Talk:Robert Smith (musician)

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Religion??[edit]

Remember this article stating that he was Atheist??And now it says he's Roman Catholic? So should we place him into Converts to Roman Catholicism?? unsigned

It says he was raised as a Roman Catholic. That doesn't mean he still is nut-meg 18:09, 20 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

His myspace lists his Religion as "Other." Ash Loomis —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ash Loomis (talk • contribs) 18:12, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

UPDATE: I removed him from the English Roman Catholics and English Atheists list, since it's an oxymoron and no one seems to be able to find ant conclusive proof that he's either one. Ash Loomis(talk

On the cure website there is a link to the brights. A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview free of supernatural and mystical elements and whose ethics and actions are based on a naturalistic worldview. link: http://www.the-brights.net/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.117.38.48 (talk) 07:13, 28 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cure/press/I80.html Looks like he's an atheist. Ash Loomis (talk) 01:35, 7 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

God...Why? Robert why?[edit]

Why did he deny being goth? He's failed me. I have no more faith in him...erg...He's now teaming up with Ashlee Simpson-brained...No longer can I stand him...

Because Goth did not exist in the 80's .. Goth is a new term for something old. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2002:D5DB:996E:0:223:32FF:FE9E:A326 (talk) 21:12, 25 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]


This article has some serious NPOV issues. I'll tackle them when I get a free moment or twelve. Also, a lot of it is more about The Cure than about RS.


Discrepancy: RS's DOB here is listed as in 59, but in this 2000 article (already cited for the this page) http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/2000/cure.htm he is quoted as saying: "ROBERT: We owed our record company one album and now we fulfilled our contract. I promised myself that when I got to 40 I would do something new. I'm almost 40 now and it seems like a good time to start something new." If he was born in 59, he would have already turned 40, in 1999. Something's amiss.

Robert Smith's birthday is indeed in 1959, as verified in the official biography "Ten Imaginary Years" (Robert's bio page scanned from "Ten Imaginary Years" with birthdate given as 4/21/59, link to which was at the bottom of the main article in the "External Links" section), as well as IMDB. A possible reason for the discrepancy is that often interviews are conducted months before they are printed, and when the interview was done, it was before April of '99, and he was therefore still 39 years old. Also, Robert Smith, by his own admission, loves to wind reporters up and tell "stories", which is also discussed in "Ten Imaginary Years".

"His hair is legendary" is questionable for inclusion in this article as not only is it kind of trivial but is not detailed enough, as it neglects the period c.1988 when he cut his hair for just the reason of statements such as these. --Daniel C. Boyer In addition, film director Richard Burton has similar hair, as does one of his film character's, Edward Scissorhands.

robert smith came before the edward scissor hands movie, its been rumoured that scissorhands was partially inspired by smithFarquad92 19:31, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

discography[edit]

This discography is basically just the Cure's. It could be made more complete (e.g. blue sunshine, blink 182 self-titled, the relevant siouxie albums, the albums he's recently produced) or simply dropped. Jon Dowland 17:13, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I am going to get rid of it. This is The Cure's discography, not Smith's. 66.61.143.204 21:50, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

south park appearance[edit]

I've rved an edit which contained the following sentence only:

He also appeared on an episode of South Park, in which he battled an evil Barbra Streisand.

I did this because it was tacked onto the end of the para regarding John Peel. The page should be kept in some kind of chronological order. According to List_of_South_Park_episodes#Season_1:_1997-1998, that south park episode was aired in February 18, 1998, so this sentence belongs before the Peel one (and perhaps others).

I haven't stuck the sentence back into the article as I think it could also be expressed better (E.g. Barbara spelt correctly)

-- Jon Dowland 15:43, 24 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Why is the no mention of the COGASM song "Sign from God" that he wrote for the Trey Parker movie "Orgasmo"? It's on the soundtrack and it's obvious it's him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.81.248.53 (talk) 05:00, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Vegetarian?[edit]

Really?!?! I remember back in the 80s he says "If Morrissey says to not eat meat, I'm gonna eat meat because I hate Morrissey!" Could someone please give a source to his vegetarianism, thanks.

Not sure how much we can read into that quote, all of the Smiths hate Morrisey.

Well, here's an interview from 1984 where (a third of the way down) he says he hasn't eaten red meat for a year: http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cure/press/I28.html Other than that much, there's not much else that my web searches reveal, so either he's changed his mind or just doesn't talk about it much. --Stuart mcmillen 15:08, 25 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Gay?[edit]

Rumor? --Psycho78m 23:00, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

  • I don't think so...i've heard he has a fiancee or a long time girlfriend or something like that.
  • He's married...to a woman. Though I must admit he does seem kind of..."gay".
  • Yes, he's married. To a woman. And has been since 1988, when he married his long-time love (they had known each other since adolescence, so it's said), Mary. Type "Mary Smith" or "Mary Poole" into Google...

His song Love Song is well known to have been written for his wife. To paraphrase Hugh Grant, All english men are a little gay.

Robert Smith is not gay, although he doesn't appear to be homophobic. On the contrary, he has been supportive of gay rights. For instance, he organized an Easy Cure concert as a benefit for a gay schoolteacher who was fired.

  • If he is married, how about somebody finds a reference so we can cite it in the biography. BTW, saying someone "seems" gay is obviously not only subjective but potentially offensive. Just sayin'. Montypics (talk) 22:47, 20 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Since nobody else seems to be reading these pages I updated it myself. The man has been married since 1988 and there are plenty of references for it. He's made no secret of being married and Mary appears in music videos with him. It's ridiculous it's not mentioned on his bio. I have no idea how to make the references look like the others in the article, but I did add five or six reputable sources for both the marriage and the childfree status. Perhaps an editor here can format them or whatever. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.116.14.35 (talk) 19:32, 29 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Picture[edit]

I would have to say the recently uploaded picture looks strange to me. I wouldn't call it a characteristic picture of RS from his heyday or from now. May I suggest a change? Folkor 06:22, 16 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • I second that...maybe use something from the cure's press kit?


This page needs a clean up as it has currently looks like a Cure fans bedroom wall. I think it only needs one picture, if any. WhizzBang 08:11, 17 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • Can we have a decent picture of Robert Smith and not this blurry image ?

I think a picture of Robert before his signature look would be nice in addition to a picture of the modern Smith. Something from the Seventeen Seconds era, perhaps.

Clinical Depression?[edit]

I removed the statement and Category regarding Clinical Depression.

There is no basis in fact in the Article. No reference to when and by whom this diagnosis was made.

Michael David 15:48, 18 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

yeah!! do a better picture please! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.169.23.66 (talk) 00:03, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Collaborations[edit]

I added his cowriter/vocalist collab with JunkieXL for "Perfect Blue Sky."

I suggest changing the classification of the Blank and Jones version of "A Forest" from a "remix" to a "cover." While the distinction between the two is often blurred these days, "A Forest" is an entirely new recording by B&J featuring new vox by Smith. Since it contains no parts from the original recording, it's probably better termed a "cover." --Nulldevice 19:24, 18 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Robert Smith is the vocalist in "Not in Love" by Crystal Castles, EP by Fiction Records Dec 6, 2010. This info is already on the Crystal Castles page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.138.138.70 (talk) 18:31, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

musical credits[edit]

as far as i know robert has never been credited with playing drums or horns of any sort and i have all there albums.Curefreak 11:04, 19 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to the "Ten Imaginary Years" biography, he borrowed Lol Tolhurst's drumkit on which he wrote and demoed the original drum parts for some of the songs on "Pornography" before teaching them to Tolhurst (so perhaps he may actually be drumming on some of the bonus tracks featured on the deluxe edition?), and subsequently played drums during live encores on 1982's "Fourteen Explicit Moments" tour. From memory, I think there may be other references to him playing drums on occasion in the TIY bio as well, although I don't have a copy to hand to quote which page numbers for reference. Perhaps someone else can add a reference to the article? No so sure about horns though. Te Irirangi (talk) 04:11, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

spirituality?[edit]

spirtuality? it says he has written many songs about "spirituality", especially in the aptly-titled album Faith. robert smith is an avowed aethist his songs about "faith" usually come from a questioning or antagonistic viewpoint in my opinion. so saying hes written songs about "spirituality" would lead non informed people to think that they are a christian rock band especially with a name like "the cure" or expose that viewpoint in some of there lyrics wich is very far from the truth. i want to edit that but im not sure what i should say or put in there to correct it if someone can offer me some advice on how to change it i would love it cause its really bugging me :\ Curefreak 11:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody is going to confuse The Cure with a Christian band. Also "spirituality" is not exclusively Christian. nut-meg 18:11, 20 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

picture[edit]

isnt there a better or more recent picture to be used? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Farquad92 (talk • contribs) 17:23, 4 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]


In between days the song[edit]

It is not about death! omg i had to fix that! its about heartbreak.

"yesterday i got so scared i shivered like a child yesterday away from you it froze me deep inside come back come back don't walk away come back come back come back today come back come back why can't you see? come back come back come back to me

and i know i was wrong when i said it was true that it couldn't be me and be her inbetween without you without you"

Point made (SexyLui 00:38, 16 June 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Ashlee Simpson Collaboration?[edit]

Why is there mention of the Ashlee Simpson collaboration rumor in this article? Its inclusion in the Collaborations section is misleading and irrelevant. Zwanzig 22:12, 22 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Blue Monday[edit]

..."The Walk" although he has admitted he was trying to emulate New Order's hit record of the time; Blue Monday, but it became "The Walk".

Where is the source for this alleged admission? I don't recall ever having seen Robert Smith admit to emulating "Blue Monday"; rather, to my best recollection I have seen articles where the similarities between the two songs have been labeled purely coincidental by both parties (New Order and The Cure). I'd like to see this statement either sourced or removed. Thoughts?

P.S. Whether it goes or stays, I'd say this statement could use some grammar cleanup.  :)
P.P.S. I'd do it myself, but I'm a Wiki-noob and am still learning the protocol. :) Zwanzig 22:29, 22 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, he has gone on record more than once with his stated influence for "The Walk" - and it wasn't New Order, but Japan (hence Steve Nye being the producer of choice for it.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.138.236.178 (talk) 02:48, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It’s possible that the OP was thinking of “Primary” being a tribute to Joy Division’s sound, which is indeed an established fact, but at the moment I’m too lazy to track down the source of it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.105.84.183 (talk) 20:48, 6 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fat Bob[edit]

Why, when I type in "Fat Bob" in the search panel, am I redirected to this page? Is it a known nickname of his? If so, shouldn't it be mentioned in the text? 86.133.247.48 (talk) 22:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The page used to contain a sentence akin to "He is known affectionetly and jokingly as "Fat Bob" amoung his fans and peers", but I don't see why it was deleted, and why it is still a redirection. --A Chain Of Flowers (talk) 19:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use rationale for Image:NME RobertSmith.jpg[edit]

Image:NME RobertSmith.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 23:26, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

GOTH or NOT[edit]

Changed the section 'Stage persona and image' adding Smith not liking the 'Goth' label. I added a link to the quote. I also added 'unwittingly' in front of 'popularize the "goth" style of dress'. Smith had no idea he was starting or 'popularizing' some kind of movement. Also if he finds the label 'pitiful' I would think he wasn't wanting to be a part of it. In my opinion...like it or not...he is a part of goth.--Mickeyp2814 (talk) 20:19, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Robert Smith being married...with children?[edit]

As soon as you're able to find a reference supporting Robert Smith being married, can you find out if he has any children if it's not asking too much? Mr. Brain (talk) 04:53, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are plenty of references for Smith being married, and childfree as well. For starters:

The Independent, 2008: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/robert-smith--what-becomes-of-the-brokenhearted-997591.html "...Smith has been happily married to his childhood sweetheart for some three decades now..."

Blender magazine, 2004 http://www.blender.com/guide/67574/dear-superstar-robert-smith.html : "You’ve known your wife, Mary, for 30 years. Did you ever want to bring little Bob Smiths into the world?

A: We decided at a very young age that we wouldn’t have children. My natural urge to be a father is actually not that great, but I do have 25 nephews and nieces, and I really revel in being an uncle. I can take them out or have them over for the weekend and be able to send them back. Being a child myself, I kind of know what the two of us have missed, but I think it is more than compensated for by being able to still be the same to her as when we first met. We have absolutely nothing to stop us from saying, “Let’s go away for three months,” and just walking out the door."

The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/jun/12/popandrock1 "...Later on, talking about his wife, Mary..."

Wedding news clip with photos of the wedding, Smash Hits 1988: http://www.picturesofyou.us/88/88-starhits-holiday88-weddingparty.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.116.14.35 (talk) 05:10, 23 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]


instruments[edit]

does he not play cello as well? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.78.44.231 (talk) 08:23, 1 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Live he has also been seen playing the violin, harmonica and flute, if not more. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.208.37.182 (talk) 00:51, 28 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know for sure that he plays cello although I think he has mimed cello in a clip for The Glove on the Siouxsie episode of "Play At Home". Strings on the Glove album Blue Sunshine were actually performed by members of The Venomettes; Martin McCarrick played the cello. However, he does play violin on "The Caterpillar", harmonica on several songs ("Subway Song", "Splintered In Her Head" and others), flutes (on "Lament", some songs on "The Top" I believe, possibly also "Snakepit" on Kiss Me (x3) although I'm not sure on that latter point), piano (on lots of stuff), sitar (on Siouxsie's Hyaena album), bass (he played all bass on "The Top" album, as Phil Thornalley was unavailable), drums (on demo recordings and in live situations). I may be mistaken but I think he played an actual Koto on "Kyoto Song" from The Head on the Door, but for live performances this was substituted for a synthesised koto played on keyboard by Lol Tolhurst. Te Irirangi (talk) 20:54, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to remove "cello" for now until one of us manages to find a good reference verifying that he does in fact play cello. Te Irirangi (talk) 01:42, 1 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I removed cello for now just because it doesn't seem to be verifiable - it's quite possible that he has indeed "played" (or at least made a noise with) a cello at some point, so we can always add it again if need be. I also added organ (which he played a lot in early demo recordings for Easy Cure and The Cure) and sitar (see above). I've re-organised the order in which instruments are listed, based loosely on how frequently or prominently he has played those instruments (or perhaps more accurately, how frequently he is noted as a player of them) over the course of his musical career... for instance, he's played 6-string bass quite prominently on most of The Cure's albums since Faith (1981) and also on his guest contributions to other artists such as Cranes, and (if you read magazines aimed at musicians, official Fender press releases and other "gear head" boffin-type material) is actually one of the most famous players of the Fender Bass VI (a unique form of 6-string bass). Whereas, so far as I know, his use of violin is comparatively limited ("The Caterpillar" is the only example that springs to mind?), and it would certainly be inaccurate to suggest that he was a "violinist" as such. Ditto drums, harmonica etc - they're instruments he's occasionally experimented with and made use of, but not instruments he's necessarily an especially adept or noted player of, so it seems to make sense to prioritise those instruments that he's more notable for... yes/no? Convoluted explanation, sorry. Te Irirangi (talk) 02:19, 1 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Some recent edits (September 2012)[edit]

I've started making some edits to this article, which I'll make on an incremental basis so that they can be easily reverted if any issues should arise. I'll post about each edit as I go. I'm a fairly irregular contributor to Wikipedia, so would naturally welcome any feedback, comments, criticism and/or debate from more experienced users who might like to help improve my contributions.

1. The first edit I've made is to the "Early years and personal life" section, which had some issues with "citations needed". In the process of adding the needed citations concerning Smith's early childhood and education, I also expanded and restructured some parts of the first paragraph. However, I have tried to retain the pre-existing information so that it does not conflict with others' contributions, and instead (hopefully) enhance them.

2. I also encountered an "edit conflict" while editing the final sentence of this section - another user (not logged in) changed the sentence commencing "Smith now resides in Aldwick..." to say that he and wife Mary now reside in London. The pre-existing reference to Aldwick had already been marked as needing a citation, which I added, whereas the conflicting edit to "London" also contained no citation. I changed this back to "Aldwick, West Sussex" and again provided the citation. As of August 2012, Mr. Smith had told Italian magazine "XL" that he and Mary reside in Aldwick.

3. In my next edit, unless presented with a good reason not to, I will remove the sentence commencing with "He was an accomplished student who attained high marks...". This is marked as needing citation, but the statement is at conflict with the available reliable sources. Smith was in fact expelled from St. Wilfrid's, but was allowed back to complete his "O" Levels and "A" Levels. If memory serves, I understand that he did achieve high marks in English and perhaps one or two other subjects, but was otherwise not a particularly distinguished student, in the orthodox sense. I hope to replace the existing sentence to reflect that, provided I can source the needed citations. Te Irirangi (talk) 09:04, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

4. I have deleted the unsubstantiated remarks about Smith being an accomplished student, and am about to replace them. --Te Irirangi (talk) 12:37, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

5. I've added three new sub-sections under Early years and personal life (which I changed to Early years and family life to reflect the changes). The new sections are Early musical influences, School bands: 1972-1976, and Academic record.

The sections on Smith's early influences and academic record were added to replace un-referenced statements in the pre-existing article, whereas the School bands section simply flowed on as a consequence of those two sections.

However, I'm concerned that these new sections are disproportionately long, particularly the Early musical influences section, and that they read more like a narrative history/biography than an encyclopaedic article. If any editors or more experienced wikipedians can suggest any edits that would retain the salient points and relevant citations then by all means please feel free to slash and burn (or at least trim the fat).

I had also intended to do changes on an incremental basis so that it would not be difficult to revert small pieces, but then I forgot, and added quite a large edit all in one. Sorry. However, I've saved everything in wordpad in case any large reverts and rewrites are called for.

I'm also not sure if some of the material might constitute "original research", e.g. where it is noted in places that band biographer Jeff Apter has misquoted or contradicted his primary source material in the book Never Enough.

Any feedback or suggestions etc would be gratefully received, cheers. --Te Irirangi (talk) 02:53, 1 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Dear User:Te Irirangi, I hope you are well. Thanks for your recent edits. I can see you have significant knowledge of Smith's early (ie, pre-Cure) years. I am nonetheless of the opinion that your edits have added so much detail about those early years that the period now seems out of proportion within the overall article. I don't want to begin thinning it out myself, because you have been careful to write well and provide sources and I don't therefore want to touch your edits, but I hope you might consider bringing the article back into proportion. Perhaps you and other editors may disagree with me. Thanks again and best wishes, George Custer's Sabre (talk) 06:38, 2 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks very much for the feedback George Custer's Sabre. I agree that it is currently out of proportion. That's partly because I've been working more-or-less in chronological order, so have begun "at the beginning" and simply haven't yet made very many contributions to the later areas. In order to bring it back into balance, do you think it would be preferable to A: trim the existing material about Smith's early career, or B: expand the material focusing on the rest of his career? Also, if it is to be scaled down, which parts in particular do you think might be more disposable than others? I would be interested to know what you and any other editors might think. Thanks again for your helpful critique. --Te Irirangi (talk) 09:23, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Dear Te Irirangi, it's my pleasure. To be honest, you have made such a terrific job with the early years that I strongly prefer your Option B: expanding the material focusing on the rest of Smith's career. That would create better balance and provide us all with a truly first-rate bio page. I suspect other editors will agree (and I hope they will say so). You are doing a great job. Thanks so much. Regards, George Custer's Sabre (talk) 09:33, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Cool, thanks GCS. I hope other editors will agree too, as I've already drafted quite a lot of material about RS's various musical projects and collaborations subsequent to forming The Cure. So far, what I've managed to draft focuses on most major periods of his musical career up to about 2007, but I still have some work to do on getting it to a similar standard as the material about his earlier musical development, and it would also require a bit of a major rewrite of the existing content for the "Collaborations" and "Guest Appearances" sections. I've also been a bit wary of rewriting the whole article at the expense of all other editors' contributions. Perhaps if I start posting draft material for discussion/feedback and joint editing here on the talk page, before adding to the main article? --Te Irirangi (talk) 10:50, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I've made a start on trying to balance this article out a bit by first making some simple restructuring edits to some of the existing sections. For instance, as both Smith's relationship with Mary Poole and also his Musical Influences are not subjects limited to his early family life, but subjects/influences that run concurrent throughout his life and career, I've moved those sections accordingly. At some point the section about Mary can probably be shifted further down the article, so as to place greater emphasis on other aspects of his musical career. I also moved the "School bands" section so that it is separate from his early family life and academic record, following on from the latter, and then moved "Role in The Cure" up so that it follows directly on from his earlier "pre-Cure" bands. I'm hoping that this doesn't mess too much with the chronology that I'd already established with the way it was set out before, but if so, let me know and I'll see if I can't tidy it up a bit. --Te Irirangi (talk) 16:41, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

More recent edits: November 2012[edit]

I did a big overhaul, as previously discussed on this page, so as to expand the whole article on Robert Smith's career down to the present day and make it more balanced (previously it focused on his formative years and early career). This has also involved restructuring some sections, including edits to my previous contributions to improve my citations/references etc. I have also restructured the sections previously headed "Guest appearances", "Collaborations" and "Cultural references". The reason I edited these was because there was no distinction between guest appearances on TV shows and guest appearances in a musical context, and they were increasingly beginning to overlap. Guest appearances on TV also tended to overlap somewhat with "Cultural references" (for instance, Smith is both parodied in the Mary Whitehouse Experience but also makes a guest appearance on the show; and the South Park episode in which Smith voices his own cartoon caricature arguably also qualifies as a mix of "Cultural reference" and guest appearance), so I re-organised these three sections into two: "Musical projects outside The Cure" (which includes both musical collaborations and guest appearances), and "Pop culture: references, portrayals and appearances" (which includes both "cultural references" in TV, film, literature etc, and cameo/guest appearances on TV shows). The "Role in The Cure" section is possibly too detailed, and also unfinished (it tends to stop dead immediately after 1984's "The Top"). I was part way through putting that section together, and noticed a lot of finnickity edit wars over minor points, so figured I'd post my contributions now in the hopes of creating something more substantive for us to collaborate on editing together. Te Irirangi (talk) 20:39, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move[edit]

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. There's no support here for this proposal. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 14:12, 28 February 2013 (UTC) Malcolmxl5 (talk) 14:12, 28 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

– Robert Smith of The Cure is by far the most well-known Robert Smith, and I'd wager more people are going to be looking for the article on him than a disambiguation page. The only explicit evidence I can give, if it is really required, are that Robert's page has had 26 edits in the past 30 days, as opposed to 6 for the disambiguation page (done by clicking 'Page information' under 'Toolbox' in the left-hand banner.) Lachlan Foley (talk) 04:05, 20 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. I'm not entirely convinced that such a move is necessary. "Robert Smith" is an extraordinarily common first name/last name combination, and there are a total of 115 men by the name of Robert Smith listed on the disambiguation page, 106 of which have an internal link to elsewhere on Wikipedia (although I'm not going through all 106 to see if they're all articles). Maybe he's the most famous musician named Robert Smith, so I think the article's current distinction is fine. Mungo Kitsch (talk) 06:35, 20 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose If you want to argue that the Cure singer is WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, better metrics would be page views and incoming links. The current argument is weak—I wouldn't expect a dab page to have many edits, and anyway we title articles to serve all readers, not just editors. I doubt this Robert Smith is notable enough to meet primary topic for such a common name, but if you can give a better argument, I'll consider it. --BDD (talk) 17:39, 20 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

DOB check[edit]

21 April 1959 is most reliable DOB, see MTV 1997, EW 2009. Less reliable are the NNDB and IMdB entries. Also per Ten Imaginary Years as mentioned in above. Dl2000 (talk) 14:53, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Voice acting[edit]

Someone put him in a voice actor category. What roles has he voice-acted? Ranze (talk) 11:00, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 16 February 2015[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Not moved (non-admin closure)  — Amakuru (talk) 13:00, 24 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]


Robert Smith (musician) → Robert James Smith – per Robert_Smith#Music we have so many other Robert Smiths who are musicians. Simply using his middle name is easier to type and it saves on space. James is 6 characters while (musician) is 10. Ranze (talk) 11:00, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose. What evidence is there that this musician is commonly known as "Robert James Smith"? If he's not commonly known by that name, this move would make it much harder to find this article. Note that he certainly is commonly known as a musician. 209.211.131.181 (talk) 21:12, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per 209.211.131.181. The nominator's rationale is flawed. It is doubtful that any reader will type either "Robert Smith (musician)" or "Robert James Smith". Instead s/he will likely type "Robert Smith" in the Wikipedia search bar or in a search engine like Google. Therefore the question is which disambiguator better serves such reader, and in this case, it is the current title. If there is another disambiguator that can better do this, please propose it, but his middle name is not it. —  AjaxSmack  02:56, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME In ictu oculi (talk) 10:58, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose - I don't see the point or any name change. Are people coming to this article looking for another Robert Smith, and then somehow trapped within a vortex and unable to escape, never able to find the other Robert Smith? Article title is perfection. Wikimandia (talk) 04:41, 18 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. We don't use middle names unless they were commonly used. -- Necrothesp (talk) 16:45, 18 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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Assessment comment[edit]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Robert Smith (musician)/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

This is a very helpful article. Atlantis Hawk 08:10, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 08:10, 19 December 2006 (UTC). Substituted at 04:41, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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Little mention of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Disintegration[edit]

This article should include more info on these two albums in Smith's music career section, especially the latter, given that it's one of The Cure's most praised albums yet (if not, the most), and is a featured article here on Wikipedia. Josharaujo1115 (talk) 02:56, 20 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Need to show an earlier picture of Robert Smith[edit]

Not enough pictures in this article. Many of us would like to see how he looked when he started out in his first band at the age of 14, together with his brother Richard, younger sister Janet, and some of his friends. I would like to see that picture as well as a separate picture of Robert Smith at age 14. That would set the stage as a starting point of his career. I wish somebody would go out and retrieve these pictures and include them in this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.140.162.81 (talk) 02:02, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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