The Cure - The Caterpillar

What this video is

Released 30 March 1984 as the sole single from The Cure's fifth studio album The Top, 'The Caterpillar' arrived during a transitional moment for the band — pivoting from the stark post-punk of Faith and Pornography toward a more ecstatic, carnivalesque psychedelia. The UK new wave was at peak visual experimentation, with MTV demanding high-concept promo films. Tim Pope's choice of the Great Conservatory at Syon…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of UK psychedelic new wave music video production. Demonstrates Tim Pope's signature approach — surrealist location, kinetic performance editing, and macro organic imagery — that would become synonymous with The Cure's visual identity throughout the 1980s. The video illustrates…

The director

Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956, Hackney, London) is a film director best known for his definitive music video collaborations with The Cure, for whom he directed 37 videos. Studied at Ravensbourne College of Art. Directed The Crow: City of Angels…