I was in 8th grade and my "music friend" had just gotten KMKMKM on vinyl and I was pretty blown away by it, but it was just a little over my head. Then he told me about the Standing on the Beach tape which I then went out and got the next day and totally fell in love with all of it. I got a copy of the VHS version from the video rental store and dubbed it and probably spent the next year watching it constantly. My mom was over the other day and my wife was complaining that I've gotten way back into The Cure lately and she says "oh i know... every time he'd get in the car, before it even started the Cure tape would go in."
I was 12 or 13 [can't remember] in 1980-'81 and either my cousin who cut my hair turned me on to them by giving me a Cure haircut or I got drunk with a friend and crashed at his brother's apartment who was a Cure fan and he had a bunch of cassettes we listened to
I was young... don't remember how young though. Probably around 11-13, when I was transitioning from listening to dance music to listening to rock music... and my father, who is no longer upon us, bought me the Staring at the Sea compilation album, kinda by accident. He thought he remembered and liked one of the songs, and wanted to show me it, but it wasn't what he thought. Took me a bit to get into the music... but I remember getting mesmerized by the crazy sounds from Play for Today, a Forest and Primary... and that changed my life. One of the many reasons I'll be forever thankful to him.