[bong]

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As for going through their discography, I would recommend this for variety: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me; The Head on the Door; Faith; Pornography (which in Cure circles fans continually argue if this or Disintegration is The Cure's best album), Wish.

Pornography (1982): delving into despair, their most inaccessible and challenging album.

No contest for me. Pornography is my favourite. I love the way the first few tracks go through this downward spiral of gloom and despair. Just when I think it can't get any darker - it does. Phew! And those drums, those pounding drums...
 
I can see why some would find it inaccessible - I guess you just have to be in the right (or wrong) sort of mood.

No contest for me either... Pornography has been and still is my favourite Cure album. Disintegration and Faith comes in a close second and third.
Anyway, when an album starts with "It doesn't matter if we all die" and ends with "I must fight this sickness... FIND A CURE!" you know it's dark. And you're right, those drums, damn.... those drums!
 
About the 80's, I always thought the 80's were one of the most exciting times in music. If you cut through the hype, fashion, and excess, the 80's were a hotbed of fresh, new, exciting sounds from artists not afraid to experiment and go against the norm. Through Post-Punk, New Wave, College Rock, Modern Rock, Indie Rock Alternative, etc... (most of which are interchangeable anyway) you've got a ton of artists and bands that had substance and depth, not just faceless rock that was being played on Top 40 radio.
 
Speaking of radio, there were cutting-edge radio stations like KROQ in California and WDRE in New York that weren't afraid to play music that was deemed "weird" and "alternative." Unlike today, back then DJs had much more freedom of self-expression and experimenting. If a DJ had a good feeling that something new would hit it big, he or she would play it in addition to the assigned playlist. It was because of these DJs obscure bands like The Cure, REM, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, New Order, B-52's, Love and Rockets, INXS, Midnight Oil, and the like can score that rare left field US Top 40 hit and dent the charts with something different and unexpected. Both US and UK/international bands had equal opportunity to hit the US charts. DJs back then kept things exciting and unpredictable... nowadays the music industry and radio is so manufactured and dull it's hard for anything new to come out. I'm not saying there isn't anything good to listen to these days because there certainly is, but it's much harder to find.
 

 

[tjkurita]

I'm 35 and I've been a HUGE fan of The Cure since I was about 12 years old.  Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was the first CD I ever bought.  I still own that CD.  It was when CDs came in those really long cardboard boxes and my sister drove me to the mall so I could buy it.  I listened to it on my way home from the mall in my sister's Honda CRX hatchback.  She had one of the earliest Sony PCDPs.  I don't remember the model.  But in order to play it in the car she had to hook it up to a tray that was on a shock (like a microphone stand) so that the player wouldn't skip while driving.  The bottom of the CDP and the tray had contacts that would let you power the CDP with a cigarette lighter adapter. 
 
It was a really beautiful, sunny day I remember.  I cranked "The Kiss" the opening track and I was just blown away.  It was so intense.  I kept turning it up because it sounded like nothing I had heard before.  My sister was a fan of David Bowie and bands like Erasure and more pop new wave.  She yelled "Turn it Down!" because it was just too intensely awesome for her (at least that's what I thought). 
 
Anyway, I think Disintegration is their masterpiece and a masterpiece in general.  I still listen to them regularly. 

 

[ProzacMessiah]

 
I'm 35 and didn't care for The Cure at the time of their commercial peak in the Disintegration/Wish era, but I've come to appreciate them later.  I picked up the Disintegration reissue a couple of months ago, since those are the songs with which I'm most familiar.  The bass is much more forward in the mix on the reissue, if I'm remembering the original sound correctly. It doesn't wreck the sound or anything, but it could play havoc with systems that have sloppy bass control.  
 
My sister had ripped Galore to the family PC years ago, which is probably what got me to take a second look at them.