Dammit Manny!! I have a friend that asks me questions exactly like this. I can't do it, I just can't answer this question, at least not these two bands heads up. I still like the thread though, because it makes me think. I could see people voting for the smiths, mainly because the cure had a lot of mainstream stuff along with some stinkers later in they're career. I think there is something to be said about longevity. Still, I just don't know. Both bands were a big part of my life growing up for very different reasons.
I was going to write a whole ****load for this thread, but forget it. They're both great bands. All I have to say is, The Queen is Dead, and Louder Than Bombs. The Smiths were and are wildly underrated. "The Cure revolutionized this, revolutionized that, blah blah blah, Smith wrote better lyrics than Morrissey, blah blah blah." **** that. Bull****. The Smiths in a landslide. Marr and Morrissey in the same band? How is that not the deciding factor in of itself?
There's something to be said about leaving while you are on top. Jim Brown did it. Barry Sanders did it. The Smiths did it. As much as I love Bob Smith, their last couple of albums have been very forgettable. The self-titled one that came out in '04 has a couple of good songs as does the album before that one, "Bloodflowers", but really you have to go all the way back to '92 to find a really good Cure album from start to finish in "Wish".
interesting.. For me I'd have to go all the way back to The Head On The Door to find a Cure Album that I thought was great from start to Finish. While Kiss me and Disintigration had some good songs..I thought there were some I could've done without. I still think "Lovesong" is hard to listen to..although I like the SnakeRiver Conspiracy version of it.
Apples and Oranges. The fact that both are about the same age, from England and before the 90's in the US you had to order imports to get much of their back catalog and didn't get much airplay outside college radio are most of what they had in common. That and the fact that they really disliked each other, and that in the US it was presumed that you had to belong to some sort of presumed counter-culture to like them. There were plenty of other good bands that were good in the same time and place. The big cons of both were the inevitable imitators. Time has mostly forgotten them, thankfully, but as a child of 80's I didn't. Morrissey's first few solo album were great...after that he lost me. Viva Hate was maybe even better than all but the best Smiths albums. For the Cure, my last was Disintegration. The Cure had that period of making concept albums like 17 Seconds and I appreciate that whole era the best I think...but it was a long time ago, and Bob seems stuck in the same schtick since the early 90's. A generation or two from now, most people will remember the Smiths, though. The Cure...not as much. The Cure has a certain chick factor working for them that keep them in the conversation. In the UK, it's always been about pop. Bands like Joy Division and the Fall were to me way more groundbreaking, but probably had less mass appeal. The Fall are still making good albums, BTW and predate them all. I'm sure John Peel, if he were around would agree with me on all points!
"They are always different, they are always the same." Impact wise on other bands and artists, you are definitely right with The Fall and Joy Division but they aren't bands that are pleasing on the ear (The Fall most definitely). I think The Cure has definitely diluted their impact by still releasing mainly mediocre albums.
Well, Wish is the one I choose but I can understand fellow Cure fans dislike for that album as after all it does have "Friday I'm in Love" on it but the rest of that album I felt was pretty solid.
The Smiths and it's not even close. First heard them Christmas of 86, Queen is Dead and I was hooked. Was the biggest fan back in High School and would say I can't listen to them anymore due to the fact their music made me a miserable *uck. Too many sad sad memories. Almost, almost saw that Cullen show in 86 but had to wait til Moz played Astroworld in 90 to finally kick the Moz crush. After that I was over him, did see him again in 2008? at the Verizon and the show was blinding.
i did see the cullen show, front row. shook hands with the moz. they were my favorite band at the time. still love them.
The thing is the Smiths were never around long enough to become a parody of themselves, but the Cure sure ended up as one.
