{"id":524387,"date":"2026-06-08T10:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524387\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:24:14","slug":"the-group-robert-smith-struggled-to-follow-onstage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/524387\/","title":{"rendered":"The group Robert Smith struggled to follow onstage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Joy Division was one of the most influential groups to rise out of the squalor of 1970s Britain. <\/p>\n

Fusing an industrial sound appropriate for the\u00a0mechanised history of their native Manchester with glacial textures evoking the wind-swept vistas of the bordering Pennines, their time was fleeting. However, Joy Division\u2019s deeply artistic post-punk formula proved widely significant. Many acts quickly rose in their wake, with one of the most lauded being Robert Smith and\u00a0The Cure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Robert Smith, Joy Division were more than just another influential post-punk group. At a formative point in The Cure\u2019s development, they became the rare band capable of making Smith feel overshadowed on his own stage, forcing him and his bandmates to raise their game.<\/p>\n

Although The Cure is ostensibly a goth-rock band, most people forget that the genre rose out of the post-punk scene of the late 1970s. The two names are even interchangeable, with some of the other big hitters of the genre also perfectly described as post-punk, be it Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus or even The Sisters of Mercy. Accordingly, many believe Joy Division to be one of the first goth acts.<\/p>\n

Although Joy Division\u2019s debut album,\u00a01979\u2019s\u00a0Unknown Pleasures<\/a>, failed to chart when it was released, the record received widespread critical acclaim from those in the know, with creatives saved by the punk explosion three years prior awarded yet another galvanising force. Robert Smith, who formed The Cure in 1978 \u2013 two years after Joy Division materialised \u2013 was one of the most prominent figures who took a lot from Unknown Pleasures, and he\u2019s openly discussed his love for them many times since.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Urbana in 2013, Smith outlined his love for the late Ian Curtis\u2019 band and recalled the exciting time they opened for his group. He said: \u201cIn 1980, we did a thing in London at the Marquee Club\u2026we picked the four bands we wanted to play with us, and Joy Division were one of those bands\u2026I heard Unknown Pleasures on the radio on John Peel, and they were just fantastic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Smith also described Joy Division as \u201cthe best thing I\u2019d seen\u201d, although \u201cnot ever\u201d because he had seen \u201cBowie and the Stones\u201d. <\/p>\n

Continuing, Smith added: \u201cThey were of that generation of bands, which is my generation of bands. They were so powerful\u2026 that was our best show that year, I think, we went on after them and we had to really we had to try hard to match what they did\u2026 it\u2019s a shame about Ian Curtis\u2026 it\u2019s like Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain\u2026people that good come around far too infrequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

That admission gets to the heart of why Joy Division remained so important to Smith. Few artists willingly acknowledge being outshone by another act, particularly when they are sharing the same bill, but Smith\u2019s recollection reveals just how commanding Joy Division\u2019s performances could be.<\/p>\n

Robert Smith has even named his favourite song by Joy Division. When appearing on Sirius XM in 2014, he listed his favourite 30 songs of the 1980s, which have been kept for safekeeping by The Cure TC<\/a>, and it featured the Joy Division classic in question.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, it is one of the most important tracks from the Manchester band\u2019s second and final album,\u00a01980\u2019s\u00a0Closer<\/a>. It is the hauntingly beautiful \u2018The Eternal\u2019, a song where you can hear many of the cues that Smith took for 1981\u2019s\u00a0Faith,\u00a0which he cited as a primary influence around the time of its release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the end, Smith\u2019s memories of Joy Division explain why the Manchester band continue to loom so large in post-punk history. Their records were influential enough on their own, but their live performances left an equally powerful mark. For one night in London, The Cure found themselves following a group that Smith believed represented the very best of his generation \u2014 and decades later, he was still talking about the challenge of trying to match them.<\/p>\n

Listen to Joy Division\u2019s \u2018The Eternal\u2019 below.<\/p>\n

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