High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English alternative rock band The Cure, released on 1 May 1989 by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective and gloomy gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of thirty, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith felt an increased pressure to follow up on the group`s pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group`s new-found popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of psychedelic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album. The Cure recorded Disintegration at Hook End Manor Studios in Reading, Berkshire, with co-producer David M. Allen in late 1988 through early 1989. During production, founding member Lol Tolhurst was fired from the band. Despite getting credit, Tolhurst did not play on the album.