When the Cult first surfaced on the British indie label Beggars Banquet in the early Eighties, its music attempted to bridge the gap between heavy metal and goth-style punk. It wasn’t until the group decided to claim the heavy-metal tag in earnest, however, that it finally found its signature sound, which combines the pseudomysticism of the Doors and Led Zeppelin with the hard-rock crunch of AC/DC.

For some listeners, the Cult is a brilliant parody; for others, it is the real thing.Ian Astbury, son of a merchant navy man, formed Southern Death Cult in Bradford, England, in 1981. Two years later he recruited ex-Theatre of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy, a Manchester native who had played in a pre-Smiths combo with Morrissey, and changed the group’s name to simply the Cult.

The dreamy, layered, almost experimental music on the Cult’s 1984 debut kept the band obscure. The group’s 1985 major-label debut, Love, however, reached #87 and spawned two U.K. Top Twenty singles, "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain." With producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C.) behind the mixing board for Electric (#38, 1987), the Cult was propelled out of cultdom and into the more lucrative heavy-metal arena. The band’s subsequent albums fared much better: The platinum-selling Sonic Temple reached #10 in 1989, with the singles "Edie (Ciao Baby)" (#93, 1989), a tribute to the late Andy Warhol star/model Edie Sedgwick, and "Fire Woman" (#46, 1989). On Ceremony (#25, 1991) Astbury continued his Native American/Robert Bly bonding philosophy in songs such as "Wild Hearted Son" (containing an Indian dance chant), the environmentalist "Earth Mofo," and "Indian."After a three-year hiatus Astbury and company returned with The Cult (#69, 1994), an album closer in sound and spirit to Love, but interest in the band had diminished.