This is the greatest album of all time.  Just kidding, but it is the greatest hits album of one of my favorite bands of all time, The Cure.  This album means a lot to me.  Not in like a “I couldn’t live with out this album” way or a “Holy smokes, this album changed my life” way, this album was simply the first CD that i have ever purchased.  Now, there has been some debate recently if this is in fact the first CD that Johnny Austin has purchased.  There has been whispers that it might have been Weird Al’s 1999 gem “Running With Scissors” or possibly even BBMak’s one hit wonder “Sooner or Later”.  At least it was a one hit wonder with me.  I really loved that CD.  I would continuously play it over and over again, singing along in my head, picturing myself serenading a certain 9 year old whom i have forgotten the name of, for three short hours to my cottage.  It was a great bit of music.  But it was nothing compared to “The Cure Greatest Hits”.  I first happened upon this album when my dad brought home the DVD version of this masterpiece.  It was exactly like the CD, but instead of just playing the songs it allowed you to watch all of the music videos that went along with the music.  Pretty inventive stuff.  I immediately fell in love with this music, I don’t know why, it probably just made me want to dance.  I didn’t know the difference between good music or bad music then, I still really don’t, I don’t think there is such a thing as good or bad music.  It’s all just whatever.  But boy, let me tell you if a song got me tappin’ my toes, it was game over.  I was hooked.  That’s exactly what this album did, actually that’s what “Close to me” did.  My favorite Cure song of all time.  The rest of the album as a whole is pretty dark, and really is not good for dancing.  Being only 9 years old, I was pretty oblivious to the fact that the man singing the songs did in fact wear lipstick and geisha face make up or whatever that crap is.  He also dressed in all black.  It really wasn’t brought to my attention that i was listening to a goth band until I caught some flack from my brother.  "Do your friends know you listen to The Cure?“, he would ask in sarcastic fashion.  "No?” i would reply, wondering what could be so bad about the band i now loved.  "Good, because they probably would not be your friends.“  Hearing this really upset me.  My brother dissing my new favorite band, the first real band that I ever liked, the first band that stirred my interest into whole other genre’s of music, are you serious?  This was not happening.  But this was happening, and so it was that I could no longer listen to The Cure.  My brother had poo pooed them, and with me seeking his approval over everything that i’ve ever done or liked, I regretfully tarnished the CD that I loved.  Through out my adolescence I would go through mild periods of Cure binges, just hoping I could resurrect that intrigued 9 year old boy who innocently adored this band.  It was to no avail.  I was never quite as into The Cure like I was for that 9th year of my life.  Granted I do still love them and I have recently been going through a Cure binge, which was the motivating factor for this post.  For however long that I keep listening to The Cure or music in general, which will be until around the time i’m about to die, i will always be able to say that "The Cure Greatest Hits” was the first album i have ever purchased, I think.  And I am very proud of that.