorded since their debut.

It also helped turn The Cure into, arguably, the most important band in alternative rock, bar The Smiths and R.E.M.

Best of all, I believe at no point did The Cure’s sound feel contrived or manufactured. During their six years, the band has experimented wildly with various sounds and textures. They’d nearly broken up, splintered into different groups and finally arrived at this commercially pleasing sound merely by pushing forward.

“The Head on the Door” is an experiment with moody pop-rock. The excellent “In Between Days” and “Close to Me” established the band as one of the prominent hit makers of the day.

However, tunes like “A Night Like This” and “The Baby Screams” confirmed that Smith’s art-rock ambitions weren’t going anywhere.

It’s hard for a cult band to make a record that pleases both its core fans and brings in a host of new, casual ones. The Cure achieved this with “The Head on the Door” and would continue to do this time and time again.

1. “Disintegration” (1989)

It might be a little too easy to claim that The Cure’s ten years of making records all lead to “Disintegration.” But what is clear is that the band peaked just when it should have.

While The Cure had certainly broken plenty of musical ground on previous releases, “Disintegration” supremely manages to bake all of these sonic ingredients together. It’s one of the greatest albums ever made, I think.

A large arena-rock sound balances the moodiness of the lyrics. In fact, some would compare the success of the band’s 1980s concerts to what Pink Floyd had achieved during the 1970s. It’s a bold claim but one that stands up to scrutiny.

The entire song collection featured on “Disintegration” is brilliant. It includes dark but catchy singles like “Lovesong” or “Pictures of You.” This direction is balanced by lushly orchestrated, mysterious songs like “Fascination Street” and “Plainsong.”

“Disintegration” was not made in an entirely drama-free environment. Founding member Lol Tolhurst was dismissed from The Cure soon after the album was completed. “A simple white envelope with Robert’s handwriting on the front arrived in the post. I didn’t need to open it. I knew what was inside. It had been three weeks since that disastrous night at RAK Studios in London, when I’d fled drunk and crazed into the long dark night.”

The tour that accompanied “Disintegration” and the music videos’ ever-present status on MTV proved a victory lap for one of alternative music’s best bands. And while the music of English bands usually doesn’t translate across the pond, The Cure’s music was and remains beloved in North America.

What’s a good introduction to the music of The Cure?

As discussed, The Cure has created a large, often remarkable, and highly varied body of work. But what’s the best introduction to the band’s sound?

“Greatest Hits” is an excellent entry point. Sure, It includes all of the group’s best-known songs, but it covers most of their career, giving you a good glimpse into the creative evolution of Robert Smith and the band.

And, naturally, picking up the band’s best releases, according to our “The Cure albums ranked” list, should get you closer, and faster to what you’re seeking.

Those already familiar with The Cure and looking to expand their understanding of the band should check out the excellent “Disintegration” extended edition.