Robbed hit of the week 4/30/18 - The Cure's "High"...

"High" - The Cure
from the album Wish (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the British emo-wave group the Cure, who had unexpectedly landed themselves a huge pop hit in America in the fall of 1989 with "Love Song". However tensions in the band (well, with leader Robert Smith and everyone else) caused the departure of original member Lol Tolhurst, leaving only Smith and guitarist Porl Thompson from their 70's start. While they were still recovering from the success of their Disintegration album and resulting musical chair lineup, the band released a remix album Mixed Up to start the next decade. Lead single "Never Enough" topped Billboard's Modern Rock radio chart, but only managed to climb to #72 on the pop Hot 100 (they did go to #13 in their native UK).

In the spring of 1992, The Cure re-emerged with their ninth studio album Wish, which promoted tour guitar tech Perry Bamonte to credited axe man (along with Thompson). The record's lead single would by "High", written by Smith, Thompson, and Bamonte along with band bass player Simon Gallup and drummer Boris Williams.

cure - high (e-nertia's higher edit) (113.3)(preview) from Marc Nicholson aka E-nertia on Vimeo.

While "High" would go on to spend a full month (four weeks) at #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock radio chart, the single would stop right below the American Top-40 in May of 1992. The remixes on the 12" vinyl and CD single would help the track go to #22 on their Dance Club Play chart as well. Internationally, the song reached #8 in their native Britain, and made the top ten in New Zealand (#4), Australia (#5), and Ireland (#6). It also landed in the top-20 in France (#11), Germany (#14), Switzerland (#14), Sweden (#18), and Spain (#19). The Wish album would grant the Cure their first Grammy nomination, for Best Alternative Album, which ended up going to Tom Waits' Bone Machine. And Smith would find himself back in the US top-40 with his next single, "Friday I'm In Love".

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Here's the band in concert in New York in 1992...