The Cure - The 13th - Full Video Song

JUL 01 1996 · 12:00

The Cure - The 13th - Full Video Song (1996) Director: Sophie Muller Era: Mid-90s Alternative/Post-Punk Pop Crossover (1996) - Peak era of major-label alternative rock crossing into mainstream MTV rotation; The Cure deploying Latin-inflected pop production to commercial and critical effect during the Wild Mood Swings cycle. High curatorial value as a confirmed-director Sophie Muller production representing both The Cure's mid-career genre experimentation and a defining example of mid-90s UK alternative music video craft. The combination of rapid editing (113 cuts, 1.99s avg shot), warm tungsten film palette, and Robert Smith's theatrical gender-subversive performance coding makes this a significant archival object for research into 1990s MTV aesthetics, alternative rock visual culture, and directorial signature style. Context: Released April 1996 as the lead single from Wild Mood Swings, 'The 13th' marked The Cure's most overtly Latin-influenced pop production, a mariachi/salsa-tinged departure that polarized the fanbase while demonstrating the band's mid-career commercial ambition. Directed by Sophie Muller via Oil Factory, a production house central to 1990s UK music video output, the video's theatrical campness and Robert Smith's gender-subversive styling (ripped velvet dress, smeared makeup) engaged with concurrent mid-90s conversations around androgyny, glam, and alt-rock identity. The single charted at #15 UK and #44 US Billboard Hot 100, cementing The Cure's continued mainstream presence a decade into their career. Director notes: Directed in 1996 for Fiction Records / Elektra, produced by Oil Factory. Edited by Simon Hilton. Released April 1996 (UK). The video was subsequently included in the official Cure video compilation 'Galore, The Videos 1987–1997' (1997). The video depicts Robert Smith in a ripped velvet dress in a domestic interior setting. Runtime: approximately 4 minutes. Country of origin: United Kingdom.