The artist I’m choosing to write about is The Cure. They came into circulation around the 80’s with the post-punk wave. They’re often associated with “gothic rock” but lead singer Robert Smith doesn’t like to be placed into categories. The Cure tends to have sad and gloomy lyrics, whether it’s singing about lost love, or loving someone else. They’re originally from the U.K but their music has reached many people over in the U.S as well. They also recently got inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. The band uses many types of instruments from piano to saxophones.

The song I’m choosing to write about is “Boys Don’t Cry” off of their debut album “Three Imaginary Boys” which released in 1979. The song talks about a breakup of some sort but instead of the girl being heartbroken we get the perspective from Robert Smith. At the time actors such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were often many boys role models and seen as peak masculinity. As for The Cure, they instead showed the sensitive side that men had that was rarely ever shown. The phrase “boys don’t cry” encourages men to bottle up their emotions instead of expressing and confronting them. The Cure slammed this phrase and ideology by just making sad songs.