Ratinoff Finds the Cure and Feels Better

The Cure

Disintegration (Fiction)

Ratinoff Finds the Cure and Feels Better: L.A.-based post-punk rocker Ratinoff told us about his love for a Cure classic.

Ratinoff: This was a very tough call…I was in between Achtung Baby, ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion, and Disintegration…

I have to say that my favorite Album has got to be Disintegration…Maybe it’s due to melancholic reasons… Maybe it’s just the album that I felt really understood what I was going through at the moment…

The opening song ”Plainsong” always spoke to me. I remember listening to it and feeling like I was beneath the rain listening to it, or just reminiscing on the bittersweet of Life.

(Fiction)

I remember listening to Disintegration and feeling like finally there was an album that said everything that I wanted to say. ”Last Dance’ especially blew me away. When I heard that first opening bass riff by Simon Gallup, it floored me. The very long intro and guitar haunted me and entranced me to keep listening. Those lyrics about a love that was long gone really stuck with me. The sound was so immense that I imagined myself listening to it in a large dance hall. All the tracks, especially “Closedown”, “Prayers for Rain”, “Disintegration” – they all spoke hard to me.

To be honest, I rarely listen to Disintegration these days. But when I think of the album that epitomizes my transition from young boy to teenager, this was definitely the album that spoke to me first.

I was able to see The Cure for the first time in Shoreline Amphitheater in 2000 for the Bloodflowers tour. I remember losing my mind when “Plainsong” started. I may have been all the way back in the lawn, but I felt like I was all the way in the front… It was that transformative. On their last “singles” tour, I got to see them play “Last Dance” live and I felt my life was complete. I wish I could have seen Porl Thompson or Boris Williams play live with Robert. Maybe someday…(no pun intended on their single from ”Bloodflowers”).

Ratinoff Finds the Cure and Feels Better: Ratinoff’s new video “Better” is out now. He performs at the Whisky A Go Gowith John Corabi on December 9 and with Bulletboys on December 16.