The Cure: Plainsong
[purchase]
Robert Smith was depressed, was using copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs, was coping with his his quickly approaching 30th birthday (which caused him considerable consternation), and was dealing with the public reaction to the deaths of two teenagers who listened to The Cure as they committed suicide, when he wrote the music for 1989's Disintegration. Smith was also openly concerned that his opportunity to write the "magnum opus" of the band was quickly passing, as most great music was written by people who were younger than him.
The result of this soup of depression, drugs, disillusionment, and public scrutiny is arguably the band's greatest album. It is probably my favorite album of 1989, and certainly my favorite Cure album overall.
I used to love to listen to this album as I drove up and down the wide empty expanses of the state of Nevada. There was something about the long instrumental introductions, the slow crushing rhythms, and the plaintive vocals that went well with the hum of the engine and the loneliness of the landscape.
Lovesong was the big hit from this album, but Plainsong is the better track. Enjoy.