Robert Smith, to many, is a musical genius for his work with the famed post-punk gothic rock outfit The Cure. To others… he’s a little bit of a hater. Smith has never shied away from saying what he thinks, especially when it comes to his contemporaries. Let’s dive into five bands that Robert Smith notoriously hated (and probably still hates to this day).
1. Duran Duran
The first entry on our list of bands that Robert Smith quite notoriously hates is the English electro-pop rock band Duran Duran. Why does Smith hate them, you ask? Well, it all comes down to what they represented. Duran Duran was the pinnacle of 1980s consumerism, impudence, and being rock stars who got all the girls. Smith hated this about mainstream music and created The Cure with the intention of having more substance.
Videos by American Songwriter
Hate might be a strong word for this one. Smith wasn’t a fan, but he seemed to at least appreciate that Duran Duran’s members loved The Cure.
“It was generally Duran Duran, which is really sad because they loved us and they used to come to our shows,” said Smith. “But they represented everything we hated: the whole glamorous 80s, consumer bullshit; this horror show that we were up against.”
2. Morrissey
A lot of people don’t love Morrissey. However, this interesting beef was once almost squashed immediately. Rumors spread that the two rock stars hated each other, which led Smith to say that the feud was “imaginary”. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Smith has made some unkind comments about Morrissey in the past.
“If Morrissey says not to eat meat, then I’ll eat meat,” said Smith. “That’s how much I hate Morrissey.”
After this particular comment, Morrissey allegedly called Smith a “whinebag”.
3. Queen
It’s hard to imagine anybody hating Queen. They were legends. Freddie Mercury was a legend. However, Robert Smith has been pretty forthright about the fact that he hates the band’s music.
Smith was never really a fan of fun pop music. But when it comes to Queen, Smith said that he outright hated everything that the band produced.
“Well, I never liked Queen,” said Smith. “I can honestly say I hated Queen and everything that they did.”
4. The Darkness
British hard rock outfit The Darkness formed back in 2000 and saw quite a bit of success in the early aughts. However, Smith didn’t have much respect for them back then. Unfortunately, Smith had to play alongside The Darkness at Reading And Leeds Festival back in the day. He even compared the “Permission To Land” hitmakers to Queen, but not in a very positive way.
“To have that rehashed and reheated for a second time around is pretty weird,” Smith criticized the band. “So, no, I don’t like the Darkness at all.”
Smith also said that they were a “comedy band” and wasn’t very happy about headlining with them. Ironically, Justin Hawkins is a big fan of his.
[See The Darkness Live In Concert]
5. Def Leppard
Smith famously said that he would never take The Cure to the mainstream; rather, the mainstream would have to come to them. The 1992 album Wish almost got them there. However, the no. 1 spot on the US charts ended up going to Def Leppard. Smith was pretty direct about the fact that this bothered him.
“I wanted the album to be number one in America,” said Smith. “I hate Def Leppard, I hate them anyway, but I hate them even more now.”
Photo by Ian Gavan
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Most Popular
Comments / 0