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The Cult
Photo: Ted Van Pelt from Mechanicsburg, PA, USA · CC BY 2.0

Band · United Kingdom

The Cult

British rock band

Formed in 1983

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The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on its current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk and gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine". Since its initial formation in 1983, the band have had various line-ups: the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are also their two main songwriters.

The Cult's debut studio album Dreamtime was released in 1984 to moderate success, with its lead single "Spiritwalker" reaching No. 1 on the UK Indie Chart. Their second studio album, Love (1985), was also successful, charting at No. 4 in the UK and including singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain". The band's third studio album, Electric (1987), launched them to new heights of success, also peaking at No. 4 in the UK and charting highly in other territories, and spawned the hit singles "Love Removal Machine", "Lil' Devil" and "Wild Flower". On that album, the Cult supplemented their post-punk sound with hard rock; the polish on this new sound was facilitated by producer Rick Rubin. After moving to Los Angeles, where the band have been based for the remainder of their career, the Cult continued the musical experimentation of Electric with its follow-up studio album Sonic Temple (1989), which marked their first collaboration with Bob Rock, who would produce several of the band's subsequent studio albums. Sonic Temple was their most successful studio album to that point, entering the Top 10 on the UK and US charts, and included one of the band's most popular songs "Fire Woman".

By the time of their fifth studio album Ceremony (1991), tensions and creative differences began to surface between the band members. This resulted in the recording sessions for Ceremony being held without a stable line-up, leaving Astbury and Duffy as the only two official members, and featuring support from session musicians on bass guitar and drums. The ongoing tension had carried over within the next few years, during which the band recorded one more studio album – The Cult (1994) – before disbanding in 1995. The Cult reformed in 1999 and released their seventh studio album Beyond Good and Evil two years later. The commercial failure of the album and resurfaced tensions led to the band's second dissolution in 2002. The Cult reunited once again in 2006, and have since released four more studio albums: Born into This (2007), Choice of Weapon (2012), Hidden City (2016) and Under the Midnight Sun (2022).

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Also in Français

The Cult, initialement appelé Southern Death Cult, est un groupe de rock britannique, originaire de Bradford, en Angleterre. Au fil des années, le groupe change régulièrement de formation, à l'exception du chanteur Ian Astbury, et du guitariste Billy Duffy, compositeurs du groupe.

Dans ses plus jeunes années, le groupe apparaît comme un progéniteur du rock gothique, scène musicale qui se développe alors fortement en Angleterre à la suite du punk-rock puis du post-punk ; le groupe est aussi influencé par la culture des natifs américains, le rock psychédélique ou les Doors.

Après avoir « déménagé » à Londres, The Cult sort l’album Love qui lui fait gagner un large public, en atteignant la 4e place des charts en Angleterre avec des singles tels que She Sells Sanctuary et Rain. Après quoi, le groupe s’éloigne de ce son pour migrer vers le hard rock et le heavy metal. Avec l’album Electric et le single Love Removal Machine, il perce en Amérique du Nord. Son album de 1989 Sonic Temple se révèle un énorme succès commercial.

Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Discography

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Singles

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