Creativity Quote by Robert Smith

It is rock-star modesty with teeth: Robert Smith rejecting not just fame, but the particular kind of fame that turns a band into a lifestyle brand. “Doted on,” “hung on every word,” “wanted to look like us” sketches three escalating levels of cultural capture: affection, authority, imitation. He’s not worried about being liked; he’s wary of being turned into a template.

The line lands because it comes from someone who, by any reasonable measure, helped invent a look and a mood people absolutely did copy. The Cure’s smeared lipstick and teased hair weren’t an accident of personal grooming; they were a visual shorthand for alienation you could wear. Smith’s disavowal reads as a preemptive strike against the machinery that converts subculture into consumer behavior. He’s insisting the music should be a place you visit, not a set of marching orders.

There’s also a quiet ethics in the wording. He doesn’t say “we don’t deserve it” or “they shouldn’t,” which would sound sanctimonious. He says he “wouldn’t want to think” it, framing adulation as a kind of psychological burden. That’s canny: it keeps the audience at arm’s length without insulting them, while confessing discomfort with the power imbalance that celebrity creates.

Contextually, it fits an era where alternative scenes were getting mined by mainstream media. Smith’s resistance is less anti-fan than anti-idol: a bid to keep art from becoming authority, and style from becoming obligation.