“I played and sang Suffragette City and everyone else was doing Foxy Lady – I was so drunk, I didn’t even know”: The Cure’s Robert Smith on his disastrous first show as a singer and guitarist... when he butchered a Jimi Hendrix classic

Robert Smith of The Cure performs at OVO Arena Wembley on December 12, 2022 in London, England.

Amid a stunning new album and a short-but-sweet return to the stage with The Cure, Robert Smith’s stock couldn’t be much higher as the new year beckons. But his career as a singing guitarist got off to a cacophonous start as he drunkenly butchered a Jimi Hendrix classic.

“I was horrified when I ended up as the singer,” he tells The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess on his Absolute Radio show.