Modern Rock Tracks No.1s - The Cure and "Fascination Street"

For Robert Smith and The Cure, the path to success takes a detour from a place just like heaven onto "Fascination Street," the track that brings their gothic appeal into the mainstream

The Cure - “Fascination Street”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 7 (5/6/89 - 6/17/89)

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• Madonna - “Like A Prayer” (5/6/89)

• Bon Jovi - “I’ll Be There For You” (5/13/89)

• Paula Abdul - “Forever Your Girl” (5/20/89 and 5/27/89)

• Michael Damian - “Rock On (From ‘Dream A Little Dream’)” (6/3/89)

• Bette Midler - “Wind Beneath My Wings (From ‘Beaches’)” (6/10/89)

• New Kids On The Block - “I'll Be Loving You (Forever)” (6/17/89)

If I told you The Cure would only have one Modern Rock Tracks #1 hit off their 1989 album “Disintegration,” I wouldn’t have held it against you if your choice was “Love Song” (or, if you prefer, “Lovesong,” though I’m sticking with the two-word spelling as it appears on the official charts).

Before I started working on this project, I would have made the same guess. “Love Song” was a juggernaut in the late summer and fall of 1989, and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 in October 1989. Surprisingly, the song also peaked at #2 on the MRT chart in September, behind an Australian band I’d never heard of, a band I would not have figured to keep The Cure’s highest-charting Hot 100 song out of the top MRT chart spot. We’ll discuss that band later.

But we’re not here to talk about “Love Song.” We’re here to talk about what is, so far, the lengthiest song to top the MRT charts to this point, a song with an absurdly long but well-constructed bass-led intro, and one that was only released as a single in the U.S. and never charted internationally. Today, we’re taking a walk with The Cure on “Fascination Street.”

I generally embed the official video for these songs, but I wanted to call attention to the album cut of the song. The official video, likely due to time restraints on MTV and radio stations, cut out most of the beginning of the track, which features a long intro with a hypnotic and ominous bass line. I think it’s important to highlight the entire song because of the mood The Cure sets, which is emblematic of a larger genre that they helped cultivate and bring to the mainstream: goth rock.

It wasn’t always like that for The Cure. Indeed, when they began in the late 1970s, they were pretty much like every other U.K.-based band I’ve reviewed so far. The Cure began their careers in the post-punk/new wave boom that eventually made landfall in the U.S. in the early 1980s, and they rode underground success throughout the decade. In the case of The Cure, they were able to cross over to more of a mainstream audience, and scored a few hits along the way.

Their first mainstream hit, “Let’s Go To Bed,” is a synth-pop nugget in the vein of bands like Flock of Seagulls or Thomas Dolby, and it charted just below the top 100 at a respectable but nondescript #109. A follow-up single, “The Lovecats,” did marginally better, peaking at #107. It’s definitely NOT goth rock in the same way their later works would define the genre; there’s lots of plinking instruments, bouncing rhythms and goofy sounds.

“In Between Days” marked the first time the band made it into the top 100 of the Hot 100. It peaked at #99. But this track, off their album “The Head on the Door,” feels more like the pre-goth-infused band that started to gain traction in the mainstream music arena. Lead singer Robert Smith really started to find his voice, so to speak, his prominent and distinct style driving the band’s songs.

Eventually, The Cure hit its peak as a new wave hit maker, beginning with the lead single off their 1987 album “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me”: the upbeat, chaotic track “Why Can't I Be You?” This track became their highest charting Hot 100 hit to that point, peaking at #54 in early 1987. That song was eclipsed by the third single off the album, “Just Like Heaven,” which peaked right on the edge of the U.S. Top 40 at #40 in the early weeks of 1988. (This was the song that got me into the band initially, as it was likely the first one I heard on the radio back in my third-grade days. I really love it.)

At this point, none of these songs really scream goth rock, and it’s odd because The Cure seems to be consistently labeled as such. Indeed, even Smith scoffed at being pigeon-holed as a goth band, as he noted in this Reuters interview from 2006:

"We're not categorisable. I suppose we were post-punk when we came out, but in total it's impossible. How can you describe a band that put out an album like 'Pornography' and also 'Greatest Hits' where every single song was top 10 around the world? I just play Cure music, whatever that is."

I’m hardly an expert on The Cure, and it’s possible their non-charting singles created more of that gothic appeal that came to define the band for a time, but if I had to pick a point where the band made that full swing from post-punk new wave to goth rock, it’d be with “Fascination Street.”

From the first note to the first verse, Smith and the gang create a bleak aura, the kind of song you’d hear during a movie montage with a main character or protagonist working their way through dark, dingy city streets. This is intentional, as the song was inspired by a booze-laden evening traipsing about the streets of New Orleans, but it speaks to a deeper darkness invading Smith and the band at the time.

Smith noted in a Rolling Stone interview that, in the time preceding the release of “Disintegration,” he was “fighting against being a pop star, being expected to be larger than life all the time, and it really did my head in. I got really depressed, and I started doing drugs again. … Everyone expected me to be writing songs that were gonna follow-up ‘Just Like Heaven.’ They thought that we were gonna keep things light and bouncy with an occasional bit of gloom, but we did the opposite.”

I like the atmosphere the band creates, though I can’t help but feel somewhat bad about how dark a place Smith had to go to make that sound a reality. Lyrically, the song is quite abstract, though allusions to screaming, dragging, kicking, hair pulling and the general malaise associated with being on this titular street give added depth to the musical ride the band takes its listener on. If Smith’s goal was to do the opposite of “Just Like Heaven,” he succeeded. It’s not my favorite song from the band, but I appreciate it more knowing the backstory of its creation.

Nevertheless, “Fascination Street” struck a chord with alternative and college rock radio listeners and programmers. Other than R.E.M.’s “Orange Crush,” no other song had been on top of the MRT chart for longer than five weeks, and the radio airplay coupled with strong sales pushed the single to a respectably high #46 on the Hot 100 in June 1989.

The Cure finished their “Disintegration” tour and promotional cycle with a style that defined them for the next 30 years, taking dour alternative goth rock into the mainstream. As noted, “Love Song” became the band’s signature pop hit, and the fourth single from the album, “Pictures of You,” finished at #71 on the Hot 100 in early 1990.

This won’t be the last we hear from The Cure in this space. The release of a remix album in late 1990 will bring them back to the top of the MRT charts.

Rating: 7/10

Chart notes: We finally see the end of Fine Young Cannibals, burning hot and bright for a bit and then fading into the ether. Lots of good tracks come up during The Cure’s run at the top, but these are few of the highlights (and maybe a lowlight?).

• "Good Thing" by Fine Young Cannibals: I never considered FYC a college rock or alternative band, so it surprised me to see “She Drives Me Crazy” chart in the top 5 on the MRT chart as noted in my XTC writeup. I was more surprised to see “Good Thing” charted even HIGHER than their other hit, peaking at #2 behind “Fascination Street.” As with their first single, FYC’s “Good Thing” succeeded on the Hot 100 where they fell short on the MRT chart, peaking at #1 the week ending July 8, 1989. While “She Drives Me Crazy” is the track most commonly replayed today, I really like the doo-wop vibe on “Good Thing.”

• "Fire Woman" by The Cult: This is about as close as hair metal/glam rock came to the top of the MRT chart. Riding the wave of U.S. bands who were in their glam-rock heyday during this time, The Cult managed a decent #46 peak on the Hot 100 with this single, and even rode it up to a peak of #2 behind The Cure in May 1989. So much hair, so much metal.

• "Trouble Me" by 10,000 Maniacs: Natalie Merchant and the band start to make their move into the zeitgeist with this track, a fluffy yet richly textured pop-rock song that peaked at #3 behind “Fascination Street.” This lead single off the 1989 album “Blind Man's Zoo” even found crossover success, hitting #44 on the Hot 100. We’ll be discussing all 10,000 of the maniacs in greater detail when they release their next album.

• "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child" by Mojo Nixon/Skid Roper: Yeah. This exists. It peaked at #16 behind The Cure. If you’re looking for a goofy revue of quirky pop culture references from the late 1980s (like Spuds McKenzie and other musicians from the time), this is the song for you.