May 1986 - Top 50 (France)*  (Translation below)
"An English group at the Top"

An English group at the Top
The Cure

In summary…

Let’s not chew our words! It’s a true “Curemania” that’s taking over France since the autumn. Their songs are ever present on our radios, their faces illustrate the magazine pages. Their concert at the Paris Bercy Palais Omnisport last December remains engraved in our memories. Since, every coming of the group to the capital provokes riots and a major security service has to be put in place…in the streets you can witness flourishing a bit everywhere hundreds of Robert Smith clones. With two titles in the Top 50 “In between days” and “Close to me”, the 5 British lads Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams, Porl Thompson and Simon Gallup were well deserving of your favorite magazine’s honors.

 (In this graph you can follow the weekly evolution of “Close to me”) (the rise)

 6 questions to Robert Smith

How did you choose your name?
We were looking for a name Lol, Simon and me for our band and so we made a list, 5 days later we made a draw…unless it happened otherwise (laughs). In the beginning we were called “Easy Cure”. But in 1979 we turned it into “The Cure”.

How did you all meet?
Lol & I knew each other since we were 5 or 6 years old. But we only became friends a lot later, around 16. Then we met Simon in high school.

What year did you record your first single?
It was in 1979 and it was called “Killing an Arab”. This song is not racist, but inspired from a novel by Camus “The Stranger”. To avoid any confusion, we used to give the book with every record.

We’re currently witnessing in France a real “Curemania”. How do you explain it?
France is the country where we’re the most successful and the Palais Omnisport in Bercy is the biggest lace we’ve ever perfomed…

There’s talk about a big Cure concert at  the end of May, sponsored by Europe 1, where 100,000 people are expected in Lyon…
For Technical reasons we had to cancel the Lyon concert. So for sure don’t bother to show up, it would be a complete waste of time.

But then will we get a chance to see you onstage this summer?
Yes of course we’ll have a few dates during august with concerts in the Midi (South).

(1981, Robert Smith, Simon Gallup and Lol Tolhurst, it was the first line up of the Cure. 1986, the 3 friends are in Paris for the promotion of “Close To Me”).

 Identity Card

They love, they hate

ROBERT
Loves
Life
And nothing else
Hates
Getting out of bed
And nothing

 LOL
Loves
Long walks
Feeding the duck
Hates
Despair
Famine

BORIS
Loves
Sleeping and waking up late
Hates|
Getting out of bed,
 especially at dawn

SIMON
Loves
Vodka
Grapefruit Juice
Playing cards
Hates
Brown
Jogging
Losing at games

 PORL
Loves
His stick collection
Walking in the meadows
Hates
Writing
Getting telegrams

Discography
Singles
The upstairs room
The caterpillar
In between days
Close to me 

Albums
10.15 Saturday night
Seventeen seconds
Faith
Pornography
Boys don’t cry
The upstairs room
Japanese Whispers
The Top
Concert the Cure live
The Head on the door

 Thanks so much Caroline for TRANSLATING.