Today's Rocktober selection comes from what I consider to be one of the most underrated rock bands of the '80s. British rockers The Cult were a bit of an anomaly in the '80s in that they didn't fit squarely within any of what were the popular rock genres of the decade. They weren't a hair band, they weren't quite hard enough to be considered metal, and they didn't play arena rock. What they did play was just really good, straightforward hard rock.
The band put out four albums in the '80s, starting with their 1984 debut Dreamtime and culminating with 1989's Sonic Temple, with 1985's Love and 1987's Electric in between. In their native UK, the latter three were Top 5 albums on the UK album charts. In the UK, they had nine Top 40 songs in the '80s, including five that climbed into the Top 20. In the U.S., Sonic Temple was their highest-charting album to date, reaching #10 on the Billboard album chart.
"Fire Woman" was the lead single from Sonic Temple in both the UK and U.S., and it was the band's highest-charting single in the U.S., topping out at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100, while also hitting #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In the UK, it went to #15 on the pop chart.
It's a driving hard rock song with a great riff. Ian Astbury's vocals are appropriately passionate and snarling. If you're a fan of hard rock and haven't yet discovered or become fully acquainted with The Cult, I recommend you check them out. On a related note, I had the pleasure of seeing Astbury about 15 years ago as the reincarnation of Jim Morrison as the lead singer of The Doors of the 21st Century, which was Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors, along with Astbury on vocals and The Police's Stewart Copeland on drums. From my seats in the nosebleeds at The Chicago Theatre, Astbury may as well have been Morrison. He was fantastic, as was the rest of the band.
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