The Cure Release ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (86 Mix) Limited Edition EP

“Boys Don’t Cry,” one of the biggest hits from iconic band The Cure, found a fairly unconventional path to success 40 years ago. To celebrate the milestone, the band has released “Boys Don’t Cry (New Voice – New Mix),” now titled “Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)” on digital for the first time. In addition to arriving on streaming platforms, “Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)” will be available on a limited-edition 12” vinyl, a 7” vinyl, and on CD, where it will include other tracks like “Plastic Passion” and “Pillbox Tales.”

Originally released in 1979, “Boys Don’t Cry” was first released on Boys Don’t Cry, The Cure’s first compilation album, released in 1980. However, it wasn’t until 1986 that the track really began to climb up the charts. When the song was remixed for Standing On The Beach, the band’s 1986 greatest hits album. That version, which also came with a music video featuring the actors Mark Heatley, Christian Andrews, and Russell Ormes, landed within the top 40 in charts in Australia, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

“I was singing that at Glastonbury a couple of days ago and I realized that it has a very contemporary resonance with all the rainbow stripes and stuff flying in the crowd,” The Cure frontman Robert Smith reflected on the song during a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone. Of his inspiration behind the song, Smith explained, “[W]hen I was growing up, there was peer pressure on you to conform to be a certain way. And as an English boy at the time, you’re encouraged not to show your emotion to any degree. And I couldn’t help but show my emotions when I was younger. So I kind of made a big thing about it.”

Though it took the track a few years to find chart success, it has remained a consistent favorite of The Cure fans for decades, and has frequently appeared in TV and movies, with the film Boys Don’t Cry even borrowing its name from the track. Last month, the song officially crossed one billion streams on Spotify, proving that this track’s popularity shows no signs of slowing.

Buy The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix) on vinyl here.