On 26 May 1987, The Cure released their seventh studio album, 'Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'. Robert Smith described the album as "like an end to what we’ve been doing for the last 10 years. It seemed to be like the singles album—literally a retrospective album. This one is taking bits from everything we’ve done, all the bits that I’ve liked. But there’s a single album’s worth of that and a single album’s worth of stuff we’ve never really attempted before."
The album received mixed-to-positive reviews upon release, with praise for its eclectic nature, but criticism for its runtime. Retrospectively, the album has received critical acclaim, and is regarded by some as one of their best albums. In 2000, the album was voted number 256 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.