The band at this time was stripped down to 3 members: Smith on vocals and guitar and keyboards, Simon Gallup on bass, and Lawrnece Tolhurst on drums. Strangely it may have been Tolhurst's lack of musical talent (an issue that would later get him fired) that created much of the atmosphere. The drumming is very flat and mechanical sounding creating an absolutely dead feel throughout; even sound dies as the stick hits the skins. Smith's voacl sound desperate and often deranged filled with lurid, bizzare imagery. Gallup's bass is potent and overwhelming in a style that only he could pull off.

My favorites are "One Hundred Years" with its sense of desperation and unrequited longing. "A Short Term Effect" is saturated with doom as the characters of the song try to laugh in the face of what may come, "Something small falls out of your mouth and we all laugh". "A Strange Day" is angst-ridden but with soemthing bordering on beauty buried deep within. Finally the title track is an complete descent into madness, as the closer on an album like this should be.

One of the great black-to-the-core albums ever and arguably the darkest. The Sisters of Mercy came close with the rare 'Reptile House EP', but that work is more of an exploration of drug-addicted frustration where this is just suffocating hopelessness.


Darkness never sounded so good...   October 12, 2001
 17 out of 18 found this review helpful

I write this review after many years of listening to the album, and after having heard a variety of bands merely attempt to capture the brooding gothic grace this album possesses...but never succeeded. The only band I feel that even remotely came close was Autumn and their debut album "The Hating Tree." But that is another review.

All in all, this is probably one of the Cure's best albums, if not the best. Sure Robert Smith & Co. has churned out albums with more cohesion and production value over the years, and he's always been a very powerful musician lyrically and emotionally. However, "Pornography" captures raw emotions, and much of the time, the rawest emotions are those of love, longing, despair, and rage. And this is the Cure at their angriest. The album is dark and even depressing, but never so much sad as it is angry. The power of songs like "The Hanging Garden" and "One Hundred Years" hits the listener with a full-on aural assault that will leave you shaking your fists in the air with each listen. It's not without its element of sadness (it wouldn't be the Cure if it lacked in melancholy...even their happy stuff could bring a tear to the eyes, and I'm not talking about the so-called hardcore fans who think the Cure had to be sad to be good. I LIKE "Friday, I'm in Love.").

Did I mention anger? Robert Smith's signature wailing voice even sounds angry, though not in a cheesy death metal sorta way, but in that way that his voice alone is an instrument of his despair. The music is solid, showing the Cure (a trio at the time) at their tightest, especially the percussion. Not unlike Joy Division's "Closer," another gothic masterpiece where the percussion didn't receive just attention, but was vital to the sound and presentation of the music.

Overall, this is probably raw emotion at its best when it comes to the Cure, the band that brought Goth to the mainstream. Those who think it's great because its sad are missing the point. It could be happy and joyful, and I'd probably still like it, as long as it was genuine. "Friday, I'm in Love" may have been candy-coated happy pop, but at least Robert Smith doesn't kid his audience into thinking that mope is the way to go to be a good musician. For this reason, "Pornography" is my second favorite Cure album...next to "Disintegration." This album is a classic...listen and feel the power.


One of the most emotional albums of all time.   November 13, 1999
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

When you cannot unlock the tears of catharsis, Pornography, The Cure's fourth album, is the key. On par with "Closer" by Joy Division and the self-titled Velvet Underground album. When your world is at its end and you are about to cash in your check, this album, this masterpiece, will pull you back from the edge and show you the light that can only be found on the other side of despair. A must for teenagers who are at a point in their life when music has the power to change everything.

I'm 26 and a bit more cynical now, but I'll never be ashamed to admit to tears when, as a 15 year old suburban kid,I discovered this album. Boys do cry. Sometimes it's their salvation.


Like The Cure? Buy this one!   May 26, 2000
 11 out of 15 found this review helpful

Comparing this album to any of the Cure's earlier works is a bit unfair. It is more like their later work than it is like anything before it.

This one is definately more moody and shaded with more than just the sad blue and stark black tones of Faith and Seventeen Seconds.

While its hit was "Hanging Garden", take a good listen to "One Hundred Years", "Cold" and "Pornography." They signal a true hint of what was to come while still drawing from the dark moods of previous works.
"Cold" sounds like it could have been lifted off of their 1989 Disintigration album, but...
The true gem on this album is "A Strange Day". You can hear a bit EVERY album that came after Pornography in this one song.

In my opinion, The Cure never quite nailed a near perfect - truly representative - album like this one ever again. Could it have been the influence of Phil Thornally (as this was his one-and-only album with Robert Smith)?

If you are looking for an album that isn't as "pop" as Wild Mood Swings, nor as horridly depressing as Bloodflowers, do yourself a favor, pick this one up.


My Favorite, And Therefore The Best, Cure Album Ever   January 24, 2004
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Pornography is my favorite album from The Cure, and is one of my favorite records of all time. Expletives which capture the feeling of Pornography include; dark, rocking, spooky, lush, morbid, strange, ugly, beautiful, brilliant, frightening, calming. I could go on and on, really, but that whole list was getting redundant. I'll say right now that this album is brilliant and beautiful and is the greatest Cure product on the market. If you'd like to leave now, I'd suggest it, because i'm about to over-analyze the whole record.

One Hundred Years - The first track on Pornography is the tense excersize in abstract and nightmarish imagery. The verses jump, in an almost dream-like fashion from topics of death and pain, to lyrical paintings describing things to the last detail ("Just a piece of meat in a clean room, the soldiers close in under a yellow moon, all shadows and deliverance, under a black flag, a hundred years of blood, crimson, the ribbon tightens round my throat". Further proving that Robert Smith is one of the truly great poetic lyricists of our time or that he did a lot of drugs. 8/10

A Short Term Effect - Slowing the pace from One Hundred Years to a dragging beat over-ridden with a declining bass line and the dream-like, effect ladden, lead guitar parts and vocals from Robert Smith. More of the abstract lyric stylings found in "One Hundred Years", less abbrasive as the first track, and yet still leaves and eerie aftertaste in your mouth and a feeling of discomfort in the back of your head. 9/10

The Hanging Garden - One of the key tracks on the album. This could very well be the best song they've written. Driving tom's push you through a fabric of layered guitar effects, and the urgent bass line. Containing some of the most vivid lyrics written by Robert Smith. Definitely one of the best songs on the album. 10/10

Siamese Twins - Starting off with hypnotic chimes over an equally soothing and downbeat drum part, and then gradually revealing the swirling guitars. More abstract lyrics with the Robert Smith trademark vocal treatments. 8/10

The Figurehead - Similar in style to "One Hundred Years" this, the first track on the second half of the record, accounts for a painful look at self-loathing lyricism. The music swells and breaks methodically, to almost the point of leaving you feeling suffocated by the sounds, and then gradually fades out towards the end. 9/10

A Strange Day - This song has an almost aquatic feel to it, as the keyboards waver in and out as Smith indulges in more of his abstract lyricism, and just as the hopeful chorus breaks in and leaves you feeling relieved as you are led to believe the boo-hoo-i'm-sad music is finally behind you, they bring you back down as though pulling the safety blanket out from under your feet. We're not done yet kids! Robert Smith needs his paycheck! Que awesome guitar bridge. 8/10

Cold - Uh oh. You hear those opening notes and the dreary drumbeat and you know that this hallucinogin inspired masterpiece isn't over just yet. The instruments build and build as Robert Smith's lyrics become darker and vocally become more urgent. This is the big lead up to the sad-bastard grand finale of the record.

Pornography - Congratulations, you've reached the end, and if you're lucky haven't slit your wrists yet! And now you're about to live through the weirdest, most lyrically abstract, and darkest piece of music that you've probably ever heard in your life. The drum beat pushes against your temples like nothing else on this record, as the completely bleak music crowds into your headspace, with the added bonus of completely hopeless vocals which are lost within a barrage of alien sounds and voices. 10/10

So that wraps up my over-indulgent look at my favorite record of all time from The Cure. If you think you've heard music about as dark as it gets and you haven't heard this album, you haven't even experienced the half of it. However, if you have heard this and do know of a darker, more sensory-wrenching piece of work, let me know, cause i'm curious as to know how you lived through it.

ESSENTIAL!!