The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band 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 the band's two main songwriters.
Ian Robert Astbury is an English singer who is the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Riders on the Storm, a Doors tribute band that also featured Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger from the original Doors. He replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, as well as appearing on several one-off guest vocal performances on other artists' songs.
Dreamtime is the debut studio album by English rock band the Cult. Released on 31 August 1984 by Beggars Banquet Records, it peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified silver by the BPI after having sold 60,000 copies. The first single, "Spiritwalker", peaked at No. 1 on the UK Indie Chart. Dreamtime has subsequently been reissued in roughly 30 countries worldwide.
Sonic Temple is the fourth studio album by British rock band The Cult, released on 10 April 1989. The album features some of the band's most popular songs, including "Fire Woman" and "Edie ". Sonic Temple was the last album recorded with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart, who left in 1990, and the first to feature session drummer Mickey Curry.
Love is the second studio album by English rock band the Cult, released on 18 October 1985 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album was the band's commercial breakthrough, reaching number four in the UK and staying on the chart for 22 weeks. It produced three Top 40 singles in the UK, "She Sells Sanctuary", "Rain", and "Revolution". It has been released in nearly 30 countries and sold an estimated 2.5 million copies. Love was recorded at Jacob's Studios in Farnham, Surrey, in July and August 1985.
Beyond Good and Evil is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Cult. Released in 2001, it marked their first new recording in six and a half years. The record debuted at No. 37 on the charts in the United States, No. 22 in Canada, No. 25 in Spain.
Pure Cult is the first of several greatest hits compilations by the British rock band The Cult, released in 1993. The title of the original release was Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners while the 2000 reissue was titled Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995.
Death Cult is the debut four-track EP by the post punk/gothic rock band Death Cult. Released in July 1983 on the Situation Two label, the EP reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart. The EP is often erroneously referred to as Brothers Grimm.
James Alec Stewart is a retired British musician who was the bassist of the post-punk/hard rock band The Cult. He recorded on The Cult's first four albums, Dreamtime, Love, Electric and Sonic Temple.
The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band, The Cult. It was released in October 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the US. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover. The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".
Live at the Lyceum is a live album by The Cult, recorded live at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on 20 May 1984. The band performed 15 songs at the concert, which was edited down to nine songs for this release. In the UK, it was released with the first 30,000 copies of the Dreamtime LP, and also found on side 2 of the Dreamtime cassette. It was released separately as a live LP in Canada and Japan. The live version of "Bone Bag" was released as a videosingle in Argentina.
"She Sells Sanctuary" is a song by British rock band the Cult. It is from their second studio album, Love (1985), and was released as a single on 13 May 1985, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart in July of the same year. In July 2020, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the song a gold certification for sales and streams of over 400,000. In January 1993, the song was re-released as "Sanctuary MCMXCIII" and experienced chart success once more, matching its original peak on the UK Singles Chart and entering the top 10 in New Zealand.
Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995 is a singles compilation by The Cult, authorized by the band to replace the previous unauthorized High Octane Cult. It is also a reissue of the 1993 compilation Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners, with minor changes.
"Fire Woman" is a song by British rock band the Cult, written by singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy. It was the first single released from their fourth studio album, Sonic Temple, and was subsequently featured on all of the Cult's compilation/greatest hits albums, as well as being a steady fixture of the band's live performances.
High Octane Cult is a United States and Japan greatest hits compilation featuring every single The Cult had released at the time, with the additional "Beauty's on the Street" and "In the Clouds". It was released by The Cult's then record company Beggars Banquet Records without The Cult's participation. In the years since its release, singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have occasionally been vocal about their dislike of this release, with Astbury calling it "sad" on their official website in 2006. Beggars Banquet had planned on using handmade drawings by Ian Astbury for the album's artwork, but when the drawings were lost, the record company subsequently replaced it with less than stellar car photos, and the band photo from The Cult's Sonic Temple record was used in the jacket sleeve, along with a short bio about the band, which guitarist Billy Duffy publicly expressed his disapproval about.
"Spiritwalker" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 11 May 1984. "Spiritwalker" is the lead single from the Dreamtime album, although it was released nearly five months before the album was released.
"Gods Zoo" is a single by the English post-punk/gothic rock band Death Cult, released on 23 October 1983 by Situation Two. The song is often, erroneously, spelled "God's Zoo".
"Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 10 August 1984. Often truncated as just "Go West", it is the second single from the Dreamtime album.
Rare Cult is a limited edition, six-CD box set from British rock band the Cult, released in November 2000. The chronologically-organized set contains 90 tracks of studio B-sides, radio sessions, 12-inch mixes, alternate mixes, demos and the complete then-unreleased Peace album. The set is packaged in a matte black box with gold lettering, containing three 2-disc gatefold digipaks and an extensive 80-page booklet of liner notes and photos.
