Happy Birthday Disintegration

May 2, 1989 The Cure’s Disintegration was released. That makes that album 28 years old. After hearing about that, I needed to do some reflection. Those of you that don’t know, I’m quite The Cure fan, especially in those late 80s and early 90s. The band fell off my radar after that point, until I started to get back into them doing some research on a Cure tribute project I was involved in. At that time, I was fully into them again. And later in 2016, I was able to see them during their US tour. Amazing. I went into great detail here – “The Cure 2016 US Tour“.

But I’m posting about the birthday of Disintegration today, but it got me thinking about the importance and impact of that album. I touched upon this on the post – “The Power of Influences“. I remember clearly when Disintegration came out. I was a senior in high school. After picking up the cassette and taking it home I gave it a few spins. A definite thumbs up review, but it wasn’t until the next day when it hit me. I had a first period art class, and for that art class, I was pretty much left alone on a senior final project, so I was off in a side room. I had my Sony Walkmanâ„¢ (God.. I’m old) and headphones on and really focusing on my piece while lost in the songs of that album. That was the moment. The moment of music meeting emotion and burning itself in my psyche.

At that time, I didn’t know how to play guitar – still about 6 months away from owning my first guitar. Music was still “pure” and not ruined by me trying to figure out songs and deconstructing them. Pure in the sense, that all I could do with music then was just listen and feel it. You know what I mean?

But that album doesn’t just focus at that point in art class. That album followed me around with various milestones. Certain songs take me instantly back in time to certain situations, locations and people. I wore that tape out. You couldn’t tell the difference between Side A and Side B from the outside. It didn’t matter. It was all good.

When I hear that the albums is 28 years old now, it blows me away. Because I’m getting older. My friends and family are getting older. Seeing The Cure – they’re getting older. But that album – is timeless.

Now, that album crosses into my guitar play. When I first started learning Cure songs, it was the older stuff. It was easier in the sense of chords and rhythm. By the time Disintegration, Robert Smith was all about the Bass VI and those golden melody lines. I remember struggling to get those tones right back in the 90s on my standard guitar. Those melody lines influence the way I play guitar today. That album runs deep on multiple levels for me today.

What album have you listened to that created the biggest impact of your life?