Sonic Temple was their most successful studio album to that point, entering the Top 10 on the UK and US charts, and included one of the band's most popular songs "Fire Woman".

It was derived from the academic term Southern Death Cult, used to describe a cluster of 14th-century Native American groups now classified as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.

[7] Astbury was joined by guitarist Buzz Burrows, bassist Barry Jepson and drummer Aki Nawaz Qureshi; they performed their first show at the Queen's Hall in their hometown of Bradford on 29 October 1981.

The band recorded the songs which later became known as "Butterflies", "(The) Gimmick", "A Flower in the Desert", "Horse Nation", "Spiritwalker", "Bad Medicine (Waltz)", "Dreamtime", "With Love" (later known as "Ship of Fools", and also "Sea and Sky"), "Bone Bag", "Too Young", "83rd Dream", and one untitled outtake.

The band were unhappy with the sound of their new studio album, titled Peace, and they decided to go to New York so producer Rick Rubin could remix the first single, "Love Removal Machine".

At the end of the tour the Electric album had been certified Gold in the UK, and sold roughly 3 million copies worldwide, but the band were barely speaking to each other by then.

Warner sued the band several times for his firing, as well as for what he considered were unpaid royalties for his performance on the Electric album, resulting in lengthy court battles.

The Cult eventually recruited session drummer Mickey Curry to fill the drumming role and Aerosmith sound engineer, Bob Rock, to produce.

Recorded in Vancouver from October to December 1988, and released in April of the following year, Sonic Temple went Top 10 in both the UK and the US, where it was certified Gold and Platinum respectively.

After the tour ended, the band were on the verge of breaking-up due to Stewart retiring and moving to Canada to be with his wife, and Sorum leaving to join Guns N' Roses.

In 1990, Astbury organised the Gathering of the Tribes festival in Los Angeles and San Francisco with artists such as Soundgarden, Ice-T, Indigo Girls, Queen Latifah, Iggy Pop, the Charlatans, the Cramps and Public Enemy appearing.

A world tour followed with backing from drummer Michael Lee (Page & Plant, Little Angels), bassist Kinley "Barney" Wolfe (Lord Tracy, Black Oak Arkansas), and keyboardist John Sinclair (Ozzy Osbourne, Uriah Heep) returning one last time, and the Gathering of the Tribes moved to the UK.

Following the release of the single "The Witch" (#9 in Australia) and the performance of a song for the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie soundtrack entitled "Zap City", produced by Steve Brown and originally a B-side to "Lil' Devil", two volumes of remixes of "She Sells Sanctuary", called Sanctuary Mixes MCMXCIII, volumes one and two, and in support of Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners, a greatest hits compilation which debuted at No.

1 on the British charts and later went to number one in Portugal, Astbury and Duffy fired the "backing band" and recruited Craig Adams (the Mission) and Scott Garrett for performances across Europe in 1993, with some shows featuring Mike Dimkich on rhythm guitar.

[13] Astbury referred to the record as a collection of "very personal and very revealing" songs about his life, with the subject matter ranging from sexual abuse at the age of 15, to the death of Nigel Preston, to his directionless years spent in Glasgow in the late 1970s.

In November 1996, a number of CD reissues were released: the band's American record company released High Octane Cult, a slightly updated greatest hits compilation released only in the US and Japan; The Southern Death Cult, a remastered edition of the fifteen-song compilation CD; a ten-song compilation CD by Death Cult called Ghost Dance, consisting of the untitled four-song EP, the single "God's Zoo", and four unreleased songs from a radio broadcast; and a remastered repackaging of the Dreamtime album, containing only the ten original songs from the record in their original playing order and almost completely different but original artwork.

Bob Rock was the producer, with LeNoble and Chris Wyse as recording bassists, as Mike Dimkich played rhythm guitar on tour, and Sorum returning as drummer.

[14] In late 2002, Ian Astbury declared the Cult to be "on ice" indefinitely, after performing a brief series of dates in October 2002 to promote the release of the Music Without Fear DVD.

"She Sells Sanctuary" appeared in the 2001 video game Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, in the NTSC-U version and 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on rock station V-Rock.

A quick intermission followed, then other Cult hits were played (varying by venue): "Sun King", "Dirty Little Rock Star", "Electric Ocean", "Illuminated".

[44] On 5 February 2012, the Cult song "She Sells Sanctuary" was used as the soundtrack for a Budweiser beer commercial in a mashup with Flo Rida aired during Super Bowl XLVI.

[45] The digital-only release, available exclusively on iTunes for two months only beginning 16 October, features the songs that were ultimately included in Choice of Weapon at an earlier stage of development.

Explaining the motivations behind the release, lead vocalist Ian Astbury said that "These songs were turned over and over, forged in long rehearsals and writing sessions, and emanated from challenges both personal and professional.

We put our guts into this; [Producer Chris] Goss was able to create an environment where the songs were born through playing and turning over lyrics, through hard work and intense sessions."

[55][56] In an October 2016 interview with PopMatters journalist J.C. Maçek III, Cult guitarist Billy Duffy spoke of the band's playlist while on tour, saying "Obviously you want to make an impactful [show]," he continues.

Ian and I enjoy the process of making new music, and we feel it's vital to keep the band healthy, even if it's pretty much in the law of diminishing returns area now.

[59] In April 2019, the Cult announced that they would celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their fourth studio album Sonic Temple with a world tour, which began on 2 May in Houston, Texas and was expected to wrap up in 2020.

[65] Progress was slow for nearly two years, hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the album being recorded remotely, with the half of the band tracking it at Rockfield Studios and Astbury in the United States.

"[76] Duffy also hailed AC/DC for "the power of a good three chord riff", Pete Townshend of the Who "in terms of commitment to stage performing" and Brian May of Queen for using "'echoplex' tape delays to orchestrate his own solo".

[77] AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that The Cult "formed as a goth band" and later became "a stadium-filling hard rock act led by the shamanistic Ian Astbury.