Disintegration

Robert Smith was approaching thirty and convinced the Cure had to make something serious. He stopped writing the bright pop singles that had made them famous and turned inward, building twelve long, slow songs out of layered keyboards, deep bass, and his own cracked voice. Disintegration is huge and patient, each track given room to swell and break, the whole thing soaked in a particular kind of beautiful gloom. It became the band's biggest album worldwide, proof that an audience of millions wanted exactly this.