The Cult
Formed in Bradford, England in 1982 as Southern Death Cult with
Ian Astbury (then calling himself Ian Lindsay) performing vocal
duties. Having spent time in Canada as a kid, Astbury was
heavily influenced by native American Indian culture and problems
soon arose when the singer felt his pseudo hippy/Red Indian
philosophy was being compromised by the band set-up.
The group split the following year with Astbury keeping the
name but shortening it to Death Cult. Relocating to London, he
recruited a new band from the post-punk circuit and released a
self-titled 4 track 12" single. The band released a further
solitary single, God's Zoo, before trimming the name
further to simply The Cult.
While the music still betrayed slight Goth tendencies, the band
were eager to lose the Gothic tag. Dreamtime (1984)
sounded confused and directionless, and it wasn't until their
second album, Love, the following year, that the band
fashioned some kind of distinct identity.
Love was the sleek black mothership that
launched Rain and the epoch-defining She
Sells Sanctuary. Catching the band half-way through their
leather-trousered squelch from grotty peace punks to arena Goths,
the LP was bold, cynical, brilliant and clueless all at once.
While Ian Astbury channelled Jim Morrison and explored his
Native American fixation, guitarist Billy Duffy reintroduced the
thudding force of the big riff into 1980s indie currency. Offering
rock with a capital COCK, Love remains their
crowning glory.
With metal guru Rick Rubin at the production helm, Duffy's
guitar was pushed way up into the mix and the sound tightened
considerably. The result was, that any fans clinging to Gothic
pretensions were aghast, while Kerrang! readers loved
it.
Astbury's flowing locks were something of an anomaly for an
'alternative' band in those dark 80s days, and the band were
derided by some sections of the music press. The Cult's
response was to throw caution to the wind and do what they'd
probably always secretly dreamed of doing - writing massive
anthemic heavy rock songs.
Sonic Temple (1989) was another heavy rock effort, if a
bit more grandiose in its reach, featuring their tribute to doomed
60's child, Edie Sedgewick, Edie (Ciao Baby). This
album saw The Cult finally achieve major success in the USA.
Line-up changes had plagued the band from the very start, and
by 1991, Astbury and Duffy were the only remaining members from
the original line-up. That years album, Ceremony,
sounded somewhat listless although it was a relative success.
1993 saw a number 1 compilation album, Pure Cult,
selling like hotcakes, although people weren't quite so eager to
shell out for 1994's The Cult album. Their glory days
were clearly over. In 1996, Astbury was in full flight again
fronting a new rock outfit called Holy Barbarians.
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