The Cult/The Southern Death Cult

Formed in Bradford England in 1982 as The 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 hippie/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 Love the following year, that the band fashioned some kind of distinct identity. Veering from the bombastic classic singles Rain and She Sells Sanctuary to the mystic shtick of Brother Wolf, Sister Moon, the album successfully ploughed a deeper retro furrow than the myriad Byrds clones of the day. 

Astbury's flowing locks were also 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.

With metal guru Rick Rubin at the production helm, Billy Duffy's guitar was pushed way up into the mix and the sound tightened considerably. The result was, that any fans clinging to Goth pretensions were aghast, while Kerrang! readers loved it! Possibly The Cult's finest moment, it spawned the singles Love Removal Machine, Li'l Devil and Wildflower. Hell, it even had a cover of Born To Be Wild. 

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.