Day After Day #101: She Sells Sanctuary

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

She Sells Sanctuary (1985)

When people look back on the '80s, they gloss over a lot. There's a tendency to focus on the big stars, bright colors and dancing, but if you grew up then, there's was also persistent dread over the possibility of thermonuclear war. Y'know, just minor details. But anyway, we're just here to talk about music and there was a lot of cool stuff happening in the U.K.

The Cult was formed in Bradford. They started as Southern Death Cult in 1981, which was then shortened to Death Cult in 1983 and then the Cult. Frontman Ian Astbury led Southern Death Cult and then teamed up with guitarist Billy Duffy, who has an interesting musical background. He grew up playing in punk bands in the late '70s, convinced one of his best friends, Johnny Marr, to start playing guitar, and convinced Morrissey to start singing in bands. 

As the Cult, Astbury and Duffy started out playing goth-tinged post punk. Their first album, Dreamtime, came out in 1984 and fared pretty well in the U.K., hitting #21 on the album chart. They didn't waste any time moving forward, releasing "She Sells Sanctuary" in May 1985, ahead of their second album Love, which came out in the fall. 

They played the song on the Dreamtime tour in '84 and it was evident early that the song was a hit. Duffy takes two approaches to the song: the shimmering intro and the heavier riff that propels the proceedings along. Astbury was cultivating a Jim Morrison/shaman image and would write some pretty hippie-dippy lyrics. He told the AV Club that "She Sells Sanctuary" was about matriarchal energy and the cosmos or something like that. Whatever it was about, it was pretty great and the band's best song.

"Oh, the heads that turn/Make my back burn/And those heads that turn/Make my back, make my back burn/The sparkle in your eyes/Keeps me alive/Keeps me alive, keeps me alive/The world/And the world turns around/The world and the world, yeah/The world drags me down."

Pretty repetitive, but it works.

The song particularly stood out because the rest of Love is more goth and droney, which is not to denigrate it. Love is an excellent album, but "Sanctuary" is clearly a step above.

"The fire in your eyes keeps me alive/And the fire in your eyes keeps me alive/I'm sure in her you'll find sanctuary."

"She Sells Sanctuary" hit #36 on the BIllboard Dance Club Songs, while getting up to #15 on the U.K. Singles Chart and #11 on the Canadian singles chart. 

As for Love, the album went gold in the U.S. and the songs "Rain" and "Revolution" got some rock radio play. But for their next album, 1987's Electric, the Cult totally changed their sound. Working with producer Rick Rubin, the band embraced a hard rock sound, with Duffy going into full AC/DC mode. They had a hit with "Love Removal Machine" and turned into an arena band as the album went platinum in the U.S. They had similar success with 1989's Sonic Temple, but had diminishing returns after that. 

The Cult has continued to record and tour periodically and is reportedly working on a new album. But their peak, for me, is "She Sells Sanctuary."