Song Saturday: The Cure Block

How's it going my gumdrops? Sorry for my lack of presence. These last 3 weeks have been brutal. As you already know, I have been recovering from a minor head injury. In addition to my head injury, my right hand is swollen.

Let's all hope and pray that I don't spend this entire year enduring injuries. I'm already hating this new year. Hopefully, 2017 will be better than 2016.

Aside from my injuries, I joined another forum earlier this month. Tomorrow I will explain more about this forum for Cartoon Sunday. However, I will say that this particular forum has sub-forums for general topics outside of Anime.

Someone posted a thread on that exact message board about being Goth. Apparently, some of the posters have very little knowledge about what it is like being a Goth. For people, who knew and still know very little about me, I have always been Goth.

There is more to being Goth than wearing all black clothes and liking certain bands. If you are somebody with a dark, morbid, and creepy personality and interests, you may be Goth. Although, you're NOT  required to only like something with the "Goth" label attached to it.

Something everyone should understand is that being Goth is NOT easy. Since the time of the Columbine High School Massacre on April 20, 1999, the mainstream media has been demonizing and condemning Goths and the Goth Sub-culture.

Everyone should take most the negative stereotypes and depictions of being Goth in the media worth a grain of salt. Not all Goths are depressed, suicidal, and homicidal maniacs worshiping Satan, sacrificing anything and everyone, while ONLY dressed in black attire.

Yes, even though some Goths are Satanists, they do NOT  purposely go out their way to hurt innocent humans and animals like sociopaths. The same most definitely applies for Wiccans, who are Goths.

Yes, there are some of us Goths who generally have serious baggage. We are not any different from the average person with baggage. Also, Goths are NOT  required to be Pagans. 

We can be Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Muslim, Pagan (Wiccan or Satanist), etc.

Because we may look and act differently and don't always share the same interests and views as most "normal people" do, we're automatically ostracized and condemned for not conforming to everything in society.

As I was saying earlier, we can like whatever we like whenever we like without having the "Goth" label. Goths are normally the most well-rounded, open-minded, accepting, and nicest people you will ever encounter in public. This cannot always be said about "normal" people.

If you would like to learn more about the Goth Sub-culture and its community, you may want to visit the website, What Is Goth?  This will give you a better explanation about what it's like to be Goth.

Last year, I published a blog about me being morbid, since childhood. If you would like to learn more about my "dark and morbid history," you can read it right HERE.

Speaking of being Goth on the latest forum I joined, I introduced that same group of posters to the pioneers of Goth Rock. 

It's amazing. Over the last 3 years, I already published Song Saturday blogs about bands such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees, and other Goth Rock bands.

All the while, I have never published a Song Saturday blog about The Cure. All this time and not a single Song Saturday blog about this Classic Goth Rock band!

For The Cure fans, today is your lucky day. This band has been around for nearly 4 decades and their sound has changed a lot over the years. Between 1980-82, they were more of a Goth Rock band in the sense that their music sounded darker and more ominous.

The Cure's albums, Seventeen Seconds and Pornography sounded much better than Faith, in regards to the the band's darker sound. Faith wasn't that enjoyable. I feel the best song on that album is "Carnage Visors."

To warn you in advance, "Carnage Visors" is literally close to a 30-minute song. It sounds like a really long Horror film score. If you'd like to listen to "Carnage Visors," go for it!

After 1982, The Cure evolved and crossed over as being Alternative and Pop-Rock. Most people don't hear the band's older and more obscure songs from the late '70s and early '80s. 

Therefore, I am sharing some of The Cure's older and more obscure songs with you for today's Song Saturday, including their song, which was originally featured on The Crow Soundtrack in 1994.

1) The Cure "The Final Sound" Seventeen Seconds (1980)

2) The Cure "A Forest" Seventeen Seconds (1980)

3) The Cure "Carnage Visors" Faith (1981)

 

4) The Cure "One Hundred Years" Pornography (1982)

5) The Cure "The Figurehead" Pornography (1982)

6) The Cure "A Strange Day" Pornography (1982)

[BONUS SONG:]

The Cure "Burn" The Crow Soundtrack (1994)

Have You Ever Watched MTV Icon: The Cure Circa 2004?

This blog was originally published on Xanga March 9, 2013.

 

How's it going my fellow Xangans? I know that I'm super LATE with this topic, but have any of you ever watched MTV Icon: The Cure?  

I can't believe MTV did another MTV Icon back in 2004. I didn't know anything about it! Then again, that was a BRUTAL year for me. 

In 2004, my grandfather died from multiple terminal illnesses. He was the only father figure I ever had. At the same time, I mostly stayed gone from my dorm room. During 2004, I was swamped with difficult classes and had a needy and attention-seeking drama queen for a roommate. 

It was mostly my roommate's cheating boyfriend at the time (he was cheating on my roommate with her divisive friends), their toxic relationship, and his need to monopolize the TV and our dorm room, that gave me reasons to stay gone. 

I was lucky to sit down and watch TV or listen to music, much less get any sleep. Anyway, I digress.

Last year, I YouTubed MTV Icon: The Cure and wasn't that impressed with it. MTV had Marylin Manson of ALL Rock Stars host the tribute. That narcissist did NOT deserve to host a tribute for The Cure. 

He was so patronizing to us viewers and fans. As if Manson wasn't already a grandiose, pompous ass?

His melodramatic antics and feeling the need to say, that he was more into Metal than he was into The Cure was highly unnecessary. Like the typical narcissist, that asshole wanted to make The Cure's tribute ceremony into being about HIM.

Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie And The Banshees, Jonathan Davis from KoRn, Jared Leto's 30 Seconds To Mars, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, Peter Steele from Type O Negative, Bauhaus' Peter Murphy, or any other musician, who was Goth or highly admired The Cure should've hosted the tribute. 

It felt as if Marylin Manson was insulting The Cure and their fans including yours truly, throughout the entire tribute. 

He disguised his insults as jokes from time to time about Robert Smith, his hair, The Cure's music, etc. I understand that Manson was trying to be "witty," but his insults disguised as jokes rubbed more of us viewers the wrong way. I'm not the only fan of  The Cure's, who noticed that narcissist's inflection.

Last year, I read the YouTube comments all throughout the time I watched this 9-year-old tribute that I missed. 

The Mansonites loved it whereas The Cure fans like myself didn't. I don't believe Robert Smith or the rest of the band cared for Marylin Manson's hosting, either.

It was as if Marilyn Manson was mocking The Cure and us fans. Some YouTube posters said Manson was acting like a "douche bag" and I completely agree with them.

Neither did the late Peter Steele of Type O Negative, nor did I have a problem with joking about the Goth Sub-culture, when he wrote the song, "Black No. 1." 

Type O Negative's song, "Black No. 1" was meant to be witty about the Goth Sub-culture and Goth Chicks without being patronizing. 

It sucks that Peter Steele didn't host the MTV Icon: The Cure, when he (Steele) was still alive. 

I'm willing to bet that Peter Steele would've done a phenomenal job compared to Marylin Manson. Peter would not have been melodramatic to the extent, that he was patronizing The Cure and their fans.

The Deftones and A.F.I. were the best Icon tribute performers; Both were fantastic, when they paid homage to The Cure. Every other band's homage sucked ass. We're talking cringeworthy vocalists from shitty Pop-Punk bands like Blink-182, naming only 1 example. 

Who can take a band, that revels in tomfoolery seriously? 

No one in Blink-182 ever had any real singing talent. 

Mark Hoppus and ESPECIALLY  Tom Delonge still dress like 12-year-old skater boys from the '90s with the voices of 12-year-old boys to match. 

I guess I'm being a little harsh. At least Mark sounds like he already reached puberty but I can't say that for Tom, that's for sure. Oh, my ears!

MTV should've had bands such as 311, 30 Seconds To Mars, and other vocalists with singing talent and an appreciation for The Cure to perform covers. 

Undoubtedly, The Deftones gave the best cover performance out the entire tribute for The Cure. 

I am not only saying this because I enjoy The Deftones, but also because the dark tones, the intensity in the band's performance, and Chino Moreno's vocals sounded amazing. 

A.F.I. had the 2nd best cover. Everybody else sucked ass. I think MTV might have chosen to pull the plug, after MTV Icon: The Cure. Marylin Manson's shitty job of hosting the tribute was as terrible as the other performances.

I will admit, I like some of Marylin Manson's songs and can respect him TO AN EXTENT. Otherwise, he needs his ego to be deflated. 

I have never met the man, but he comes across as very abrasive and should stop patronizing everyone. 

Manson can do his "shock value" schtick as much as he wants and more power to him. However, anytime Twiggy quit Manson's band and Dita filed divorce papers on his birthday years ago, it makes me wonder why. I'm just saying.

So, has anybody else ever watched MTV Icon: The Cure? If you want, you can check out this Deftones' cover of "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep."

The Deftones "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" MTV Icon: The Cure (2004)