The Cult was formed in 1983 in England, and despite constant line-up changes, it was always based on vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy. Initially, the band was called Death Cult, which had its origins in the Southern Death Cult, a gothic rock project created by Ian Astbury in 1982.

Mixing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal and hard rock, his music won a legion of fans after the release of his first album, Dreamtime (1984). If their gothic influences predominated in Dreamtime, after Love (1985), the group followed more in the direction of hard rock. "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain" were the tracks that stood out the most on this second album.

Electric, a complete work from 1987, produced by Rick Rubin, was well received by the American public, as was its successor, Sonic Temple (1989). In the early 1990s, The Cult suffered some burnout, in part due to Ian Astbury's alcohol addiction, which caused internal tensions. In that decade, the band released two studio albums: Ceremony (1991) and The Cult (1994), both of which were well received by fans but lacking critical enthusiasm. In 1995, the group canceled a tour after a performance in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and soon afterwards disbanded.

Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy reformed the band in 1999, and a new album, Beyond Good and Evil, arrived in 2001. In 2007, The Cult released Born into This. And, despite Astbury announcing in 2009 that the band would not release any more studio albums, in 2012, Choice of Weapon, the ninth, came out. The band then released Hidden City (2016) and Under the Midnight Sun (2022).