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THE CULT are an English rock band who's origins can be traced back to 1981, in Bradford, Yorkshire, where vocalist and songwriter Ian Astbury formed a band called the "Southern Death Cult". In April 1983,

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THE CULT are an English rock band who's origins can be traced back to 1981, in Bradford, Yorkshire, where vocalist and songwriter Ian Astbury formed a band called the "Southern Death Cult". In April 1983, Astbury teamed up with guitarist Billy Duffy, of Theatre of Hate, and formed the band "Death Cult". The band also included Jamie Stewart on bass. To tone down the gothic connotations of their name and gain broader appeal the band changed its name to "The Cult" in January 1984 before appearing on the television show, The Tube.

Over the years the band have had various line-ups; the longest serving band members are vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, both of whom are the band's songwriters.

In their very earliest days, the band emerged as one of the progenitors of the budding post-punk music scene that was happening in England. Their music style was associated by the media with gothic rock, taking influences from the mysticism associated with Native Americans and psychedelic rock acts such as The Doors.

It was after re-locating to London and releasing their album Love that the Cult gained a larger audience, charting at #4 in the United Kingdom and producing popular singles such as She Sells Sanctuary and Rain. Following this the band moved away from their original sound, adopting a more hard rock approach; with the release of the album Electric and the single Love Removal Machine they broke into the North American market, their 1989 effort Sonic Temple also proved to be a huge commercial success.

The band were fraying behind the scenes, due to alcohol abuse and off-stage tensions during the early 1990s. In early 1995, the Cult split up, citing unspecified problems on a South American tour. Between 1999 and 2002, the band reformed to record the album Beyond Good and Evil, and reissued all of their albums in Asia and eastern Europe in 2003 and Japan in 2004. In 2006, the band reformed again to perform a series of worldwide tours, and a number of dates were captured for posterity by InstantLive.

In October 2007, the band released a new album Born Into This, on the Roadrunner Records label. Prior to the album's release, the band played festival and headline dates, and supported The Who, in Europe through summer 2007, with a U.S. headline tour to follow.