The Cure drunk dancing with Bananarama on TV is brilliant

26 May 2023, 19:00

The Cure - Close To Me (Countdown 1985)

Have you seen the female pop trio gatecrashing one of Robert Smith’s TV appearances?

The Cure sharing a stage with Bananarama? The creepies from Crawley "performing" with the all-girl trio best known for their work with Stock Aitken And Waterman? It happened.

Before they hooked up with The Hit Factory and churned out the infectious pop, Bananarama hung out with people like former Specials man Terry Hall, who collaborated with the girls under the Fun Boy Three name. Punk mastermind Malcolm McLaren even offered to manage them at one point and they appeared on the Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Back in the autumn of 1985, both The Cure and Bananarama were on the promotional campaign trail.Robert Smith and co had released their new album The Head On The Door at the end of August, while the ‘Nanas has a new single Do Not Disturb, which later appeared on their third album True Confessions.

So when Bananarama spotted their fellow Brits at the airport on their way to Holland to perform on a TV show, the result was going to be somewhat chaotic and the nearest bar took a battering.

Having mimed to their own track, the three girls drunkenly invaded the stage as The Cure played their own single Close To Me. Any attempt at performing the song went out of the window as both groups staggered around in front of the audience. Only Robert Smith kept up the illusion because he didn’t fancy the idea of doing a re-take.

Smith said later: “Bananarama were the first band I met who managed to drink with us until the end!”