Editing Seventeen Seconds (section)

== History ==
At the end of the Cure's 1979 UK tour supporting [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]], [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]] spoke less and less with bassist [[Michael Dempsey]]. Early versions of "Play for Today" and "M" had been performed at a few concerts, but Dempsey did not like the new musical direction that Smith wanted to take. Smith commented: "I think the final straw came when I played Michael the demos for the next album and he hated them. He wanted us to be [[XTC]] part 2 and – if anything – I wanted us to be the Banshees part 2. So he left".<ref name=bad /> Smith would go on to say that "''Seventeen Seconds'' was the most personal record that we’ve ever done, strangely enough"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=SPIN |date=2019-07-19 |title=The Cure: Our 1987 Interview |url=https://www.spin.com/2019/07/the-cure-robert-smith-kiss-me-kiss-me-kiss-me-july-1987-interview/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=SPIN |language=en-US}}</ref> 

Playing guitar with the Banshees for two months and learning their songs opened up another horizon to Smith. "It allowed me to think beyond what we were doing. I wanted to have a band that does what [[Steven Severin]] and [[Budgie (musician)|Budgie]] do, where they just get a bassline and the drum part and [[Siouxsie Sioux|Siouxsie]] wails".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Glass Half Empty |magazine=[[The Word (UK magazine)|The Word]] |issue=114 |date=August 2012 |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Rob |pages=74–79}}</ref> Smith was also particularly influenced by [[Nick Drake]], [[Pink Floyd]], and [[Captain Beefheart]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=October 18, 2019 |title=The Cure's Robert Smith Looks Back: 'I've Never Thought About Legacy' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cure-band-robert-smith-interview-40-live-893005/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009232012/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/cure-band-robert-smith-interview-40-live-893005/ |archive-date=October 9, 2024 |access-date=April 19, 2024 |website=[[Rolling Stone]] |quote=When we reached the end of the ''[[Three Imaginary Boys]]'' period with the three-piece, I was a different person and I wanted to do something different. I thought I’d outgrown that trio. I wanted to play the keyboard and other forms of music had influenced me when I was growing up. I listened to early [[Pink Floyd]], because my older brother used to play it all the time. So I was looking back at other influences and I was drawing on things like [[Nick Drake]], Pink Floyd, and [[Captain Beefheart]].}}</ref> The records to which Smith was frequently listening during the composition of the album were ''[[Five Leaves Left]]'' by Nick Drake, ''[[Isle of Wight (album)|Isle of Wight]]'' by [[Jimi Hendrix]], ''[[Astral Weeks]]'' by [[Van Morrison]] and ''[[Low (David Bowie album)|Low]]'' by [[David Bowie]].<ref name=bad>{{cite magazine |title=Bad Medicine |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |issue=33 |date=February 2000 |last=Oldham |first=James |pages=37–43}}</ref> 

Smith wrote the lyrics and music for most of the record at his parents' home, on a [[Hammond organ]] with a built-in tape recorder. Interviewed in 2004, producer [[Mike Hedges]] did not recall any demo tracks, with the band generally playing the track in the studio before laying down a backing track to which overdubs were added.<ref name="SOS">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec04/articles/classictracks.htm |title=Classic Tracks: The Cure 'A Forest' |magazine=[[Sound on Sound]] |date=December 2004 |access-date=18 October 2012 |last=Buskin |first=Richard}}</ref>

Two members of [[the Magazine Spies]], bass guitarist [[Simon Gallup]] and keyboardist [[Matthieu Hartley]], were added to the band's lineup.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Seventeen Seconds |others=[[The Cure]] |publisher=[[Universal Music Group]] |edition=deluxe |year=2005 |type=CD booklet |last=Black |first=Johnny}}</ref> Gallup replaced Dempsey, which relieved Smith as he felt Dempsey's basslines were too ornate. Hartley's synth work added a new dimension to the band's newly ethereal sound, although he would later clash with Smith over complexity; Hartley enjoyed complex chords but Smith wanted single notes.<ref name="SOS"/>

Money was short, so the album was recorded and mixed in seven days on a budget of between £2,000 and £3,000, which resulted in the band working 16 or 17 hours a day.<ref name="SOS"/> Smith stated that as a result, the track "The Final Sound", which was planned to be much longer, was cut down to 53 seconds because the tape ran out while recording and the band could not record it again. The album, mostly a collection of downbeat tracks, features ambient echoing vocals <ref name="Pitchfork">{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11706-seventeen-seconds-faith-pornography/ |title=The Cure: ''Seventeen Seconds'' / ''Faith'' / ''Pornography'' |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=12 May 2005 |access-date=18 October 2012 |last=Abebe |first=Nitsuh}}</ref> with the sonic direction driven by its drum sound.<ref name="SOS"/>