Review of The Dice Man and It's Connection to a Cure Song

Albert Camus ("The Stranger"). Jean-Paul Sartre (Author of "Existentialism and Humanism"). Simone de Beauvoir ("She Came to Stay"). They are considered the leading French--if not the worldwide--proponents of existentialism. It's a big word that means, in essence, that to truly be free one kill their conscience; that one should act without fear of moral consequences.

Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure, was greatly influenced by them. His song "Killing an Arab" was based on "The Stranger" and he stated that he read Sartre in the original French when in high school. It's believe that "Six Different Ways" by The Cure (Head on the Door Album) is about "The Dice Man" and it would seem to fit given Robert Smith's penchant for existentialism. See my Cure blog -- Disintegration Nation.

That's all fine and good, but where does that leave "The Dice Man"? The 1971 cult novel emulates these existential heroes by introducing readers to Dr. Luke Rhinehart, a fictional character (we think) who just happens to have the same name as the author of the novel. Hoomph. George Crockcroft is real name of the author and Luke Rhinehart is his penname, which makes tongue-in-cheek sense. Crockcroft sounds more like a penname or perhaps if you last name is Crockcroft you need a penname.

Dr. Rhinehart adopts the dicelifestyle by doing what a roll of dice tells him to do without regard to morality or social outcome. The protagonist tells readers: "The secret of the successful dicelife is to be a puppet on the strings of the die." We are told to "Create the options. Shake the dice. All else is nonsense."

If you are into existentialism or even nihilism, The Dice Man is for you. If not, the novel can drag over close to 600 pages and doesn't have the plotted storyline one might expect for a novel this size.

Andrew Barger author of The Divine Dantes trilogy.

#DiceManReview #ExistentialismInLiterature

When Prince and Morris Day Tried to Emulate the Sound of The Cure

Many fail to realize that Prince once tried to emulate The Cure. The sounds of their music was far apart, yet in 1984 Prince co-wrote "Ice Cream Castles" with Morris Day of The Time on the album of the same name. Morris Day recently told Rolling Stone that one of the favorite songs he collaborated with Prince on was "Ice Cream Castles."

[T]here were groups like the Fixx, the Cure [sic] doing those haunting, melodic songs and we wanted to do one of our own.

Robert Smith admired Prince, too. About a year ago I reported on my Cure blog that Robert Smith listed "Starfish and Coffee" as his favorite Prince song from the 1980s. When touring last summer in Minneapolis, Robert Smith again paid homage to the literary song. On his guitar was written a lyric from "Starfish and Coffee": "it was 7:45 we were all in line" Check out the photos at Glide Magazine.

Prince never wrote a Gothic song and The Cure never wrote an overtly sexy song. To at least some extent, however, Prince and The Cure liked each other's music and that's pretty cool.

#Prince #TheCure #TheTime

Robert Smith and Morrissey Feud -- A Chronology

                                            Morrissey                                   Robert Smith                                           

The spat/feud/disagreement (whatever you want to call it) between Robert Smith, of The Cure, and Morrissey, formerly of The Smiths, has been percolating since 1984 when Morrissey first mouthed off to the press. Here is what my research found on the web. Of course, this being a blog about The Cure you know who I think is the winner in the end. Enjoy.
                   
1984
UK music magazine The Face: "If I put you in a room with Robert Smith, Mark E. Smith and a loaded Smith and Wesson, who would bite the bullet first?"
Morrissey: "I'd line them up so that one bullet penetrated both simultaneously (chuckle). Mark E. Smith despises me and has said hateful things about me, all untrue. Robert Smith is a whingebag. It's rather curious that he began wearing beads at the emergence of The Smiths and (eyes narrowing) has been photographed with flowers. I expect he's quite supportive of what we do, but I've never liked The Cure... not even 'The Caterpillar'."

1989
UK music magazine NME, September 16, 1989 issues, Morrissey stated that The Cure gave "a new dimension to the word 'crap.'"

When told about the comment, Robert Smith said, "At least we've only added a new dimension in crap, not built a career out of it."

In the same article Morrissey added, "McDonald's bombed and Robert Smith popped (both actions require a similar voltage of explosives)."

1993
US music magazine SPIN, titled "Happily Ever After" for the November issues of 1993, Robert Smith stated: "I have never liked Morrissey and I still don't. I think it's hilarious actually, what things I've heard about him, what he's really like, and his public persona is so different. He's such an actor. There's one particular photo of Morrissey in his swimming trunks sitting by the pool in Los Angeles. I bet that one hasn't been approved!"

1997
US music magazine Rolling Stone, Robert opined: "I’d much rather have our fans than his — our fans are generally quiet, well-spoken and friendly and not pretentious in the slightest. Hopefully, that reflects the nature of the Cure. Despite what the mainstream media would have you believe, we’re a very natural group. The people who have been in the group over the years have been there because they have been friendly with each other. There has been no sense of purpose other than making music together. I think if Morrissey’s fans reflect what Morrissey is like as an individual or the way he projects himself as an individual then ... uh ... I’ll stop there."

2004
In the US Hollywood magazine Entertainment Weekly, Smith said about Morrissey: "He was constantly saying horrible things about [The Cure]. In the end, I kind of snapped and started retaliating. And it turned into some kind of petty feud. I've never liked anything he's done musically, but I don't have any kind of strong feelings of animosity towards him as a person because I've never met him."

Robert Smith gave his thoughts about fans of The Cure who have Morrissey records in an interview with Charlotte Roche: "I'm aware that Cure fans like some Morrissey records. I don't personally understand it, but I'm not going to start worrying about it.

Through the Years - Miscellaneous Statements
"The press tries to portray me as a gloom-and-doom-singer. But take a look at Morrissey. That man is a professional complainer!”"

"There's nothing that links Morrissey and The Cure in my mind," Smith commented. "As the years go by, it's very easy to think we were from the same generation, but we're not. The Cure recorded our first album in 1978 - we were on our third or fourth album by the time the Smiths started."

"[Morrissey] has been away for a number of years and has come back I think to capitalize on this resurgence of interest in a particular period of time," Smith says. "That has nothing to do with the Cure. We've been playing constantly every year for 25 years. We're a living and breathing band."

"Morrissey’s so depressing, if he doesn’t kill himself soon, I probably will."

"If Morrissey says not to eat meat, then I’m going to eat meat; that’s how much I hate Morrissey."

"fat clown with makeup weeping over a guitar."


#MorrisseyvsRobertSmith #RobertSmithMorrisseyFeud

By Andrew Barger - Author of the Rock trilogy of novels: The Divine Dantes.