The Cult “Sweet Soul Sister” 1990. Beggar’s Banquet. 12″ single. The track was the fourth and final single from their ‘89 LP Sonic Temple. It went to #42 in the UK and hit #14 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. I really love The Cult’s earlier recordings when they were more goth/post punk (Love is one of my favorite records from the 80′s); Sonic Temple veered hard into heavy metal territory. However, “Sweet Soul Sister” and the other songs on the 12″ (the grungy “The River” and the live epic head-banging “American Horse,” recorded at Wembly) retain a lot of The Cult’s original sound. Usually described as heavy metal, I think the better description is “alt-metal,” akin to Jane’s Addiction and the Seattle-grunge scene developing at the time. It was during the recording of Sonic Temple that The Cult relocated from London to Los Angeles, home of hair metal, so I guess the either that vibe seeped in or The Cult felt that LA was the best place for them to explore their new direction which they began on ‘87′s Electric.