1986 - OK (France)*  (Translation below)
"The Cure – some very sad clowns"

The Cure – some very sad clowns.

 A few days ago, in a famous daily, you could see a column about the group The Cure. It’s “surprising” to say the least, when you know that you couldn’t be “more British” than them, and that we know what chauvinists our friends at the other side of the Channel are.

The column in question said something like this: “The Cure hosted a gala on Saturday at Chef X in the London suburb. It seems that in France, The Cure is a group that appeals to young people. Bizarre! But anyway what do you expect from a country that eats snails and frogs?”. It’s true what they say that no one is a prophet in his own country, but that was a bit harsh. After all, London is a 40 minutes flight from Paris. And over here, when The Cure come play for us they attract thousands of people. It would be unthinkable for them to perform for two or three hundred people in a club. They need the biggest stages.

Without a doubt it’s Cure that most represent the New Wave (when you used to talk- before them- about New Wave in Paris, it used to be about the cinema). Robert Smith, the group’s leader is far from what you’d call a teen idol. The dark eye, the long string of sad hair on his face, he looks nothing like a charmer at first. He even seems to have all the world’s misery on his shoulders. His friends are none the more smiley. And yet, it’s the young, the very young even- who have chosen them as idols. Cure embody a certain form of romanticism drowned in beer. Their obvious anti-conformism seduces the contemporary youth, at least those who like Indochine (note: French alternative group). And actually, reading the lyrics of their latest single “Close To Me” written and composed by Robert Smith, you directly enter the heart of the matter. Fear. Fear of loneliness, fear of his fantasies or nightmares, mixed with another angst, that of having no faith. Only one desire, to escape, the big escape into sleep in order not the see the light of day. And so often, to hide this latent despair, The Cure make themselves-up like sad clowns- all white with a bleeding mouth but continue to dress in black- like their thoughts.

 Caption: Cure uphold neo-romanticism and anti-conformism.

  Thanks so much Caroline for TRANSLATING.