GREAT MOMENTS IN MUSIC – No40 – She Sells Sanctuary By The Cult

*In no particular order some of my favourite music moments. No40 She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult.

Released back in 1985, She Sells Sanctuary will always have a special place in my heart, because its chart success felt like a victory (albeit a small one) against the prevailing pop pap of the time.

Alternative and indie singles by the likes of The Smiths, New Order and The Cocteau Twins would regularly crash into the Top 40, sometimes quite highly, only to disappear a week later, having exhausted the support of their small but faithful fan bases.

But when She Sells Sanctuary stumbled into the hit parade at the lower end of the 30s, it simply refused to budge – and this was at a time when the charts actually meant something.

Every week the indie kids at school would check its chart position on Top of the Pops and be delighted to find it had shunted up three or four places, eventually reaching the dizzy heights of No. 15.

Quite an achievement for what had hitherto been a pretty underground post-punk/goth outfit, twice slimming down its name from Southern Death Cult, to Death Cult, before settling on the compact and bijou The Cult.

Frontman Ian Astbury, coming over like a demented cross between Jim Morrison and Crazy Horse became an instant hero, but it was uber-cool guitarist Billy Duffy who really captured our imagination.

Suddenly everyone started sporting a slicked-up quiff and we all dreamed of owning a Gretsch White Falcon guitar – not that we’d ever have a hope of affording one.

She Sells Sanctuary heralded a very fine album in Love, but many of us would become slightly disillusioned about a year later, when in an eagerly anticipated Whistle Test performance The Cult unveiled their new hard rock image and sound.

Duffy ditched the White Falcon for a Gibson and the quiff for a metal mane and, for us anyway, things were never quite the same again.

Fun while it lasted though!

*Got a Great Musical Moment you’d like to share? Send me your suggestion via the contact form and if I like it, I’ll feature it and give you a mention. Looking forward to hearing from you.