My first encounter with The Cure didn’t go so well. It was 1990, they’d just released the remixed version of “Close to Me”, and the video for the song was played over the closing credits of Top of the Pops that week. And it FREAKED ME OUT. The wobbly camera work, the whole band trapped in a wardrobe that’s just fallen off a cliff into the sea, the over-friendly trumpet-playing octopus with the human face… GAAAAAH! Horror! Anyone with nerves steelier than my 8-year-old self can check out the video here, if they dare.
I’m not sure what changed my mind about them, but somewhere along the way The Cure ended up being one of my favourite bands. I’ve whiled away many long bus journeys listening to “Disintegration”, and danced like a loon to “The Lovecats” more times than I’d care to think about. And who could forget Robert Smith stepping in to save the small town of South Park from total destruction by a rampaging Barbra Streisand? I figured it was high time I paid tribute to one of the most recognisable faces in rock, Beastie-style.
After I’d finished his trademark dark eyes and red lips, I added a mop of curly hair and a tailor-made black shirt, and then…
… a hand-stitched guitar, based on one Robert Smith actually plays!
Has anyone any ideas for other musicians who deserve to be immortalised in wool and felt? Let me know in the comments!