First of all, that's probably one of the Cure's most well known songs. Pretty much everyone knows they did it first. It's not a big mystery. And The Cure has been covered like 8 billion times by just about everyone.
Secondly, wbrycew, did you just say the Cure's version is more upbeat? Are you joking?
And lastly, yeah I'm sure he was trying to make it a bit more poppy and reggae-ish like the 311 version, but from what I heard, I personally think he kinda sucked it up. His voice didn't sound all that great for the song. I'm glad he at least is still representin' 311 in his own way and that's cool.
Later