Is Robert Smh Gay? What Is the Sexualy of "The Cure" Band Fame? - The RC Onle

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE CURE BAND MEMBERS GAY

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BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/anwen-crawford">Anwen Crawford</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2015-04-15T18:57:51-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">April 15, 2015</time></div></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kAEsuD viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 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kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="There are many ntemporary pop micians makg mic that sounds like the Cure but Frank Ocean isnt one of them." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">There are many ntemporary pop micians makg mic that sounds like the Cure, but Frank Ocean isn’t one of them.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Kev Snlon/The New York Tim/Rx</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">Last week, the L.A.-based rapper, sger, and songwrer Frank Ocean announced onle a new project lled “Boys Don’t Cry.” It uld be a magaze, or an album, or possibly both. If the tle sounds faiar, that might be bee ’s the name of a song and a pilatn album by the Cure. “Boys Don’t Cry” is also the name of a 1999 film, starrg Hilary Swank, about a young transgenr man. The film is named after the Cure’s song, and featur a versn of . The Cure, not so much a band as a sensibily, seem nspicuo until you start lookg for them, when they bee ubiquo.</p><p class="paywall">Next year, the Cure will turn forty years old. They have released thirteen stud albums and may yet release another; though the qualy of their work has dimmed recent years, their legacy is tact. The Cure has outlived post-punk, new wave, goth, gnge, rave, and many genr between. They are their own genre: melodic, melancholic, and jt a ltle b whimsil. They have never been ol, not even as the youthful tr who released a seven-ch sgle, their send, lled “Boys Don’t Cry,” 1979. Right om the start, the Brish mic prs treated the Cure as somethg of an embarrassment—they were not as polil as the Clash, too nice to be the Jam, and their moody sponncy did not have the same touch of thentic spair as Joy Divisn, whose lead sger, Ian Curtis, mted suici 1980. Dpe cril mockery, the Cure has been mercially succsful and tensely adored. The votn they attract has ma them easy to dismiss as the qutsential band of adolcent woe, Pied Pipers for the world’s ever-replenishg supply of tearful suburban teen-agers. I want to say that their bt songs are their most heartfelt on, but their worst songs are that, too, while some of their most perfect songs—like “Boys Don’t Cry,” or “The Love Cats,” or “Friday I’m In Love”—are absolutely throwaway.</p><p class="paywall">The band’s foundg member, Robert Smh, is stantly regnizable: black eyeler, a smudge of bright red lipstick, a nt of wildly backbed black hair. He is almost rtoonish appearance, and once ma a meo appearance on “South Park.” Heavy makp and teased hair were not unual style choic for a male pop star the neteen-eighti, but Smh never viated om his look, not even as the eighti rolled to the neti, nor when the neti gave way to the new lennium. As a young man, he was pretty but not properly androgyno like his ntemporary Boy Gee was; you would be hard prsed to ll Smh sexy. Wh their songs about primary emotns like love and sadns, the Cure are many ways a boy band. They are very easy to bee fatuated wh, but they are safe, and safety is a great part of their appeal. Even at their most funereal—and they once wrote a song lled “The Funeral Party”—the Cure make fort mic. Compared wh the volatily of punk, or the bombast of Meatloaf and Led Zeppel, who both placed high on the charts 1979, the Cure were subdued—they took the heat out of playg guar. “Boys Don’t Cry" arrived the wake of punk, but wasn’t about anger; was about love. It’s a simple song about a broken heart, and sounds like a summer’s day—a summer’s day that threatens to dissolve to ra.</p><p class="paywall">There are many ntemporary pop micians makg mic that sounds like the Cure, but Frank Ocean isn’t one of them. And yet, like Smh, Ocean is very pable of wrg songs that are thrall to pasts ma more paful, and yet more perfect, by memory. His send* mixtape, released 2011, was lled “nostalgia, ULTRA.” On s nth track, “There Will Be Tears,” Ocean sgs, “I n’t be there wh you, but I n dream.” The “you” of the lyric is an absent father; the song’s verse, Ocean remembers his grandfather as “the only dad I’d ever know.” “Hi my face, hi my face, n’t let ’em see my cryg,” he sgs, “’e the boys didn’t have no fathers neher.” In this song, the mand that boys don’t cry feels pecially cel, bound up wh a versn of masculy which fathers mt never be missed, or mourned. “You n’t miss what you a’t had,” Ocean go on. “Well I n, I’m sad.”</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Sad boys are hardly a new ia pop mic, but they have been more unual hip-hop and R. & B. than , say, die rock—at least until figur like Ocean and Drake claimed a space which to be unremtgly, unapologetilly melancholic. Drake’s “Take Care,” also released 2011, is one of the greatt pop songs of this , and sounds like the Cure. Featurg Rihanna on gut vols, the song is a like a set of Rsian dolls, versn nted si versn. It is built around a sample om Jamie xx’s remix of Gil Stt-Heron performg “I’ll Take Care of You,” a song wrten by Brook Benton (he of “Ray Night Geia”) and first rerd by the blu sger Bobby Bland 1959. Jamie xx is a young English producer bt known for his work wh <a href=">the xx</a>, a London band whose signature guar sound, reverberant but spare, is highly remiscent of the Cure. That sound is a feature of “Take Care,” a song that serv as a miature history lson pop mic’s unendg appete for tal of thwarted love. Some days, I listen to nothg but “Take Care” on repeat.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Love thwarted and unrequed was a central ncern of Ocean’s stud début, “channel <em class="small">ORANGE</em>,” released 2012. Shortly before the album’s release, Ocean published an open letter on Tumblr tailg his experience of fallg love wh a man who had refed him. “I wanted to create worlds that were rosier than me,” he wrote of his creative impet. “I tried to channel overwhelmg emotns.” The letter was addrsed to “Whoever you are, wherever you are.”</p><p class="paywall">The send-person “you” is a staple of pop mic, bee allows a listener to feel as if the sger is addrsg her personally, while also givg that listener license to put herself the sger’s place, addrsg a “you” of her own choosg. This “you” is the you of Drake’s “I’ll Take Care of You,” of Ocean’s “Thk’ ’Bout You,” which is the openg track to “<a href=">channel <em class="small">ORANGE</em></a>,” and of the Cure’s entire back talogue, cludg “Boy’s Don’t Cry.” “I would break down at your feet and beg fivens, plead wh you,” Smh sang on that song. “But I know that ’s too late / And now there’s nothg I n do.”</p><p class="paywall">The difference between the “you” of Ocean’s songs and the “you” of the Cure’s songs is partly genr (Smh is always addrsg a woman), but is also circumstance. Smh retas the mystery of a pop star who found fame long before the Inter existed: like his hero David Bowie, Smh is a public in whose private life remas so. Ocean negotiat more difficult terrory. In addrsg his Tumblr letter to “you,” he ved rears to the same timate space he creat his song lyrics—lyrics that are picked over for tobgraphil clu on the Inter. An openly gay or bisexual pop star is still noteworthy and sctized; unlike Smh, Ocean do not have the luxury of his love songs beg nsired monplace.</p><p class="paywall">The announcement of Ocean’s new project was also published on <a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">his Tumblr</a>: a photograph of Ocean, perched on a stool, a amed poster of a bright-green og leang agast the wall bi him, and two issu of a magaze stacked at his feet. Each magaze featur a different ver shot of Ocean, and both are lled “Boys Don’t Cry.” That Ocean has adopted this phrase for himself—the tle of a movie about queer youth, tled turn after a two-and-a-half-mute pop song—mak a lot of sense. It feels fensive, celebratory, and ironic: if Ocean’s songwrg reer has, so far, been proof of any one sentiment, is that boys do cry.</p><p class="paywall"><em>*Correctn: An earlier versn of this post mistakenly referred to “nostalgia, ULTRA” as Ocean’s first mixtape.</em></p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box ArticlePageSplAdRail-OyjwD jikppc"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailContent-jsltpq iZDmmY spl-ad-rail-ntent"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailTop-jUrrVY jzzFg"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" 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bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Mic</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2014/06/30/shy-and-mighty" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Shy And Mighty</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2014/06/30/shy-and-mighty" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Shy And Mighty" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">A band of troverted Brs fds unlikely fame.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>John Colapto</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2012/07/23/sea-change-7" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Sea Change" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Pop Mic</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2012/07/23/sea-change-7" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Sea Change</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2012/07/23/sea-change-7" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Sea Change" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Frank Ocean and the new R. & B.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Sasha Frere-Jon</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm fvDIAb" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div 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summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Country Mic’s Culture Wars and the Remakg of Nashville</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Country Mic’s Culture Wars and the Remakg of Nashville" 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