Before they were the gods of goth, they were just kids in a depressing suburb called Crawley. It wasn't about the hair then. It wasn't about the red lipstick or the oversized sweaters that launched a thousand Hot Topic careers. It was about four guys who basically just wanted to play loud music in a Catholic school. When you look back at The Cure original members, you realize how much of the band's DNA was set in stone before the world even knew who Robert Smith was.
The year was 1976. Punk was exploding in London, but in Crawley, things were quieter. A bit more beige. Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, Lol Tolhurst, and Porl Thompson started out as Malice. They were messy. Honestly, they were kind of a disaster at first. But that friction—that specific mix of personalities—is what eventually distilled into the band that gave us Three Imaginary Boys. People always get the lineup confused because The Cure has had more members than a small-town choir, but those four names are where the soul of the thing lives.
Who Were the Real Architects?
If we're being pedantic, the very first iteration under the name "The Cure" in 1978 was actually a trio. Robert Smith was on vocals and guitar, Michael Dempsey played bass, and Lol Tolhurst was on drums. Porl Thompson had been in the earlier versions like Easy Cure, but he got the boot before the first album because his lead guitar style was "too bluesy" for the stripped-back, jagged sound Robert wanted. Imagine that. Being too good at guitar for a post-punk band.
Robert Smith was always the nucleus. That's obvious. But Michael Dempsey's bass playing on those early tracks is something people really sleep on. It’s melodic. It’s busy. It doesn't just sit in the back; it drives the melody while Robert’s guitar is busy being scratchy and atmospheric. Then you’ve got Lol Tolhurst. Before he moved to keyboards and eventually left the band under a cloud of legal drama and "heavy drinking," he was a remarkably steady, metronomic drummer. He provided the heartbeat for the anxiety-ridden tracks that defined their early years.
The 1978 Breakout
By the time they signed to Fiction Records, the "original" core was the Smith-Dempsey-Tolhurst trio. This is the lineup that recorded Three Imaginary Boys. It’s a weird record. It sounds more like Wire or The Buzzcocks than the "disintegration" vibes we associate with them now. But that’s the point. The Cure original members weren't trying to be gloomy. They were trying to be sharp. They were trying to be different.
The Fallout and the Shift to Darker Skies
Nothing lasts. Especially not in a band led by someone as singular as Robert Smith. By 1979, the tension between Smith and Dempsey was reaching a breaking point. Robert wanted to go darker. He was listening to a lot of Siouxsie and the Banshees—he even ended up playing guitar for them for a while—and he wanted to explore a colder, more cavernous sound. Dempsey wasn't feeling it.
Dempsey eventually left and joined The Associates. This was a massive turning point. If Dempsey hadn't left, we might never have gotten Simon Gallup. And let’s be real: without Simon Gallup, The Cure isn't The Cure. When Gallup joined for the Seventeen Seconds era, the band transformed. But if we’re talking about the "original" spirit, that first trio is what proved Robert Smith could actually lead a movement.
Lol Tolhurst’s Complicated Legacy
You can't talk about the early days without talking about Lol. He’s the only one besides Robert who was there from the very, very beginning in school. His journey from drummer to keyboardist to "other" to being fired in 1989 is the stuff of rock and roll tragedy. He was Robert's best friend. When you read Lol’s memoir, Cured, you see the human cost of being in a band that's constantly evolving. He wasn't just a guy hitting skins; he was the emotional anchor for Robert during the years they were basically starving.
Why the Original Lineup Matters Now
Look, it’s easy to dismiss the early years as just a "post-punk phase." But look at the tracks. "10:15 Saturday Night." "Fire in Cairo." "Boys Don't Cry." These songs weren't built on 12-minute synth pads. They were built on the raw, nervous energy of The Cure original members trying to figure out how to be a band in a shed.
- The Minimalist Aesthetic: They proved you didn't need a wall of sound to be heavy.
- The DIY Ethos: They did everything themselves, from the artwork to the peculiar, awkward stage presence.
- The Lyrics: Even back then, Robert was writing about alienation, but it was grounded in mundane, suburban reality rather than gothic fantasy.
There’s a common misconception that The Cure started out as a "goth" band. They didn't. They started as a suburban art-punk band. The gloom came later, almost as a reaction to the pressures of the industry. When you listen to the early demos, there’s a brightness there that’s almost jarring. It’s the sound of four kids from Crawley thinking they could take over the world. And the crazy part? They actually did.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Early Days
I hear this all the time: "Oh, Robert Smith did everything himself from day one." Not true. In those early rehearsals, it was a democracy. A messy one, but a democracy nonetheless. Porl Thompson’s influence, even though he was technically "out" for the first album, stayed in the background. He eventually came back, of course, because Robert realized he needed that extra texture.
Another myth? That they were all miserable. If you look at old photos of the The Cure original members, they’re usually laughing. They were friends. That’s the thing people miss when they focus on the black clothes. The foundation of the band was a deep, long-standing friendship that survived the transition from Malice to Easy Cure to The Cure.
The Impact of Michael Dempsey
I want to go back to Dempsey for a second because his contribution is so often erased. His bass lines on Three Imaginary Boys are genuinely some of the most creative in the genre's history. He played the bass like a lead instrument. When he left, the band’s sound got "wider" and more atmospheric, but it lost a bit of that jittery, caffeinated precision. If you’re a bass player, go back and listen to "Grinding Halt." It’s a masterclass in post-punk rhythm.
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Actionable Steps for Deep-Diving Into the History
If you actually want to understand how these guys changed music, don't just stream the "Greatest Hits" on Spotify. You have to go deeper into the archive.
- Listen to 'Three Imaginary Boys' and 'Boys Don't Cry' back-to-back: The latter is the US version with a different tracklist, and it shows how the band was being marketed differently across the pond.
- Read 'Cured' by Lol Tolhurst: It’s the most honest account of the early years. He doesn't hold back on the drinking, the fights, or the love between the members.
- Watch the 1979 Paris Footage: There are grainy videos of the Smith-Dempsey-Tolhurst trio playing live. They look like they’re about to vibrate out of their skins. It’s pure energy.
- Track the Evolution of 'A Forest': It’s the bridge between the original trio and the "goth" era. It’s where the minimalism of the original members met the atmosphere of the future.
The Cure is a rotating door, sure. But the foundation laid by Robert, Lol, Michael, and Porl is why we’re still talking about them decades later. They weren't just a band; they were a specific moment in time when a few bored kids decided that "normal" wasn't good enough.
The best way to honor that legacy is to listen to the records as they were meant to be heard: loud, a little bit lonely, and with the understanding that even the biggest icons started out playing for three people and a dog in a pub. That original spark is still there if you know where to listen.