So why is The Cult’s Love on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
There’s something about “She Sells Sanctuary” – by far the best song on Love – that makes it feel like the perfect fusion of several mid-’80s sounds and genres.
There’s that U2 Unforgettable Fire/Joshua Tree guitar delay effect thing going, though tilted in a more goth-y Sisters of Mercy direction. And then add in a heavy dose of the Def Leppard hard rock sound perfected on songs like “Animal” off the Hysteria LP (#166 of best 1,000 albums ever).
The opening lyrics of “Rain” make me laugh a bit in perhaps an unintended way (“Hot sticky scenes, you know what I mean…”) but quickly the song takes on a driving, epic quality that becomes very alluring to play through several times in a row.
“Phoenix” has a nice, almost proto-grunge vibe going, with big bombastic drums backing up Ian Astbury’s vocals intoning “I’m on firrrrre.”
Personal stuff that has something to do with The Cult’s Love
The Cult was one of the first bands I ever saw live. It was likely the tour in support of Sonic Temple and the venue was almost certainly Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. I recall the concert being quite good, though I wasn’t really familiar with the band at the time, which had a little bit of a limiting factor on my enjoyment.
Listening to Love still drops me right back into junior high – an era when I was scrambling to keep up with my more musically savvy friends. There’s something about that early-teen devotion to music, when every riff and lyric wires itself into your brain forever. Or something!
Some stats & info about The Cult – Love
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? British Bands, Hard Rock, Goth, Rock Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Love released? 1985
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #618 out of 1,000
The Cult’s Love on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Cult’s Love that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Like a desert sun that burns my skin, I’ve been waiting for her for so long.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.