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Pornography is the third and final album of The Cure's so-called 'Dark Trilogy', a distinct period in their early career where they wandered down a dark and lonely path of bleak and uncompromising music and were seen as key players in the emerging gothic rock scene. Whereas 1980's Seventeen Seconds and 1981's Faith signalled that all was not well in camp Robert Smith, 1982's seminal Pornography was the sound of Robert going over the edge and losing his mind. Pornography is a dark, brooding and twisted psychedelic masterpiece and is by some distance The Cure's most disturbing and uncommercial-sounding album.
The album opens with 'One Hundred Years', a dark, sprawling, claustrophobic number with Robert Smith’s wailing, stream-of-conscience lyrics, discordant and atmospheric guitar lines and icy drum machines creating an uncomfortable and disturbing feel. The line "It doesn't matter if we all die" pretty much sets the bleak tone for the rest of the album. 'A Short Term Effect' follows up with Simon Gallup's bass taking over as lead instrument, a repetitive drum beat and Smith applying light touches of guitar to create a dark, swirling and atmospheric backing track. The most distinctive and interesting element of this song is undoubtedly the unusual delay effect on Smith's vocals, which decrease in pitch with each delay loop creating a very psychedelic effect.

The album contains only one single, 'The Hanging Garden', which is probably the only track on the album which could possibly be a single. This song sticks to a usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure yet still sounds as dark and disturbing as any other track on the album. Elsewhere the sparse 'Siamese Twins' and the brooding, funeral-pace, synth-heavy 'Cold' provide some more downbeat and introspective moments. The spidery guitar and marching drums of 'The Figurehead' back what is probably Robert Smith's most disturbing lyrics on the album; "A scream tears my clothes as the figurines tighten, With spiders inside them, And dust on the lips of a vision of hell. I laughed in the mirror for the first time in a year". Smith seems to have given up all hope when he repeats "I Will Never Be Clean Again" over and over towards the end of the song. The most upbeat and melodic-sounding track on Pornography is 'A Strange Day' which although contains some strange nonsense lyrics, wouldn't sound out of place on later albums such as The Head On The Door. The melodic guitar lines and pounding snares make this track stand out somewhat.
The album ends with the most experimental and uncompromising tune, the title-track 'Pornography'. With Smith crying out near-incomprehensible lyrics over bizarre samples, abstract guitar noise and a pounding repetitive drum beat; "A hand in my mouth. A life spills into the flowers. We all look so perfect as we all fall down". The song, and album, however seem to end on a slightly positive note with Smith proclaiming "I must fight this sickness", possibly accepting his own mental state and making plans for a new beginning. That new beginning ended their dark period and saw The Cure move towards some great pop music.

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