Electric

the fuck kind of joke is this? make us listen to a full album of incredibly average local rock pub rock made for men in faded black van halen t shirts and stonewashed jeans on the proviso that you will get to hear she sells sanctuary to then not be sold any sanctuary at all. my emotions have been toyed with in a way that is unreasonable.

Perhaps the most generic hard rock I've ever heard. 6/10

Would love to hate this band for their inflated egos and late 80's bullshit and pullin 'all the fine honeys', but the fact is that this album is an underappreciated highlight in an gluttonous rock-saturated decade. Billy Duffy is an incredibly underrated guitarist and the blast from Ian Astbury's 'yeahh-aha-ahs' put them in a league of their own. Back in the day, these guys presented a cool factor that was super-douchey yet regrettably, enviable. Time has not been kind to these guys, victims of their own success, they're still touring but withered, fat and flat... truly in the form that you'd expect them to be.

If you asked an AI audio model to generate a hard rock album from 1987 this is what it would give you

“Y-air, yeah, yeah, yay-air, ye-hay-air!”Thought I’d already reviewed this because I listen to it so often, must have mixed it up with AC-DC or Zeppelin! Riffs everywhere. All the different ways to say “yeah”! Influences stolen from all over, love The Beatles in Aphrodisiac Jacket. Simply outstanding balls out rock and roll. Amazed few other reviewers agree with me - hey-ho, never mind.

Highlights: Love Removal Machine, Bad Fun, Electric Ocean Leave Em's: Born To Be Wild, Peace Dog, King Contrary Man Overall Thoughts: A classic rock album that isn't trying to be anything more then what it is. I actually enjoyed this record more then I thought I was going to. The Rock and Roll sound shines through this album and I think they do a good job of not making the loud instrumentation and vocals abrasive. This album also embodies the sound that I imagine rock music taking in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Despite its predictability and lack of variety, The Cult did what they do well and produced a rock album that does rock. Score Breakdown: 3.173 & 4 -> 3.587

Makes me want to wash my trans am

Wow! I was surprised by this album. I did not know who The Cult were before this list, but this is one helluva head-banging rock album. Very hard rock, 80s, glammy metal feel. I do not know why it is so low rated, but I highly recommend fellow metalheads to give this one a listen! Favorite Song(s): "Wild Flower", "Bad Fun", "Love Removal Medicine", "Aphrodisiac Jacket", "Lil Devil"

I was all in on The Cult before Rick Rubin got involved, and I tend to favor their previous album over this one. That's mainly because of the "hits", or their legacy songs if you will. This album is more consistent overall (there's not a skippable track, I even enjoy the Steppenwolf cover). This was apparently back when Rubin actually brought something to the table, before his main role as a "producer" was to just sit back and say, "Sounds good" whenever he heard something he liked. It's still surprising The Cult never completely broke through in the states.

possibly the worst album i’ve ever listened to its so bad, guns and roses dupe, awful, trash

Not for me. Couldn't wait for it to be over.

genuinely the most uninteresting genre

430 albums in, and this might be the most confusing and worst pick I've seen so far. For context, The Cult were originally a post-punk and goth rock band that blended those genres with psychedelia and hard rock, and it resulted in a pretty interesting take on the genre. The album before this - called Love - has one has their most popular song (She Sells Sanctuary) and is their most critically celebrated album, which is why I question why they instead included this, which is nothing but generic hard rock front to back. I would have given this a 2 because Love Removal Machine is pretty good, but it's immediately followed by the most unnecessary cover of Born to Be Wild. Fuck you Cult, for selling out, and fuck you book author for choosing yet another hard rock album instead of something interesting.

I can't load any other reviews for this. Am I the first? Fuck yeah! Anyway, I'm a big fan of these guys. Sonic temple is better but only by a sliver. Has a distinctly 80s feel but also a timeless rock vibe. Like they knew about hair metal but only dipped their toes cause they knew it had a use by date. Perfect summertime beer music. 5/5.

Incredible lead in to the album with Wild Flower. In fact almost all the songs have a great intro. That's the power of guitar solos followed quickly by banging drums. "Hit those skins explode my brain".

This is just the sexiest album.

Fuck yes. If this were any further up my alley I'd be tasting it. Exactly what I think of when I try (and regularly fail) to explain what my favourite genre of music is. Just a straight up clean good time. I also firmly believe a well executed cover should be mandatory on all albums (insert a million qualifiers here but you get what I mean). OWWWW

Brilliant. At last! A decent album in this otherwise mediocre and uninspiring list and one which I've not heard before. Imagine AC/DC jamming with the Rolling Stones...yeah, that's right. It rocks.

Some of my greatest memories of my senior year of high school are set to this album. Along with Rain 1985 and Sonic Temple 1988 these are the bedrock of the Cult's sound and catalog. One of the greatest albums of the 80s!

This just a good old fashioned rock album. Great licks, fun song subjects, and high energy. It’s clear which bands influenced them and I think I could pick out a few bands they influenced. Tons of fun, but not so good it earns 5 stars.

I love this record! It's a dumb as a box of hammers, but sometimes you just need that. It's like Jim Morrison fronting ACDC. I was introduced to this album by Ben and Chris. I was friends with Ben's brother, but (frankly) his parties were a bit dull, and so I would gravitate to Ben's room where he and Chris would be playing their guitars along to records, which was more my speed. They introduced me to a bunch of things, including this (then recently released) record, which I fell in love with. Ben and Chris have played together in a series of bands over the past 35 years, and I still regularly go to see them play. I used to feel guilty about liking it because it is really dumb, and I felt dumber listening to it, but it does feel great in the way that only dumb rock can. And it doesn't pretend to be anything than it is; everything great about classic rock with absolutely nothing extra. Moments I love: - any time Ian Astbury yells "huh, woman!" or "yeah-uh!" - tambourine! You can tell it's the chorus because there's tambourine - homage or plagiarism? who cares? Let's rock! - the hilariously bad lyrics, especially Peace Dog - tempo changes! Double time! Half time! - the bit in Love Removal Machine where the band drops out and Ian goes " baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, I fell from the sky". And the bit in Peace Dog where the band drops out and Ian goes "baby, baby, bay, baby, baby!" - actually, any time the band cuts out for a few beats to allow a guitar line to hang or a vocal to pop out. They do it nearly every song, but it sounds great every time. - trash can endings on songs As Ira Robbins wrote in Trouser Press: "As sensually gratifying as it is cornball retro-moronic, Electric can lay claim to one of history's worst versions of 'Born to Be Wild.'" Agreed. One star off for that. Otherwise, mwah (chef's kiss), perfection.

The Cult has such a classic bad boy/punk sound to them, really helped by Ian Astbury's almost growling vocals. He really shines throughout this album. Bad Fun is arguably the best track on this album, and it's shocking to me that it isn't their most listened to tracks from the album. I remember absolutely jamming to this track playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater back in the day. Not every track is a hit here, and I can definitely appreciate the sentiments that this is somewhat generic. But it's also just too good to not love. This is the kind of album you jam all the way down the highway to (or skate to).

Rick Rubin, I can smell you.

This Album made my hair grow 40cm. I went to a protest against the Vietnam war, slept with the girlfriend of my best friend and died of an overdose while listening to my own song in the radio for the first time. Best 2 weeks of my life.

Overall a decent album but can't understand why it's on the list

Wow, was decent until Born to Be Wild. Oof.

I’m familiar with a handful of songs by The Cult, but I’ve never listened to one of their full albums before. I like their sound though, so I think there’s a good chance that I’m going to enjoy this album. Unfortunately, I can’t think of many positive things to say about this album. The Cult songs that I’m familiar with have a really distinct sound, featuring some guitar effects that I really enjoy. However, Electric was full of unremarkable and generic rock songs. This album reminds me a lot of Bad Company, in the way that there was really nothing unique about it. The guitar playing, the drumming, and the vocals were all incredibly bland. It’s really a shame that this album wasn’t good, because I know The Cult can write great songs. I’m really miffed as to why this album made the list.

The Cult drop the post-punk/gothic rock influences of their previous album Love in favour of this sell-out, cock rock, derivative garbage.

Yeah, yay, yeeeaah! no thank you!

LOVE THESE GUYS!

So simple but done so well. Astbury does the inter lyric yowl better than almost everyone.

Hard rock

geil

lmao that was a real wacky inclusion on the list it just kinda sounded like some guys at the pub. But I do like going to the pub. But also I don't think I'd rate going to the pub as a top 1001 musical experience of all time.

Cult perfection

Great Album.

Ooh this went down a treat! Really suited a long and surprisingly smooth motorway drive, up to Yorkshire funnily enough. Seems a lot of people don't like this one, but I thought it was just a good, fun, heavy, glam metal rush. Favourite: Bad Fun

Very fun listen!

Great rock album

I fucking love this album! I'd really only know She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult and never got deeper into the catalogue. But damn, this was a real tour de force! It gives you non-stop rock and a snarling badass delivery of it to boot. Killer record, man. The Cult rules! I'll be listening to this one again and again, added to my regular rotation.

Love it. Rockin'. Will be listening to them more

I thought that the only song by The Cult that I knew pretty well was She Sells Sanctuary (which isn’t found on this album). However, Lil’ Devil is definitely familiar to me. I found pretty much everything on this album to be fantastic. It’s absolutely dad-rock through and through, and I’ll fight anybody who tells me that’s a bad thing. My only nitpick is that their cover of Born To Be Wild is a little weak, but otherwise I loved this album. His voice is exceptional.

Yes!!@

Dudes rock

Really good album enjoyed this 👌

That’s a hell yea from me brother Love Removal Machine = A+++

Si en las escuelas hubiera una asignatura sobre el Hard Rock no tengo ninguna duda de que \"Electric\" sería el disco de texto, la Biblia. Simplemente perfecto.

Favourite songs: Love Removal Machine, Bad Fun, Lil' Devil, Peace Dog, Born To Be Wild, Aphrodisiac Jacket, Electric Ocean, Wild Flower, Outlaw Least favourite songs: Memphis Hip Shake 5/5

Foda

Not in the same league as their previous album, Love (5 star / 10/10 album) but still this is a great Cult album of course, in particular Lil Devil and Love Machine and Peace Dog and Little Flower and King Country Man and.. etc score in 1987: 9/10 score in 2024: 9/10

There are some stinkers on this record and it marks a departure from some of the darker more overt goth vibes of their previous work... But, hear me out, if a cool older brother passes the CD along to his younger brother and you all spend a Summer with this as your soundtrack street skating the best curbs and other little bits of your suburban American town then this album is going to become an irrational, emotional favorite that you will still want to throw on 35 years later. Nothing beats the feeling of a Summer breeze on your face with your friends cheering an impossibly landed sick skate trick while Love Removal Machine is blasting out a cheap speaker. Sometimes music is made better by the moment and method of introduction. Five Stars for the feels on a Three Star record.

Rocks hard with excellent guitar work from the first minute to the last. Loved this one.

Well pepper me silly, roll me in flour, and call me a metal fan. Who knew? I am a fan of the Cult. It sounds like the English cultivar of AC/DC, or put differently, if Motorhead and ACDC had a good look descendants, with a bit of polish and discipline, this would be them. Good clean propulsive fun. (Using it for housework right now) I thought it was just their tongue twister sea shell song I liked... #mymusiceducashion Thanks 1001.

Does anyone else think Love Removal Machine is a Start Me Up ripoff? I didn't care for this when it came out, but I mostly listened to thrash and speed metal at the time and this wasn't heavy enough. Now it's a nostalgia trip. Tons of swagger in the riffs and vocals. Give me a fuck yeah yeah yeah baby baby.

Hard to knock this one. While it’s not Classic, there are enough hits going for it.

4.0

Went into this thinking it would suck but this was a fun album. Just good solid rock. Nothing groundbreaking but very enjoyable.

This is a great example of I’m gonna rate this higher because the albums I just listened to. This was such a breath of fresh air compared to the sleepytime music I’ve been listening to

Good alternative to the hair metal of the time

When it comes to straight forward rock music in it’s most raw and truest form, this is a classic album.

Hadn’t listened to much of the cult before, pleasantly surprised by this one, up their with the best hard rock albums I’ve heard.

I really enjoyed it, although the Born to be Wild cover was pants.

Some great 80s rock. TIL The Cult did a cover of Born to be Wild... Not huge on it. Good finish.

I weirdly like this more than I probably should. Don't normally have any time for cock rock, but this doesn't put my hackles up. Maybe it's the splash of goth in the mix. That "Born to be Wild" cover isn't great though, eh? Fave tracks - "Wild Flower" is a fun opener, and "Love Removal Machine" was good too...

Rick Rubin works his magic on the Cult by cutting out all the gothic fripperies and allowing them to be the arena rock act they always secretly wished to be. You can't listen to Billy Duffy's gleeful soloing and tell me otherwise. They were built for it, too - Electric is basically a bunch of recycled Zep, AC/DC and Stones riffs tightened up and freeze dried for a new era. It's good! I always found Ian Astbury's whole Native American shaman schtick goofy, but he has a voice made for hollering to the back of a concert hall. Electric is no more, but also no less, than a very decent hard rock album. Love, Electric, Sonic Temple - there are some top tracks sprinkled across this trilogy.

Hell yeah. A lot of fun to listen to...nothing groundbreaking here, just some good hard rock to have fun with. Favorite track: King Contrary Man

surprisingly delightful hard rock album lots of fun - 7/10

Gros rock pour le genre de band année 80 . Très bon, pas trop long, ac cogne et c'est parfait comme ca. 4.5

Had a couple of classics on there.

Ég er með rosa soft spot fyrir The Cult. Fíla þetta mjög vel.

Great Rock and Roll

Definitely uncool and working in established tropes, but tbh flat out rocks hard

netter Rock, prö-acdc?

This one really surprised me. Not really an amazing creative triumph, but tons of energy, and power without pretending to be super complex.

I wasn't ready to actually enjoy this? But ok. Reminded me a bit of Billy Idol while his voice also sounded a tiny bit like Glenn Danzig. Fun stuff!

Really nice

When the Cult first came out, they hewed more toward a post punk/gothic sensibility. But what became quite apparent by the time this album came out was that the band was able to straddle a musical line like few artists can. In addition to fitting quite easily in the college rock/proto-alternative scene, the band had solid rock chops. They were popular with metal fans and straight ahead rock fans. It's a assertive, lusty, riff-forward sound that seriously rocks. Lead singer Ian Astbury has the kind of natural charisma and swagger that you just don't see too much this side of Jim Morrison. The songs on this album are sexy, energetic and great fun to listen to, preferably at full blast out a car window. Lots to enjoy here, but "Love Removal Machine" is one of the great rock songs of that era. Fave Songs: Love Removal Machine, Wild Flower, Bad Fun, Peace Dog, Lil' Devil

Always forget how much I enjoy the cult

Ох, спасительный альбом из тройки В начале думал что какой-то базовый рок из гаража бати (думал что надо прям пиво взять чтобы дослушать до конца) Но он меня вернул к времени когда хард рок решили мешать с тяжелеком и получали то ли motorhead то ли slayer. Короче, прям приятно и драйвово. Добавил пару песенок к себе

1987 is still in the era of my fav music ever. The production quality is just awesome has the best sound of any era of music. Lil' Devil is a hit. Killer Guitar solo during Electric ocean. Definitely heard Bad FUn on the radio at some point. Pretty good but the verses sounds kinda generic. Chorus bops tho. Love Removal machine is a great hi energy good time jammer too.

Blast from the past. Crunching hook-laden riffs. Inane lyrics. Fun ride!

Great album, one of the reasons I came here was for groups I knew I needed to listen to more of and never would get around to on my own. The Cult is great, added 3 or 4 songs, could've easily been doubled

Rock n roll bb

Hard rock. Good, plain, simple late 80s hard rock. Not at all to say it was average; it was quite great. Normally not my thing, but there's a lot of energy and passion in this album. You can hear it clearly in the vocals and guitar work. It's not like they do anything mind-blowing, but it's completely fun. Just great riffs to turn your mind off to. Might revisit. 4/5

This was some solid 80’s hard rock - something I enjoy much more now than back in the 80’s. Listened to this while taking a shower then driving around… perfect for both occasions! Favorites were Wild Flower, Lil’ Devil, Ocean of Love, King Contrary Man, Love Removal Machine, Outlaw.

Classic, if fairly mainstream, rock. No surprise to find out Rick Rubin was involved. A few great songs, and possibly the worst cover version I have ever heard, but on the whole really good. Not five stars, but way too good for three!

It's '80s rock in the same vein as Guns 'n' Roses, so if you're into that then you'll probably enjoy this. The sound reminded me a lot of Danzig, at times, which is odd as I haven't thought about them in many years. Something which I haven't seen other people talking about is the impressive production quality of the whole thing. The guitars sound massive and the drums are powerful, but that's perhaps not too surprising when you consider that Rick Rubin was at the helm.

Tof hardrock album. Niet erg speciaal of opvallend, maar heb er mij wel mee geamuseerd

Really enjoyed this album.

pretty good, for hairmetal, though there's not a lot of variety to the music.

punchy, sounded like a group of friends jamming out in the garage on a Saturday night! I liked this album a lot but could have left out the cover of Born to be Wild without missing anything in my opinion. 3.5*

Love Removal Machine and Born to Be Wild was a solid 1-2 punch. Good album overall! Songs like Peace Dog & Outlaw felt a little repetitive.

Hard rock and I'm not sure why I don't hear more about The Cult now.

Hard rock. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Doubt i will ever give this one another spin, but as a one-off eighties-hard-rock amusement this one definitely rocks

4.2 - Besides "Back in Black" I struggle to think of another album with a more cock-forward rock sound. It'd be a shameful self-parody if it weren't so goddamn spectacular. Ian Astbury's voice is a triumph, and William Duffy's guitar solos on "Bad Fun" and "Love Removal Machine" are breathtaking.

Si me gustó , no es mi estilo preferido pero está bien

I'm reaching the 700 albums listened to here and was missing this kind of Hardrock. Maybe it is my mood or the fact that I got too much country and electronic music and didn't get enough glam/hard rock yet, but the energy around this album is all I enjoyed when I discovered this kind of music. I'll surely listen to more of The cult, even knowing Wikipedia that this release is different from their previous albums. By the way, his producer's Wikipedia description of this album as a mix of AC/DC and Led Zepellin is quite accurate for reference. Nice job, mister Rick Rubin.

Cheesy & predictable, but somehow more fun than I had any right to expect

Normally I don't like it when every song on an album sounds the same, but this was awesome. Best song is "Love Removal Machine" but after hearing the whole album, I think that's because it was the first song of theirs I'd ever heard.