Chris Higgins
The Late Movies: The Cure
by Chris Higgins - May 12, 2010 - 10:00 PM

The Late Movies

Any 80′s Goths in the house? I thought so. Let’s take a trip through the annals of music video history — specifically, my favorite songs by The Cure. Share your favorites in the comments!

Boys Don’t Cry

From way back in 1979 1986 (thanks @TheKm!), this video is weird, fun, and simple. A kid-version of the band plays, while the real band plays behind a curtain. Robert Smith’s eyes glow red. That is all.

In Between Days

The official video includes bizarre colorization, including, guess what, glowing red eyes for Smith! Also colorful socks added in postproduction.

Also: live in France, 1986.

Pictures of You

You know it’s 1990 when the video is shot outdoors and there’s a hailstorm on a faux beach placed in a frozen wasteland. You know it’s awesome when there’s a guy in a polar bear suit and a snowball fight breaks out at the end.

From YouTube’s video description:

All the band members did their own make-up in a bathroom in a near by pub. The polar bear in the video is Bruno, the Cure’s driver and he also plays the octopus in the “Close to me- Closer mix” video.

Just Like Heaven

Strange parallels between this (from 1987) and the video above for “Pictures of You.” Sadly, no polar bears. Be sure to read the surprisingly extensive Wikipedia entry about this song. According to Wikipedia, the woman here is Smith’s wife Mary Poole; video director Tim Pope said, “[Poole] can honestly lay claim to being the only featured female in any Cure video, ever.”

Close To Me

Socks make another appearance, as the band are tossed off a cliff while trapped inside a wardrobe. Also, the Beachy Head footage is reused for the “Just Like Heaven” video above.

Lovesong

Just hanging out in a cave.

Share Your Favorites in the Comments

There are lots of great The Cure videos out there — post links to your favorites in the comments!

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Comments (13)

  1. That first video isn’t from 1979. It’s from 1986, when the updated version was included in Staring at the Sea/Quadpus and they finally made a video for their original hit.

    posted by TheKm on 5-12-2010 at 10:48 pm

  2. My favorite: Lullaby… creepy and sexy at the same time

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOHQs405XcU

    posted by Margo on 5-12-2010 at 11:04 pm

  3. @TheKm — thanks for the correction! I’ve updated the post. For what it’s worth, I also found a video for Jumping Someone Else’s Train that was just fast-motion film shot from the perspective of a train…any idea when that’s from? (It’s possibly the most boring and literal video ever for such a good song.)

    posted by Chris Higgins on 5-12-2010 at 11:06 pm

  4. Chris, thats the original (proper) video for Jumping Someone Elses train, as seen on Staring At The Sea : The Images (video collection)

    Most of the pre-Tim Pope videos are… lacking in one way or another.

    posted by shilo101 on 5-13-2010 at 1:20 am

  5. Lovecats is a favorite, and the one happy song, Friday Im in Love.

    posted by DMS on 5-13-2010 at 9:18 am

  6. Seems shilo beat me to it – right on both the video date and the quality of Tim Pope.

    posted by TheKm on 5-13-2010 at 11:03 am

  7. I recommend seeking out the original video for “A Forest”. On Youtube, the versions I found were for live performances. The one I like is found on the “Greatest Hits” DVD (available from Netflix).

    The song is good, and the video is a fairly straightforward band-playing-instruments shoot. What makes it a treasure is that Robert Smith has not yet donned his signature makeup and disheveled hair.

    It is quite interesting to see them as “normal” looking blokes.

    posted by n2y2 on 5-13-2010 at 12:05 pm

  8. Let’s not forget The Spiderman. Very strange, very cool song with a sort of Tim Burton-esque feel to the video. Then again, it’s The Cure. What about them isn’t Tim Burton-esque. They are awesome. Man, I used to have their greatest hits CD. I wonder what happened to that?

    posted by Eric on 5-13-2010 at 12:41 pm

  9. Love, love, love The Cure! This post makes me happy. :)

    posted by Krie on 5-13-2010 at 2:25 pm

  10. I love “killing an arab” I never really got the title until I read The Stranger by Albert Camus. Click on my name to read the history of the song.

    posted by kat on 5-13-2010 at 3:13 pm

  11. The music and video Hot, Hot, Hot is pretty darn cool, cool, cool.

    posted by Simon G on 5-13-2010 at 3:37 pm

  12. Mint Car is one of my all-time favorite Cure videos. It’s right up there with Friday I’m in Love. I think Robert Smith had said something about Mint Car being even happier than Friday I’m in Love.

    posted by Tomas on 5-13-2010 at 4:58 pm

  13. LOVE this post! I’ve been a Cure fan since I first heard them in 1987, watching Just Like Heaven on tv as a kid. I saw them almost 2 years ago and it was perfect.
    Songs: in addition to the above list, I love Letter to Elise, Fascination Street, & The Perfect Boy. If you can find the audio/video of Mtv’s Unplugged is awesome too. I also rec. their Greatest Hits–the one with the baby on the cover–and Show, a live cd.
    I’m such a nerd, I have the orchestral Cure (Vitamin Quartet or something).

    posted by Elle Sees on 5-14-2010 at 1:51 pm

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