r/TheCure • u/Thin-Place-5198 Wish!! • 14d ago
Cure Related I feel confused đ«Ș
https://youtu.be/pJpzWgDOzNw?si=8yJzFzqWK8lEgMMaHelloo! What do you think? The song It's very similar to Primary and the video is very '80s The Cure.
This is a place to spark an interesting discussion! I don't want to be the one to judge, but I'm happy that these guys are inspired by a great band like The Cure. We're here because we love The Cure!
Of course, with this particular song, they probably went beyond simple inspiration! This is a single from the album, which will be released in late 2026, I hope with more unique songs!
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u/FaFaFaFaFaCeLa 14d ago
There has already been the Dutch copycats of The Cure back in the 80s - The Essence.
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u/ikediggety 14d ago
Me, hearing white zombie for the first time in 1992: "well, if ministry doesn't want be ministry anymore, somebody might as well"
Me, hearing Live! for the first time in 1993: "well, if REM doesn't want to be REM anymore, somebody might as well"
So I don't hate this. I'm really quite fond of the 1981 cure sound. The cure doesn't really sound like this anymore, they continued to grow and evolve and still are. It's not like Faith or primary are platinum sellers and these guys are just trying to cash in - they clearly have a deep and abiding love for the music. If they were doing soundalikes of just like heaven, in between days or Friday, I might look on them with a little skepticism. But these kids are clearly just doing what they love. And hey, if it gets people to actually sit down and listen to faith, it's a win - nobody could ever beat faith at that game so I'm fine if people play it
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u/Thin-Place-5198 14d ago
I kind of agree with you, I posted to have a discussion and not to judge them myself! I think it's a great thing that young musicians feel inspired by a great band like the cure! We're all here because we love The Cure, after all. The only thing is that between this video and the very similar song, I was left wondering where the line between inspiration/cover/plagiarism lies
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u/ikediggety 14d ago
Go watch the video for "vampires and wolves" by the wombats is you want to see another fantastic Robert impression.
Good artists borrow, great artists steal.
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u/AllCatsAreBlonde 14d ago edited 14d ago
Yes. They're called Desinteresse and this subreddit is well aware of them. They have their own subreddit too.
I saw them live about a year ago when they supported She Past Away and they were actually really good, so I think it's a shame they rely on that Cure like image so much. You can put their concert pictures next to the Cure ones from 1981 and I guarantee you a lot of people won't even notice it's a different band. Their album fits in well between Faith and Pornopgraphy too. They'll release something new soon, but they have started singing in English lately instead of Dutch, which they used to do and which at least made them more unique. This won't help the copycat talk either.
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u/Thin-Place-5198 14d ago
Oh I hadn't read anything about this on reddit, they actually seem like good musicians but between the video and this song it really won't help to recognize them as originals
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u/Complex_Middle_3371 14d ago
Where is their subreddit?
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u/AllCatsAreBlonde 14d ago
Oh I can't find it! I know there was one, because a member had posted it on here once.
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u/Equal_Pudding_4878 14d ago
As a musician I can clearly reject the term âinspiredâ and use the more accurate ârip off.â
Not that itâs a bad song, but it was better 40 years ago when the Cure did it.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 14d ago
How do you feel about Nirvana clearly ripping off the Cure on their first album?
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u/Equal_Pudding_4878 14d ago
do you mean how they ripped Killing Joke on their second record? come as you are is better song is what i think.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 14d ago
Oh they totally ripped off killing joke. Boston too.
Nope. I meant Bleach. About a Girl is a huge rip off of M. I dig Nirvana but it's a rip off nonetheless.
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u/Equal_Pudding_4878 14d ago
bouncing between two chords to a third is pretty much just pop music since forever so yeah, not as much a rip as a reflection of just writing a song.
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u/No_Raspberry_3282 13d ago
Wrong. I doubt he even knew much Cure. He said he was trying to ripoff the Beatles and you can sort of hear it.
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u/Intheforestallalone 14d ago
I donât get that I get Pixies vibes. Later Cobain even said, âmy god we sound like the Pixiesâ. Itâs the loud/soft sound that Nirvana had that is just like the Pixies.
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u/DustSongs 14d ago
Yeah they definitely hurdle the line between influence and ripoff, and just keep running.
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u/MainNet6554 14d ago
Any element of this band that is remotely good is entirely based on the creative work of the Cure. It feels like someone feed the first 3 Cure records into an AI model and asked for another. I donât see the point to cosplay a band and try to call it your own. I would hate to be in their position.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 14d ago
You can tell Reznor loves the Pornography album on at least one track on every NIN abum.....and I LOVE NIN
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u/LittleFanggg 14d ago
It's different. Reznor made it his own, he took the influence and love and created his own art that has his own personality. You hear a NIN song and you know it's a NIN song... same goes for the cure, they can play some sort of flamenco or salsa... but it's still a cure song.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 14d ago
Fair. I don't disagree. But so many NIN bass lines sound like Simon. I bet even Trent would say that....as the Cure is his favorite band.
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u/LittleFanggg 14d ago edited 14d ago
Yeah, I don't disagree with you either. And, for example, Robert is the king of knicking things when it comes to lyrics (from books and poems) and mixing his references into his own work, but, as I said in another comment, I think there's a line between inspiration and pastiche.
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u/Onaud 14d ago
Thereâs also a LED Zeppelin copy band going around, I forgot their name. Apparently itâs the new cool thing, to have zero personality and cosplay as your favourite band
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u/Fun_Cabinet6547 14d ago
Greta Van Fleet?
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u/Ill_Leadership1396 14d ago
Yep. Way too much like the Cure. I dont understand how bands can be successful sounding just like another band. Imagine reaching a high level of success and everyone says "sounds like the Cure". Depressing, if you ask me. I think the single most important thing in creating a new band is to bring something different/ new. Even within an established genre, you gotta be different in some way or you are kinda doing someone else's art
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u/PJmichelle 14d ago
Yeah this is way too close, it's not taking influence from The Cure, this is trying to be The Cure. And also this isn't as good as what The Cure did over 40 years ago. The song is missing that one interesting chord shift that The Cure would have. Also that flanger is too strong. It's trying to be like that flanging effect from The Cure, but it should be just slightly more subtle, this feels almost like the whole master mix had a flanger instead of just the guitar. The singer also lacks in personal voice, which isn't surprising since he is only trying to sound like someone. This sounds like a throw away track from The Cure's second or thrid album that wasn't good enough to make it on to the album. I'd be ashamed to release something like this.
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u/MainNet6554 14d ago
I would add that there have always been bands that wish they could be like bands that influenced them; Look at all the Depeche Mode âinspiredâ bands. Some were better than others, but many of them evolved into their own thing, even inspiring other bands (industrial dance, techno); or like Interpol being called out as a Joy Division âclone.â But in this case itâs creepy.
aking the âFaithâ album cover, dressing to emulate the Cure in that same period (even the singerâs haircut), promo pictures that reek of mimicking old Cure promo pics from that same period, releasing a video to recreate bootleg footage of the Cure live from the same period and then writing songs that are attempting to sound like the Cure from the same period is way too much. The song is fine, but only because of the Cure.
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u/Infamaniac23 14d ago edited 14d ago
I generally love when artists wear their influences on their sleeve but sometimes it's just a bit too much. Idk this band but I do hope that they can evolve from this and do their own thing, I mean Fleeting Joys just wanted to be an MBV rip off band and they made a record as great as Despondent Transponder so maybe these guys have hope, because as it is idk why I would ever listen to this instead of just listening to Primary. The image doesn't help too, if you squint you can say that this is some Cure footage from back in the day.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 14d ago
Siamese Dream is one of my favorite albums ever. They definitely be lifting from MBV.
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u/murmur1983 14d ago
I thought âdid they just rip off Primaryâ & âis this a lost Cure song from the 80s?â.
The tune is fine. Not amazing though. Influences are alright, but you canât just rely on rehashes. You have to do something new.
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u/_Asclepias_ 13d ago
They should provide the AI prompt. Must be something like "Create an hypothetical music video by The Cure from 1981. Band members should not be identical, but similar, to The Cure's. Do not try to be creative, just use their melodies and instrumentation and provide something that feels like it." (Come on these people can't be for real! đ)
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u/RobertsmithHairspray 14d ago
BYYYE this looks the same as a forest music video! I genuinely thought that was Robert in the thumbnail
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u/Darth_Mulder 14d ago
This is just too on the nose.
The guitars, the tempo, the effects, the clothing, the hair, the voice, the posing, the VHS effectsâŠtoo much of a copy by this group, and not enough of a new identify that has absorbed what came before.
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u/SinknInTheCure 12d ago
Sorry to say, but Desinteresse as a band has its own Sound, their whole debut LP called "Onschuld" (2025), it is so different.
Just listen to the song "Silhouet" (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G9F-hXENWHY&list=RDG9F-hXENWHY&start_radio=1&pp=ygUVZGVzaW50ZXJlc3NlIHNpbGhvdWV0oAcB0gcJCTsMAYcqIYzv) their 2025 songs are filled with own ideas.
Now for 2026 they go for Faith 2.0, And I like it! Think of the fact that they are young guys who want to bring back the Sound of Gothic Post Punk ala The Cure ... since that is what we need! In my view its the next generation for building The Cure 2.0
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u/Popular-System-4075 12d ago
After watching several videos on YouTube and , yeah.. they do have several familiar sounding songs. I wanna like it butâŠ.
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u/Complex_Middle_3371 14d ago
They are a great band - yes, very influenced by the Faith period but they have a lot of songs that sound unique. I have all they have made and the album and I think they are great. Rather someone sounds like this than other stuff I could mention!!
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u/LittleFanggg 14d ago edited 14d ago
I would have to see more videos to see if this is just a one time homage or if they do this all the time... but, as an artist, I can say there's a fine line between homage and pastiche/stealing. This is mimicking The Cure to such extent (in the poses, guitars, even the drums with the rototoms, etc) that the band has no personality at all - why not become a cover band at this point?
Sorry if I am brutal, all artists have influences and we take from them and regurgitate them in our own work... but this is almost uncomfortable!