Music
You Need to Hear this Song #6
Heavy Rotation — She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult (Love, 1985)
Heavy Rotation was a music industry term for songs that one way or another got a lot of airplay. It referred to the large amount of rotation that a particular record got on turntables at radio stations. Since, until the 1980s, this was the only way to get new music into the ears and brains of listeners, heavy rotation meant increased sales. Increased sales were good for the record company and artist alike.
These days, some of us still put records on at home and give them a spin. Most of us don’t. However, the term still applies, though in a different way. Streaming services like Spotify sell subscriptions to listeners and then pay artists based on listens. At least, that’s the way we think it works.
For me, heavy rotation means a song that is in my head for some reason. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a day, maybe for longer. It’s a song that you come back to from time to time and still feels just as good. This series of articles is dedicated to these songs.
In this series, I aim to highlight a particular song by a particular band or singer. We should know a bit about the band, to know a bit about where the song fits into its history and where the song fits into what was happening in music at that time. Then there’s the song itself. Who’s playing on it, what are the lyrics getting at and why is it so good? How does it still occupy sonic space in our lives?
I’ll (try to) keep it short. It shouldn’t take you any longer to read than the song itself. To that end, I’ll put a Youtube clip of the original recording at the top of the article so you can listen as you read. Or not. And because a song is often much different live than in the recording studio, I’ll stick a live clip on at the end.
What song is in your head right now? Here’s one that won’t leave mine today:
#6- She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult (Love, 1985)
If it was the mid to late 1980s and you wanted rock, in North America you had access to a steady diet of Mötley Crüe, Van Halen and Def Leppard. If none of these were quite your thing, and punk didn’t really do it for you anymore either, there was a slightly more intelligent, slightly darker, and slightly less booze and party oriented genre of music quite different from what was offered on MTV all the time. It was at this point that you might have found yourself wandering into something called Goth music.
It was music that attracted the kids whose lockers were in the basement of the school. The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees and This Mortal Coil all sang to the misunderstood and the unpopular. It was out of this that a more aggressive, more straight ahead rock and roll though equally dark and emotive sound emerged, the form of the Cult.
Originally named the Southern Death Cult, and wisely renamed after one album, the Cult exploded in 1985 with the slickly produced album, Love. It was followed by their attempt at mid 70s ACDC bar rock, Electric and the woefully bloated and overproduced Sonic Temple in 1989. Sure, I say that now, but at the time, their 3rd album was everything I wanted to hear. Shortly after, I got into Led Zeppelin and thought to myself, “Ah. Ok, I get it”.
There would be another overproduced album from the Cult in 1991 with Ceremony, and a further lackluster effort in 1994 ensured that no one was listening anymore. The band imploded in acrimony and who knows what else but duly reformed in the early part of this century and have put out 4 more fair to middling albums since. They are still touring today.
But I digress. Leading the charge on Love, was the unmistakable She Sells Sanctuary, if not their biggest hit, then their most easily recognized.
The musical drivers of this band have always been twofold, the howling vocal power of Ian Astbury and the Gretsch guitar virtuosity of Billy Duffy. The drummer and bass players have always been interchangeable. It is no different in this song.
It is the instantly recognizable riff by Duffy that brings us in. And after once around the horn, at 00:18, the drums and bass quickly kick things into high gear. At 00:32, we hear Astbury’s vocal strength for the first time. The Cult’s lyrics were always secondary to Astbury’s power. Here, he’s singing about a woman he’s overwhelmed by his love for, I guess, but you’d be hard pressed to actually understand what he’s singing, without a lyrics sheet.
But does it matter? Not really, since this is a pure rock and roll punch in the face. “The sparkle in your eyes, keeps me alive”, ok that part was clear. Astbury’s voice is a sonic treasure in this song, in my opinion, equalled only by the way Duffy’s guitar drives this song.
“And soon in her, you’ll find the sanctuary”. Yeah you find it in this song and in Astbury’s dominant banshee wail as well. The break comes at 3:05 and the song kicks back in at 3:17. Who among us isn’t doing air drums on the steering wheel at that point still today?
The song hits its deep groove and high point and really it’s just pure power rock and roll howling from Astbury at this point.
I can hear this song over and over and never get tired of it. From my point of view, it’s one of the greatest rock songs ever written and it is now coming up on 40 years old. It is not meant to be played anything but loud.
Below is a more updated recording of the song from 2015. It’s a live studio recording, as opposed to a live on stage one. In it, you can hear that while the song is at a slightly faster pace, Astbury’s distinctive voice has aged, deepened and mellowed like a fine rum, but the power is still there, even in his late 50s at that point. Billy Duffy, meanwhile, is beyond cool. As always.
Earlier, in this series
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