Happy Anniversary: The Cure, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

29 years ago this month, The Cure released their seventh studio album, an effort which – coming as it did on the heels of their highly successful best-of collection, Standing on a Beach: The Singles – proved to be the proper start of the band’s big US breakthrough.

In 1985, The Cure earned their first single on the Hot 100, and while “In Between Days” only made it to #99, it was still sufficient to confirm that the British band had begun to infiltrate the American radio listener’s consciousness. That was further underlined the following year, when Standing on a Beach became their highest charting album in America to date, hitting #48 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. As such, when Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me hit record store shelves in May 1987, US fans were primed and ready to buy it.

The fact that Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me made it to #35 on the US charts was certainly impressive, but even more so was the fact that the album spawned three entries on the Hot 100: “Hot Hot Hot!!!” (#68), “Why Can’t I Be You?” (#54), and – providing The Cure with their first top-40 hit – “Just Like Heaven” (#40). And the hits just kept on coming when the band released their next album, Disintegration…but, of course, that’s a story for another time.