Studio Album · No. 8
Disintegration Songwriting Credits by The Cure
Produced by Robert Smith, David M. Allen · Engineered by David M. Allen, Robert Smith, Richard Sullivan, Roy Spong
Holds writing credit on 12 of 12 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 12 / 12 documented
Scored across the 12 tracks with documented writers, by whether The Cure carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 12 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Awards & Recognition 1
Disintegration was Robert Smith's deliberate return to the dense, melancholy atmosphere of The Cure's earlier gothic work, written largely around his own anxieties as he approached thirty. The music was credited collectively to the band while Smith wrote all the lyrics, and he co-produced the record with David M. Allen, the engineer who had shaped much of the group's prior studio sound. The result became the band's commercial peak, carried by the layered keyboards of tracks like Pictures of You and the lullaby imagery Smith built into the singles. It remains the album where his darker, more personal vision and the band's widescreen arrangements aligned most completely.
Released on 2 May 1989, Disintegration reached number three in the UK and number 12 on the Billboard 200, and it is still the band's biggest seller at more than four million copies worldwide. 'Lovesong' climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, their highest American chart placing. Founding member Lol Tolhurst was fired once the mixing was finished.