Depeche Mode vs The Cure
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Depeche Mode (whose name is French for “Fashion Update”)
If they can't get their facts right in the first freaking sentence then I'm not reading it.
Digi Mike Binoche wrote: GAY
Hmmm, that was one category surprisingly absent from the match-up... 
Snorri xx
Well, I thought it was fun, anyway, though a bit silly in parts. Not something to be taken too seriously.
One thing, though. He said the Cure's The Cure album was received? Is that supposed to be funny?
Shellshocker wrote: Well, I thought it was fun, anyway, though a bit silly in parts. Not something to be taken too seriously.
Exactly.
Snorrimon wrote:
Digi Mike Binoche wrote: GAY
Hmmm, that was one category surprisingly absent from the match-up...
Snorri xx
I think they're tied. Both had rough starts and a few iffy albums here and there, but I love both bands.
The Cure - more varied instrumentation. The keyboards are usually for effects, although Roger O'Donnell pulled a few awesome solos here and there (like Homesick). Porl Thompson, Robert Smith, and Perry Bamonte are all strong guitar players. And better lyrics. Unfortunately, they have Wild Mood Swings and The Cure (although 1000X better live) to live down. And the fact they worked with Ross Robertson.
Depeche Mode - It's all synths and a 4 track drum machine, basically, but Dave Gahan and Martin Gore both have great voices in the studio and live. The lyrics can be perceived as enigmatic or frivilous. Or both. However, without Alan Wilder's arrangements and keyboard skills, they would've been a short-lived, one-finger New Romantic Act. They have Speak and Spell and Exciter to live down. And, why doesn't Martin Gore go back to the keyboards? His guitar playing gets old after two albums.
This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: I think they're tied. Both had rough starts and a few iffy albums here and there, but I love both bands.
Well, yes, but the Cure is still the better band. 
This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: The Cure - more varied instrumentation. The keyboards are usually for effects, although Roger O'Donnell pulled a few awesome solos here and there (like Homesick). Porl Thompson, Robert Smith, and Perry Bamonte are all strong guitar players.
Porl is beyond "strong." He's one of the greats.
And better lyrics. Unfortunately, they have Wild Mood Swings and The Cure (although 1000X better live) to live down.
Perhaps not their strongest albums, but Wild Mood Swings has Strange Attraction, and The Cure has Labyrinth, both brilliant.
Comrade Shampanyov wrote:
This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: The Cure - more varied instrumentation. The keyboards are usually for effects, although Roger O'Donnell pulled a few awesome solos here and there (like Homesick). Porl Thompson, Robert Smith, and Perry Bamonte are all strong guitar players.
Porl is beyond "strong." He's one of the greats.
And better lyrics. Unfortunately, they have Wild Mood Swings and The Cure (although 1000X better live) to live down.
Perhaps not their strongest albums, but Wild Mood Swings has Strange Attraction, and The Cure has Labyrinth, both brilliant.
I agree about both tracks, but in general, they are much weaker overall compared to Kiss Me x3 and Disintegration. The promise and Labyrinth are both good tracks on The Cure, but they sound better live, with the production filter taken off. What disappointed me about that album was not so much the songs itself, but how the sound always had a haze of scratch over it, like the mics in the studio weren't working properly. I saw them live before the album came out and the sounds had the same clearness that the Cure always has.
how the hell can anyone describe the music on faith,pornography,disintegration albums as gay music 
banshee wrote: how the hell can anyone describe the music on faith,pornography,disintegration albums as gay music
the band's 3 best albums. nothing remotely gay about them. great stuff.
yesssss,i suspect the cure critics have not experienced them albums and are a bit thick when it comes to the truth about the advancement of music
I think The Cure did more of their own makeup and hair for the most part, so you sort of have to respect that compared to Depeche Mode's "we pretend we're gay but we're not, it's all a shallow facade" media product
oh, + The Cure was a better band, had better albums, and better singles
Think the author is waaaaay off on the "follow up album" part. Songs of Faith and Devotion has to be one of DMs worst albums, bordering on unlistenable, while Wish is one of the better Cure albums.
I think cure put out more good-music, but I find that DM is more listenable to me 25 years later.
EdelBrock wrote: Think the author is waaaaay off on the "follow up album" part. Songs of Faith and Devotion has to be one of DMs worst albums, bordering on unlistenable, while Wish is one of the better Cure albums.
I think cure put out more good-music, but I find that DM is more listenable to me 25 years later.
I agree with you there. While the singles from Wish weren't great choices, the album as a whole is much more solid than SOFAD. And, actually, All Mixes Up is technicaly the follow-up to Disintegration. SOFAD is what happens when Alan Wilder is forbidden from playing keyboards and Martin Gore becomes religious. Didn't they remember "Told you so" and "Blasphemous rumors"? Plus, the absense of keyboards and too much guitars was kind of a sonic indication that they wanted to look straight. And, touring-wise, I think the Wish tour had much better shows. DM looked horrible. Alan looked like he didn't want to be there, Martin was off playing his four chords, and Dave went from a clean-cut pop singer to a washed-up scuzzy, has-been rock star. Not to mention his singing was really out of whack. And Fletch was just Fletch. I can't watch Devotional without feeling depressed.
This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: I can't watch Devotional without feeling depressed.
Surely that's the point?!
I would add more comparison to that article:
Best Sophomore Effort:
Just compare A Broken Frame to Faith....no question. "A Photograph of You" or "The Meaning of Love" vs. "Primary" or "The Funeral Party", like choosing between a Kia and a BMW....albeit a very depressing BMW. Winner: The Cure
Best Post-1990 Output:
I still play Ultra and Playing The Angel, while the only post 1990 Cure songs I can even tolerate are "This Twilight Garden", "Wrong Number" and "Cut Here". Winner: Depeche Mode
I'm afraid The Cure should have packed it in after Disintegration, while DM should wind down about now...we don't want them to bow out with Exciter II.
In the immortal words of Crow T. Robot, You have GOT to be kidding me!
That's all we need....a new generation of tweens who's knowledge of true alternative rock from the 80s begins and ends with "Just Can't Get Enough", "Blue Monday" and "Just Like Heaven"
