The Cure is an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1978. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes since its formation, with Robert Smith being the only constant member. The bands music has been described as post-punk, gothic rock, new wave, alternative, and pop punk, among other genres. The Cure is often identified with the gothic rock genre and is viewed as one of the forms definitive bands, but the band has routinely rejected classification, particularly as a gothic rock band. Robert Smith has said that the band is not categorizable and that they were post-punk when they came out, but in total, its impossible to describe their music with a single genre. The Cures primary musical traits have been listed as "dominant, melodic bass lines; whiny, strangulated vocals; and a lyric obsession with existential, almost literary despair".