Disintegration (1989)

Disintegration is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May 1989, by Fiction Records. The band recorded the album at Hookend Recording Studios in Checkendon, Oxfordshire, with co-producer David M. Allen from late 1988 to early 1989.

The album marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album. Following the completion of the mixing, founding member Lol Tolhurst was fired from the band.

Disintegration became the band's highest charting album up to that point, reaching number three on the UK Albums Chart and number 12 on the US Billboard 200, and produced several hit singles, including "Lovesong", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains the band's highest-selling record to date, with more than four million copies sold worldwide. It was greeted with a warm critical reception before later being widely acclaimed, including being placed at number 116 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it the "culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s".

Background

The band's 1987 double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was commercially successful, with a sold-out world tour booked in its wake. Despite the international success the band was now enjoying, internal friction was increasing due to Lol Tolhurst's increasing alcoholism at the time. Keyboardist Roger O'Donnell (who had recently been touring with The Psychedelic Furs), was soon hired as a second touring keyboardist. As Tolhurst's alcohol consumption increased, the other band members would tease Tolhurst, leading Smith to later comment that his behaviour was similar to that of "some kind of handicapped child being constantly poked with a stick". At the end of the Kissing Tour in support of the album, Smith became uncomfortable with the side effects of being a pop star and moved to Maida Vale (in West London) with fiancée Mary Poole. Regularly taking LSD to cope with his depression, Smith once again felt the band was being misunderstood and sought to return to its dark side with their next record.

Recording and production

Smith's anguish prior to the recording of Disintegration gave way to the realisation on his 29th birthday that he would turn 30 in one year. This realisation was frightening to him, as he felt all the masterpieces in rock and roll had been completed well before its creators had reached such an age. Smith consequently began to write music without the rest of the band. The material he had written instantly took a dismal, depressing form, which he credited to "the fact that I was gonna be thirty". The band convened at drummer Boris Williams's home and compared their individual demos that each member recorded, and they rated them "1 to 10", then the group met later at a second session and recorded a total of 32 songs at Williams's house with a 16-track recorder by the end of the summer. Of these 32 songs, 12 would make it onto the final album.