And finally, fans of the long-running English Goth band The Cure have to be among the most obsessive and the most loyal in rock. Take the one we ran into when The Cure played a Halloween show in Manhattan [Live performance, 380k QuickTime] in support of its new greatest-hits album, "Galore." Here's what this "now grown-up" fan had to say about his Cure fixation.
DEVON MAZZONE: Some people make the joke that following The Cure is a disease, a sickness. And once you hear a few songs it just gets kind of obsessive. You have this attachment to them where you almost can't let them go at points. My name is Devon Mazzone, I'm 23 years old. I work for Barnes & Noble. You know, growing up you always thought, "I'm not going to have one of those jobs. I'm not gonna wear a collared shirt and a tie everyday. It's very constricting." So, I never thought I would be doing this on a daily routine. We always look for a different way out of it. The first time I heard of The Cure was growing up. I guess early high school, maybe a little before. We all go through that sad stage that "gloomy stage," I guess they call it.
ROBERT SMITH, The Cure: Through the years, I have generally been happier. Much, much happier, actually, than most people think I have been.
MAZZONE: He just has this emotional aspect to his songs that kind of draws you in ["Pictures Of You" video clip, 809k QuickTime] when you're going through different emotional periods in you life. When I was younger, we would dress up like this. I don't have the need to do it as much anymore. But it is fun to do every now and then. It was kind of liberating in a way to actually go to these shows and tease out your hair and put on the makeup and whatever, and it got to be this, you know, almost a ritual that you follow. I guess in a way we all like to dress up like Robert.
(Getting ready to go to the show) All right, so I guess we are off to New York City now. We've got a nice little train ride on the midtown direct. I'm kind of pumped, but I'm getting excited, more and more excited as each stop goes past. It's strange to kind of reflect back on all of this now, kind of look at it and you see yourself and you almost laugh at some of the stages, but it was a great time.
SMITH: If you told me what The Cure was gonna be in 20 years and what we would have done and what I would have experienced, I would have said, "Yeah, I would do that." So, I wouldn't do anything different.
MAZZONE: I'm always going to be a fan. Whether I'm still doing this [dressing up goth] and here all the time, that's a different question. Who knows?
SMITH: I don't actually feel as old as I should, I suppose. I don't feel my age. I hope I never do.
MAZZONE: Some people are never going to grow out of it, and that's not a bad thing. This is where they can find something.
The Cure's next studio album will be out in the spring. That's it for this edition of "The Week In Rock." Do join us next week when we'll have John Norris talking to singer Janet Jackson, Pearl Jam actually playing a show again, and -- they said it couldn't be done -- Wu-Tang's ODB, clean and sober, among lots of other things. We'll see you then.
