Rock'n'Folk magazine, Hotel Westbury, Dublin, Autumn 1987
(Musical quiz - translated from French)


- Michael Jackson : "Bad"


Robert : I recognize him but it's the first time I'm hearing this song. When we were touring in America this summer, we went back to Disneyland because they have a new attraction there : the Star Tour. They also have a 3D film by George Lucas, "Captain Eo", featuring Michael Jackson. It's the most amazing film I've ever seen. It was very funny, for once, to hear him talk with his high pitched voice. I quite like him but he should create new dance steps. I haven't heard his new record yet, but I'm certain I'll know all the songs by heart next year. (laugh). I'm sure the album is good. I didn't buy "Thriller" and I won't buy this one either.


- That took him 3 years to make it, don't you think that's long ?

Robert : He probably didn't work during all this time. He probably worked on it for six or eight months. I don't see what's wrong with that. I've never understood why it was an obligation to release an album every year. The Cure followed this "rule" except for Kiss Me. You can say it took us 2 years, but it's not true. I wouldn't care not releasing a record for 3 years, if I didn't write anything. In his position, being so popular, Michael Jackson has no reason to follow this rule. He just has to wait for inspiration to come and it's fine if it's a very good album. All the reviews I read compare this one to "Thriller". It's unfair, it should be compared to what's being done, and be considered as what it is : one of the best dance music. I like his style, he uses it better than Madonna does.


- What do you think of Prince ?


Robert : "Sign 'O' The Times" is an excellent album. The first record is great, the second a bit weak. Prince is very different from Michael Jackson. You can find similarities but he takes more risks and is better produced. Quincy Jones' production is american, it's designed for the radio and clubs but it's not inventive. I remember Michael Jackson when he was part of the Jackson 5. He became a bit weird, living a reclusive life and getting face surgery. People think he's wearing a mask and that he communicates with lamas. Suddenly, he became incredibly fascinating because nobody knows a thing about him. He's forced to act in a weird way. I don't think he's that weird. He's just in the middle of an unusual situation. I'll probably have a taste of these things after the concerts in Paris. (laughs)


- The Beatles : "Glass Onion"

Robert : Glass Onion. When we were recording The Glove album, Steve Severin would wake me up with this song, very very loud. I've always liked the Beatles. It wasn't fashionable at some point to say you liked them. I like 75% of their work. Almost everything except "Octopus Garden", the weird songs by Ringo Starr or the sick ones by Paul Mc Cartney. I don't know which album is my favorite one. Maybe the white one, because of the Glove. I never heard it before that, so when I listen to it now, it reminds me of this funny era.

My older sister followed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones across the country. She would wear a hat that had "Rolling Stones" written on one side and "The Beatles" on the other. She would turn it depending on the band she was going to see. I've heard the Beatles every day at home since I was 5. My sister would listen to them in her room. I grew up with them and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles have written the best collection of pop songs of the music history. Some things make me think about what Prince tries to do on some of his records : using different sounds, different combinations to get a new sound.

But the Beatles didn't have an influence on what I did as a musician or it's very abstract. "Strawberry Fields" production inspired the one from "Pornography". Songs like Penny Lane or Help are very good because they're simple. They urged me to write "Boys Don't Cry". I don't understand people saying they were a bad group, but I can understand people not liking them.


- Rita Mitsouko : "C'est Comme Ca"

Robert : I don't remember their name, but I can picture the girl very well. And the guitarist is horrible. It's very French. I imagine them in the studio trying to get the good take for the "la la la" to sound happy. I can see them going insane living in a place with draughtboard wallpapers and a stuffed cow in a corner. I saw them on that TV show that doesn't want us anymore, "Champs Elysées". When the girl's tooth fell, it was hilarious, I almost liked them just for this.


- Woodentops : "Move Me"

Robert : I don't know. It sounds like a goth band who dresses in black and who listens to Lou Reed. I'm pretty indifferent to this. It doesn't sound like a famous band, it's like it's self-produced. I couldn't dance to this... if I was in a pub talking to somebody I'd be annoyed to hear this... Ahh, it's the Woodentops. I saw them on French TV. I'm glad I said I didn't like them. The singer looked so confident. It isn't so important when you have good music in the background to back you up.


- Big Audio Dynamite : "Medecine Show"

Robert : The voice is familiar, but it's altered. Like Richard Butler's, like David Bowie's. Help me...


- The first time you heard a particular song from his previous band, you destroyed everything in your room.

Robert : White Riot ! Clash ! Joe Strummer ? No, Mick Jones. I quite like the first single, "E=Mc²". This one sounds like a fill-in song by the Clash. I don't like BAD, all these stories... Again something to do with the image ! I've always prefered Joe Strummer. Those who liked the Clash have always been divided. The rockers prefered Mick Jones, the others, Joe Strummer. I don't like BAD because Mick Jones and Don Letts use their past on what they're doing now. They forgot that was one of the idea that the Punk wanted to break. Mick Jones has a problem, he wish he was american.


- That Petrol Emotion : "Big Decision"

Robert : It's my favorite on the "Babble" album. It sounds a little bit like the Beatles. It seems they had fun while recording it. And they have things to say, a social message. But they do it without ruining the songs. Not like Billy Bragg who annoys me. The important thing for him is the message. "Babble" is an excellent album, I recommand it to everyone. I've never heard them before, but there were Undertones songs that I liked. And as I don't like what Feargal Sharkey does, I thought those responsible for the good Undertones songs had to be somewhere. Lately, I've been buying lots of records. I only kept those from Hüsker Dü, That Petrol Emotion and Shelleyan Orphans. Tom Verlaine's one is bad !


- The Cure : "One Hundred Years"

Robert : It's us. I'm always proud of this.


- What are your projects ?

Robert : In January I'll be recording a solo album. I have four unreleased songs that were put aside each time we recorded an album up until "The Top". I want to record them while I'm still feeling like it, with an acoustic guitar, a piano and my voice. I can't stop thinking about it and I must get rid of that. I want them to be very simple, a bit like "Seventeen Seconds" : slow and quite short. About the Cure, I don't know what we're gonna do. I have a negative feeling about our future. I'll be happy if we don't do anything for a while. I'll never go back to America anyway.


- You already said this last year and you just spent 6 weeks there this summer.

Robert : No, seriously. I don't think we'll go back there. I don't even think we'll go to Australia again. It's our last tour. It has to be. Next year we won't go on tour anyway and the following year I'll be 30. I won't go on touring !


- What will you do ?

Robert : I started reading about classical composers lives, like Stravinski... I realized I lost the excitement I had at the beginning. If I could do something without thinking about the Cure's achievement, I think that excitement would come back. Which means we have to wait for people to forget about us. Supposing we'd go on, what would happen ? We would become even more famous and then we'd start being less popular ? We were told in America that we would do 3 Madison Square Garden next year. Is that supposed to make me happy ? Becoming the new Simple Minds in America ? The audience frightened me there, they have nothing to do with me, I don't have anything to tell them. I think it's stupid this obligation to entertain them. I need to think again of what we're doing.

The band is in an excellent position now. We proved we could be successful our way. We've become pleonastic. We'll stop at Christmas and think. We could go to the studio next week, but what for ? We need to do something different, something that shocks people, like we did with "Pornography". I wouldn't mind all of this. I realized while reading books and playing the guitar in Dublin that there was a whole aspect of me that got lost because of celebrity.

We were asked to play at the Midem in Cannes in January. I'll say yes because that'll be a great holiday. But we were also asked to appear on MTV Awards with Whitesnake and Terence Trent D'Arby. I don't fucking care about these people, I don't see why we should go there. During an interview, I said I hated MTV and since then, they don't show us anymore. Record companies ask me why I don't shut up...

It's like the story with the "Champs Elysées" TV show. I can't shut up ! Otherwise we'd be like all the other bands waiting at the door to be allowed to get in. The more you are popular the more it's difficult to do what you want to do. I just said to the host that he was an hypocrit bastard because that's what he is. You should always say what you think. And the host of a show is simply a host. If the French think he's great, ok, but I have the right to say he's an hypocrit bastard. I have nothing in common with these people, I never talk to them. Why should I pretend I like them ? Just because they have a TV show ? They don't want us anymore. Ok. I don't hope to see them cry. I was told to apologize, what's next ? We were invited because we were already famous, not to be helped. Most bands would do anything to be on television, so they don't understand we don't care.


- PIL : "Socialist"

Robert : Rubbish ! Everybody is able to do this. They couldn't write the lyrics so they put weird keyboards sounds instead. Who's this ? PIL ? Is it new ? No ! Yes, I bought that record and listened to it twice and put on tape the 3 songs that I liked. I didn't listen to the last record. But it's been a while since I lost interest. Johnny Rotten bores me. PIL has become a brand. The first album and "Flowers of Romance" were excellent, unusual, Wobble's work was great. PIL became boring with "Death Disco". Any group can record ten songs like this on one afternoon. No need to be creative.


- Nick Cave : "Tupelo"

Robert : BBC Sound Effects record ? Is it Big Black ? (laughs) I was trying in case... Is it a psychobilly band like Cramps ? Are they american ? The singer is or pretends to be. Ah, he's australian ! The Church ? It's not AC/DC anyway. Nick Cave ! So it's psychobilly with the shoes and all that... I don't like this song very much. But he's done very good records with the Birthday Party, "Mutiny" was great. But Nick Cave is a bit like Rotten. They created a character and went to the extreme with it. What was initially charming or exciting became flat. It's like a favorite uncle who's doing the same trick over and over. At first, it's funny but then you discover how it's done. I wouldn't like to meet Nick Cave. He would find me boring and I'd find him boring. It reminds me of these people who were hanging out at the Batcave, I never really like that scene.


- Joy Division : "Heart and Soul"

Robert : The Masters ! They never recorded a bad song unlike New Order. Ian Curtis had a good influence on them.


- Stan Ridgway : "Big Heat"

Robert : It sounds like the 1975 disco hit "Hot Butter" by Pop Corn. I don't know who that is. Is it a band from Liverpool ? It sounds like a guy from Liverpool taking an american accent. Ah, he's american. Then he's trying to sound english ! It's not the kind of culture I understand.


- Bérurier Noir : "Amputé"

Robert : Is it Métal Urbain ? It's a French hardcore band anyway. Having an attitude doesn't necessarily produce good music. When it happened, in 1976/77, I didn't like this kind of Punk music. I've always prefered the Stranglers or the Buzzcocks. Even the Sex Pistols had good songs.


- David Bowie : "Breaking Glass"

Robert : It's the last good album he's done. Since then I gave up. He doesn't know what he's doing anymore. He used to be good because he was different. But he missed the train. Maybe he simply wants to make money but he doesn't sell records... He's quite old, he has kids, he can't do much. I've heard "Low" for the first time in my mother's car. I'm still wondering why she had that tape. It influenced the sound on "Seventeen Seconds".


- What do you think of his new look ?

Robert : He looks old. He pretends he's not but he is. He should give up the idea, like Mick Jagger who seems to accept his age. But there aren't a lot of things left to do when you have done so much. He was probably disappointed when he tried to be an actor. He still looks like David Bowie when he acts.


- How do you imagine yourself at this age ?

Robert : I didn't think about it. But I won't do this, there are so many things to do. I won't be a public figure anymore, it's too difficult. I could make music without being famous anymore. It's not easy in pop music but it's possible in another kind of music. But when I am 40, I'm not sure I'll care if people are still aware I'm alive or not. I'm starting to wonder...


(Interview : Barbarian)