Robert Smith says he ‘felt bad’ about viral Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interview

Robert Smith has admitted he felt guilty about his viral reaction to an enthusiastic reporter while attending the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in 2019.

The Cure frontman appeared on the red carpet with his bandmates as they were inducted into the 2019 class alongside Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Radiohead, The Zombies, Def Leppard and Roxy Music.

As they made their way along, interviewer Carrie Keagan excitedly said: “Congratulations The Cure, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees 2019, are you as excited as I am?”

The rock singer then replied, completely deadpan: “Um, by the sounds of it, no.”

“Oh no,” Keagan said, “what are we going to do?”

“I’m sure we’ll get there eventually,” Smith responded. “It’s a bit early, isn’t it?”

Smith’s response went viral on social media, with many fans suggesting it was “on brand” for the band behind hits such as “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Friday I’m in Love”.

However, in a new interview on Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s podcast Sidetracked, the 65-year-old said he hadn’t realised he was being filmed and suggested he regretted his manner.

“I felt bad about that, actually...If I’m honest, I didn’t realise that I was being filmed. So, that’s probably why…” he said.

“We had just come from quite a serious conversation in our dressing room about what we were doing there. And this wave of enthusiasm was just like….”

In the same interview, Smith discussed The Cure’s recent, critically acclaimed album Songs of a Lost World, suggesting that his unhappiness with the band’s 2008 album 4:13 Dream might explain why they waited 16 years before releasing another full-length project.

“I was trying to make an album in 2008 which was a double album and it was really odd, it had all kinds of stuff on it, instrumental stuff – and I was pressured into reducing it all down into a single album, that was too long and it didn’t work,” he said.

“And I have never felt happy about it. I bristle a little bit about it,  ‘cause at some point, before I fall over, I’m determined… There are 13 songs from those sessions that never got released.

“It was a double album and the whole idea of 4:13 Dream was that it was like a fever dream and as it turned out, it wasn’t. It was nowhere near what I wanted it to be. And I learnt a lesson, and maybe that’s why we didn’t make another album for such a long time! I was so sickened by the process of… we were commodified, and it really did upset me a lot.”

Songs of a Lost World was listed among The Independent’s favourite albums of 2024, with critic Mark Beaumont writing: “Like the stateliest monument or most ancient world wonder, The Cure emerged from mists unchanged by the 16 years that had passed since their last recorded epistle from despair’s edge.

“Age – and much procrastination – did not wither or date Songs of a Lost World. Robert Smith’s atmospheric pallor instead takes on a profound depth and contemporary crackle on album opener ‘Alone’, floating amid much shoegaze clatter and antique strings, and later the gossamer piano lilt of ‘And Nothing Is Forever’.

“There is still doom-mongering at play, not least on the battle-muddied ‘Warsong’ or austere 10-minute closer ‘Endsong’, but as a habitual, long-term peruser of the abyss, Smith is uniquely placed to create a wistful, romantic and uplifting paean to mortality. Its desolate final declaration – that Smith was ‘left alone with nothing at the end of every song’ – is arguably the most short-selling lyric of all time.”

You can find the full list here.