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Robert Smith (musician) Quotes

Robert James Smith is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the lead singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, principal songwriter and only consistent member of the rock band the Cure, which he co-founded in 1976. He was also the lead guitarist for the band Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1982 to 1984 and was part of the short-lived group the Glove in 1983. Smith is known for his distinctive voice and guitar style and his unique stage look, the latter two of which were influential on the goth subculture that rose to prominence in the 1980s.

✵ 21. April 1959
Robert Smith (musician) photo
Robert Smith (musician): 36 quotes6 likes

Famous Robert Smith (musician) Quotes

“If the world could outlaw religion for one year you'd be surprised how much better the world would be. (Music Planet 2Nite, 2001)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“No, come to think of it, I don't think the Cure will end, but I can make up an ending if you want me to.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Spin magazine 1989

“If Morrissey says not to eat meat, then I’m going to eat meat; that’s how much I hate Morrissey.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Q, May 1989

“A couple of years ago, we went to Eurodisney. That too was bearable, although it was a bit weird when Mickey Mouse came to ask for an autograph.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Humo Magazine, 2000

“What we do attracts to a certain type of people. I don't think age has anything to do with it: either you get into it or you don't. You can be 16 or 60 and you will like us or not depending on your sensibilities.”

Robert Smith (musician)

X-Press Magazine, Australia, September 2000

Robert Smith (musician) Quotes about thinking

“It's really weird but my parents used to tell me I could do anything I wanted to. I used to say, 'Well, what if I want to be an astronaut and go to the moon?" and my dad used to say, 'If you really want to you can'. I used to think he was talking absolute rubbish, particularly when I was 21 and he was still saying that. But in a way it really stuck with me cos my dad ended up doing exactly what he wanted to do. To an outside point of view he's totally conformed, he's had a family and four kids but he's only ever done things that made him genuinely happy. "He jacked in his job cos it made him unhappy and he didn't want to compromise his entire life just for the sake of carrying it through. It's very admirable, that quality, and I think it's very rare in people. Most people feel so conditioned, so oppressed by everything that goes on around them that they just give in. You have to refuse to give in.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Melody Maker, March 7th 1992

“The fun thing is something people always miss out on with us. It's been brilliant making this album, but even as far back as Faith or Pornography we were still having a good crack. People would see me and Simon laughing and drinking ourselves unconscious together and they couldn't understand how we could be like that and still be in this angst-ridden band. But it's easy to be like that -- it's what being little, being a child, is all about. When you're grown up, you can't do it cos' you think about it too much. (Melody Maker, March 7, 1992)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“Most of the time I'm a professional idiot. I really don't care about what other people think, which can be a bad thing.”

Robert Smith (musician)

The Hit magazine 1985

“We never became a mainstream band. It's kind of like we've bridged two worlds, or fallen between two stools, between alternative and mainstream. To a lot of mainstream programmers, The Cure is still a bit too weird. To an alternative programmer, sometimes we're a bit too mainstream. Sometimes we've benefited from that and sometimes we've kind of suffered. I actually enjoy that kind of position because I think it reflects what the band does”

Robert Smith (musician)

CMJ, December 1999

Robert Smith (musician) Quotes about people

“I wouldn't want to think people doted on us, hung on every word, or wanted to look like us.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Trouser Press 1980

“There is a reason for me always shoe-gazing. I simply can't look into the eyes of several thousand people. (Toronto Sun newspaper)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“There have been very few virtuosos in the history of the group, but there have been a lot of really nice people. The Cure backstage is a notoriously fun-filled zone.”

Robert Smith (musician)

JAM TV

“I think we're in the Top 10 most bootlegged bands in history according to a web-poll. Pretty much every show we ever do is bootlegged, but it's very rare that one is of good enough quality to be listened to by anything other than the most fanatical people though I suppose only fanatical people buy bootlegs.”

Robert Smith (musician)

X-Press magazine 2000

“A lot of journalists give me a hard time about how I look, but I've never met a journalist I'd rather look like. And it's not just a performance thing. I don't drive around the countryside in full makeup because it would scare the animals, but I've been wearing makeup since I was a teenager, after I saw Bowie wearing it on Top of the Pops. I immediately borrowed someone's older sister's makeup and put it on. I loved how odd it made me look, and the fact that it upset people. You put on eyeliner and people start screaming at you. How strange, and how marvellous.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Quoted in Grant Smithies, "Close encounter with Robert Smith" https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/profiles/earlier-profiles-26519/51564/The-Cures-Robert-Smith, Sunday Star-Times (July 29, 2007)

Robert Smith (musician) Quotes

“But everyone I know reaches a point where they throw out their arms and go beserk for a while; otherwise you never know what your limits are. I was just trying to find mine.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Source: Guitar Player magazine 1992

“I used to go out with Severin a lot to dance clubs but we wouldn't dance. It'd be more like take drugs and try to get to the toilet which would usually take about two hours…we became good friends but we were never really good for each other. Our friendship was based entirely on altered states. Whenever we went out together I would never come home until the next day. Mary hated it.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Faith, 1983

“The Cure, is the kind of band that wanders in and out of the mainstream's gaze. (The Boston Globe newspaper 1997)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“I got very frustrated when I was reading so-called classic books or films, or listening to underground music which is trying to tell you something. it´s all nonsense, and it´s disillusioning. So it would be a paradox for me to then decide I´m going to communicate something.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Sounds, August 24, 1985

“I wake up and look at myself and think, 'yuck!”

Robert Smith (musician)

MTV

“I could write songs as bad as Wham's if I really felt the urge to, but what's the point? (The Hit magazine 1985)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“I have a bag full of words, and when one of us comes up with a good piece of music, I look in the bag to see if anything there will fit. If nothing does, I sit down and try to put down on paper what the music makes me feel; very rarely will a piece of writing inspire a piece of music.”

Robert Smith (musician)

CANOE 1996

“I don't understand this obsession with banging out records. What a stupid attitude! Like the world is holding its breath waiting for the next Cure album. It isn't.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Papermag Paper Daily 1996

“I've always spent more time with a smile on my face than not, but the thing is, I don't write about it. (Rolling Stone magazine 1997)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“We wouldn't have been able to handle the fame if it would've hit us all of the sudden. When I was young I always dreamed of having a group that was adored by few and ignored by the rest of the world, like Nick Drake. Fortunately, when we became famous, I had no time to reflect upon anything anymore. (De Standaard newspaper 2001)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“I honestly don't class myself as a songwriter. I've got 'musician' written on my passport. That's even funnier.”

Robert Smith (musician)

The Hit magazine 1985

“Refusing to grow up is like refusing to accept your limitations. That's why I don't think we'll ever grow up. (Melody Maker magazine 1992)”

Robert Smith (musician)

“I've experienced such extremes both in the band and in my personal life, feelings that last for just a few seconds at a time, that it's like a drug. After a while, when they're not there you notice the absence of it and nothing seems real anymore and nothings quite sharp enough or focused enough.”

Robert Smith (musician)

Spin magazine 1989

“I love the anonymity of being Mr Smith. If I book a hotel it's actually very funny. It's very nice to be a genuine Mr Smith”

Robert Smith (musician)

Q 2000

“If I were offered the title [a knighthood] I would tell them to stick it up in their arses”

Robert Smith (musician)

The FIB 2002

“Jimi Hendrix changed my life. Each generation influences the following one and as a consequence brings it back to the past.”

Robert Smith (musician)

L'Express newspaper 2000

“I'm not going to worry about the Cure slipping down into the second division; it doesn't bother me because I never expected to be in the first division anyway.”

Robert Smith (musician)

A soccer reference
Alternative Press

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