Song · The Cure
“Killing An Arab” by The Cure
Released 1978
“Killing An Arab” by The Cure appears on 11 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1988 and 2005. It was first released in 1978. Its best result is #98 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,033 alternative song of all time.
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"Killing an Arab" was the Cure's debut single, out in December 1978, and Robert Smith built its title and words on Albert Camus's 1942 novel The Stranger. The band cut it during the same sessions as Three Imaginary Boys, with Chris Parry producing and Mike Hedges engineering, but left it off that album; American listeners got it on Boys Don't Cry in 1980.
Smith's guitar winds a thin, eerie figure over Michael Dempsey's bass and Lol Tolhurst's drums, a skeletal, nervy sound that already points away from punk's shout toward something cooler and more literary, with a paperback classic smuggled into a punk-era single.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 157 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1989 | 98 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 256 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1991 | 779 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 1996 | 465 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 1998 | 491 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 1999 | 291 | 91X | 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 508 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 2002 | 1620 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 909 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2005 | 543 | 99X | 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) | 1000 |
Also listed as: Killing an Arab.
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