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

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

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.

Makes me want to wash my trans am

“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

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.

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.

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

genuinely the most uninteresting genre

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

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

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 is just the sexiest album.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Rick Rubin, I can smell you.

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

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

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

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.

Yeah, yay, yeeeaah! no thank you!

Sehr gelungenes Heavy Metal Album. Starke Songs mit viel Riff und High Speed. Jederzeit wieder hörbar.. Gute Songs sind „Electric Open“, „King Country Man“ sowie die Interpretion von „Born To Be Wild“. Stilecht, Kurzweilig mit Starken Songs 😊

Gran disco

Gooood!!!

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.

Really good album enjoyed this 👌

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

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

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.

LOVE THESE GUYS!

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

Great rock album

geil

Cult perfection

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.

Great Album.

Dudes rock

Foda

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

Yes!!@

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.

Very fun listen!

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.

Hard rock

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

The Good: actual rock ’n roll The Bad: it seems like we need to wear a dead animal as a hat to be the lead-singer… The Ugly: the fact that only the lead-singer is allowed to wear a hat… I mean, have you looked at the haircuts of the other band-members? People bitch and complain too much when it comes to The Cult. At the end of the day, they never sold-out and started making those fuckin’ power ballads like all the hair-metal bands started to do. I saw them live once, but can’t recall the venue, nor the year… guess I was wasted. Anyway, as a rock-n-roll band they could have gone further than they did, don’t know if that has to do with the ego of mr singer-man, or we can blame the dead animal on his head… Sonic Temple is a better album, and Ceremony is where they should have bowed out, knowing they did the best they could. 4* because I really enjoyed just listening to music today.

Electric is the third album from British band The Cult. Rick Rubin produced this album, and he helped the band shift from their goth-rock sound to a metal sound. The result is a great example of guitar-led, 80s metal band. Electric includes "Love Removal Machine," one of the band's biggest singles. Ian Astbury's soaring vocals and Billy Duffy's wailing guitars makes for great metal. These songs are all well produced enough to account for the band's popular appeal.

3.5/5 Solid album. Wasn’t paying super close attention to it cause I was doing other stuff while listening to it but I enjoyed it and was never bored which is really good. Pretty basic sound; it’s just classic rock but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Fuck I really needed this - It's very much a stoner rock vibe before stoner rock was really a thing. I really enjoyed it when I was listening to it and I will probably listen to it again, but I have to admit it's not particularly remarkable so I feel like I can't give it 5 stars

Knowing only their older stuff, didn’t expect something like AC/DC. A bit generic, but I found it enjoyable.

Good road trip music!

This is really good.

Pretty good

Landed on the right day for me. Really enjoyed the straight ahead louder rock. I can’t listen to a lot of The Cult but really enjoyed this. Good example of the style and nice to see on the list.

LP

Exceptional start and maintains a degree of classic rock throughout - lil devil and born to be wild are standouts

Not sure why this made the list. It doesn't seem particularly impactful nor outstanding for its genre, but it's still quite a bit better than some of the other albums these past few weeks. The guitars are pretty good and songwriting is tight and fun. I did enjoy the album, but not to the point that I'll re-listen.

Never listened to this one before. It didn't have any of the "Cult classics" (pun intended), but it actually might be my favorite of their albums. I'm not even sure why really. It just spoke to me.

Fucking love The Cult. Their early goth rock is incredible, but I also dig their pivot to AC/DC hard rock here. Ian Astbury’s voice is just as well-suited for the latter as the former and his bandmates deliver. Top-tier shit. B+

This rocks pretty hard. Clearly influenced by AC/DC. I liked it a lot.

Plain, old fashioned rock and roll. Nothing groundbreaking here but it was a lot of fun to listen to. Rick Rubin loves AC/DC and that comes through in the production here. The lead guitarist was on fire and I wonder why I've never heard of this band. It sounds like Lenny Kravitz may have been inspired by the cover of "Born to Be wild" and “The Removal Machine” sounds like “Start Me Up”.

it's like, so many of The Cult's songs sound the same to me, but FUCK, they sound good.

Favorite Track: King Contrary Man

Oh, this album slaps. The Cult came here to rock hard, and they went hard. I am a sucker for the classic eighties, hair metal, hard rock sound. Even the song titles are super reminiscent of their contemporaries. The lead vocalist has such a gritty voice, which lends itself to the genre well. And those guitar riffs? Damn. I didn't and still don't know much about the Cult, but Electric departing from their original gothic sound is a bummer. Their most well known song is gothic rock and slaps pretty hard. Regardless, I enjoyed this album a lot.

Warbling by numbers.If you start me up, if you start me up, I'll never stop. Whoops. Wrong song. But yeah, The Cult do little to disguise where they wanted to head with this change in direction. It's a MONSTER of a guitar album, without swaying into the silly metal category. The riffs are basic, but beefy. The stop start drumming paces the songs well. It has more in common with Run DMC of the time than Gawd awful Metallica. A whole lotta fun.

This album feels raw and gritty, like a mix of AC/DC and early Aerosmith. The guitars have a sharp, bluesy edge, but there's something almost primal underneath. It’s got that driving, no-frills rock energy. The vocals are bold, a little untamed, with a swagger that fits the stripped-down sound. It’s simple, in a good way.

Lots of fun

This is really fun, sounds a lot like ACDC with distinctive and crunchy riffs plus heavy rock vocals that are catchy enough for the pop charts. I guess it wasn't that ground breaking for 1987 but I enjoyed it. One criticism is that the lyrics are kinda basic.. with all the "yeah" and 'baby" it's like Austin Powers came up with them. Fun album though

It wasn’t genre changing, but I liked the straight ahead Van Halen/ Bon Jovi style. 4/5!

Офигенный альбом, открыл для себя группу!

Really solid hard rock album with production that still sounds fresh today. Lacks some variety but consistent at what it does

if they trimmed down the songs at/over four minutes and maybe killed the steppenwolf cover this would be perfect "in the garage" music

It's actually not that often we get a hard rock album on here, which is a bit mad really, and so I'm happy to see Electric on here even if it's not my favourite album by The Cult; I very slightly prefer Sonic Temple that came just after this, it has the epic Fire Woman and Edie on it for starters. This is pretty good in itself though, with Lil' Devil and Love Removal Machine being the famous songs a lot of people will know, the rest of it is good, tight rock (except for a piss poor cover of Born To Be Wild), solid if unspectacular riffs and solos that don't extend into silliness, easily listenable any day of the week (I listen to Planet Rock most of most days and they're on regular rotation on there), an easy low 4 for me, it's punchy, fun and bursting with energy.

I remember having this on cassette back on the day, probably close to the time it came out. It rocked back then, and it still rocks now. Astbury really channels The Doors and Steppenwolf (obviously with the cover there), but kicks it up a notch or two. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this band, I think it's the "yeah"s that I got a bit tired of in EVERY SINGLE SONG. But if that's what you got, that's what you got. Really goo hard rock album, everyone seems to be clicking on each track. Top tracks: "Wildflower," "Born To Be Wild," "Love Removal Machine"

I wanted to see their previous album Love on this list because of how much She Sells Sanctuary came out of nowhere and knocked people's socks off with its deft musicianship and Ian Astbury's howling vocals. But it's only a so-so album, sort of a Joy Division/The Cure goth wannabe. And this album is not that - it's hard rock / hair rock through and through. But it hurts a little that they sort of sold out to be a Bon Jovi/Def Leppard (even AC/DC) retread thanks to Rick Rubin's production. It is a damn fun album but it has no authenticity, simplifying their playing and doling out not-at-all subtle sex-fused, bad boy lyrical drivel to emulate that 80's rock style. This one had me so torn because I crapped all over Bon Jovi's over-produced Slippery When Wet and gave it a 3. But I think this album is better and more in line with Def Leppard's also over-produced but super slick Hysteria. Based on pure song count, this album has a lot of head bangers - the worthy big singles Wild Flower, L'il Devil, and Love Removal Machine as well as other fun lesser knowns like Peace Dog, Electric Ocean, Bad Fun, King Contrary Man, Outlaw, and Memphis Hip Shake. If it wasn't for the downright awful Born to Be Wild remake, there's pretty much no holes on this album. So maybe I should give Rubin and the Cult some credit for making a catchy rock album.

Like a better version of AC/DC.

like it sounds like oldies rock

Judging by the cover I didn't think I was going to like this as I thought it was going to be emo. Turns out it was a great hard rock album!

this absolutely bangs. Hardcore and each track truly felt like it brought something individual to the table, which I find was pretty difficult to do during their era of music. I feel like this album alone would have been enough for me to be alternative in the 80s. i will say though, it kind of sounds like it came from a bit earlier in the decade than what it's actually from. I would have expected this to be a lot earlier than 87. 1.) love removal machine (what a classic) 2.) wild flower 3.) peace dog

I liked it. Has some acdc influence but the singer here doesn't sound like a muppet. I immediately recognized the guy's voice cuz they have a song on Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 on PS2 from 2001 haha

great songs, really enjoyed

An electric romp, hehe, from start to finish, The Cult take no prisoners for almost forty minutes that would leave the listener impressed whether they know of the backstory of the album or not. Have fun getting Love Removal Machine out of your head and getting bowled over by Aphrodisiac Jacket over and over again. Favorites: Peace Dog, Lil' Devil, Aphrodisiac Jacket, Electric Ocean, Love Removal Machine, Memphis Hip Shake.

Very good but sounds a lot like their other music. Born to be Wild cover was probably a mis-step, but enjoyable overall.

fire

This album slaps Sick licks and a dope time

LFG!! I was jamming to this. The one weird thing was that there were times where it seems like the sound engineer forgot to turn the mic up for the lead singer. It’s rare in these types of albums where I actually want to hear more from the lead singer

I’m sure this band has some unique genre attached to them but it’s just classic rock to me. It’s good classic rock but that’s what it sounds like. Some pretty big hit on here even though Born to be wild doesn’t sound like it was made by them and I’m too lazy to fact check that. Perfectly serviceable classic rock. 7/10

Always loved the goth rock side of The Cult within the world of hard/glam/classic rock. They have that little something the other hard rock acts were missing at that time, being more dark but as punchy and energetic as a rock band should be. Sorry for the "Born To Be Wild" cover... I know it's embarrassing.

Great album. Only misstep is Born to be Wild - it was the only time I didn’t enjoy the lead singers voice.