Album of the Day

Released on this day in 1980, BOYS DON'T CRY underlines The Cure's status as both a singles band and an album-oriented act. The dozen recordings on the group's U.S. debut drew liberally from the THREE IMAGINARY BOYS album, which had been issued in Britain the preceding year, but the song line-up is sweetened by the addition of "Killing An Arab," the title track and others that were non-LP in The Cure's native land. The ability to balance these more accessible sounds with Robert Smith's ever-forlorn subject matter is one of the group's greatest strengths, and while future productions and performances would grow more polished, BOYS DON'T CRY remains quintessential Cure, and an album any U.K. indie fan should own.