102-666: The Mission (known as the Mission UK in the United States) are an English gothic rock band formed in 1986. Initially known as the Sisterhood, the band was started by frontman Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams (both from the Sisters of Mercy ), soon adding drummer Mick Brown ( Red Lorry Yellow Lorry ) and guitarist Simon Hinkler ( Artery and Pulp ). Aside from Hussey, the lineup has changed several times during
204-553: A Hussey/Eldritch reunion became rife. The Club Mission tour played smaller venues around Europe, with new tracks "Afterglow" and "Raising Cain" becoming a regular feature in the set. The end of 1993 saw Hussey remixing "Tower of Strength" with Youth , and revisiting some of the past material for a greatest hits compilation album. A remixed version of "Tower of Strength" appeared in the UK Singles Chart in January 1994, and
306-743: A commented biography and discography, as well as many interviews, live performances, and backstage shots. The result gained good reviews and good sales. The single "Breathe Me In" hit the top of the Alternative Chart in Germany, and the Mission once again undertook an extensive EU tour. Mark Thwaite rejoined the band, as Holliday was occupied touring with the Prodigy . The band evolved the hard rock angle further, while audience ranks grew throughout
408-511: A different account, saying the name came from his favourite brand of speakers, Mission. When the band planned to tour the US in 1987, it was found that a Philadelphia R&B band had already claimed the name and thus the band was thereafter known in the United States as The Mission UK . Throughout their existence, the group has used aliases to play smaller gigs, including Blood Brothers. In
510-518: A headline set at Wave-Gotik-Treffen . Shortly after this, Wayne Hussey announced via Facebook that the band would be taking a break, with no definite plans in place for the near future. The Mission supported Alice Cooper in November 2017. Again via social media, Hussey announced that he would be spending much of 2018 working on his autobiography, scheduled for release in 2019. The Mission embarked on their United European Party Tour in early 2020. This
612-564: A high-tech studio setup. Brown had been soaking up the Leeds dance scene, while Hussey's explorations were towards folk music . The band, asked to perform a lucrative headlining gig at Finsbury Park in 1991, brought out quite a different side, joined by Maartin Allcock of Fairport Convention and Anthony Thistlethwaite of the Waterboys . Many long-standing fans left the gig worried about
714-650: A lesser extent, the BDSM culture. Gothic fashions within the subculture range from deathrock, punk , androgynous , Victorian , to Renaissance and medieval -style attire, or combinations of the above, most often with black clothing, makeup and hair. Crimped hair was popular among gothic fans in the 1980s. In the 1990s, several acts such as PJ Harvey , Marilyn Manson , Manic Street Preachers , and Nine Inch Nails included gothic characteristics in their music. According to Rolling Stone , PJ Harvey's music in 1993 "careens from blues to goth to grunge , often in
816-466: A live album, Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live , which included a new studio recording, "Alive (For Once in My Lifetime)". In 2006, Richard Butler released a solo album, Richard Butler . Since re-forming in 2001, the band continued to tour worldwide. The current Psychedelic Furs touring line-up includes Richard Butler, Tim Butler, Zack Alford , Amanda Kramer , and Rich Good . In 2017,
918-456: A mammoth world tour, heading festivals in Europe and sharing the bill with the Sisters of Mercy at the M'era Luna Festival in Germany. A souvenir CD of the 1999 tour was released as Ever After , with the various live tracks complemented by three tracks from the 1995 promo-only Live EP and the even-rarer fanclub-only studio outtake "Crazy Horses". At the end of 2000, the band recorded tracks for
1020-629: A new album at the Levellers ' Brighton studios, and Dave Allen (who produced the first Sisters of Mercy album) was drafted in to oversee the recording of tracks in Bath . Before the release of the album, dubbed Aura , the band were invited to play support for the German tour of the Finnish band HIM . At this juncture, Thwaite left the band (first due to touring commitments with Tricky and later to form
1122-527: A number of times and recorded a session for BBC radio. The single "IV" ("Wasteland") charted at No. 11 in January 1987. The World Crusade II tour brought the band to North America, where they were known as 'the Mission UK'. The 41-date trek was characterised by substance abuse and led to the collapse of an inebriated Craig Adams in Los Angeles, resulting in him temporarily quitting the band. Sound tech Pete Turner filled in for one show, before they enlisted
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#17327829497591224-638: A release. In May, the EP I ( Serpents Kiss ) appeared on the Chapter 22 label as the Expedition I tour took the band around Europe. Two months later, II ( Like a Hurricane/Garden of Delight ) was released on the same label and supported by a number of festival slots that culminated in an appearance at the Reading Festival . Hussey and Adams were released from their WEA contracts and the band signed
1326-445: A resurgence of the goth subculture, fueled largely by crossover from the industrial, electronic and metal scenes; and goth culture and aesthetic again worked itself into the mainstream consciousness, inspiring thriving goth music scenes in most cities and notoriety throughout popular culture. Beginning in the early 1990s, gothic metal fused "the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal." In
1428-539: A seven-album recording contract with Phonogram in July 1986. Their debut, God's Own Medicine , was then recorded in six weeks with novice producer Tim Palmer , an acquaintance from Hussey's Dead or Alive days. In October, the single "III" ("Stay with Me") was released, preceding the album that appeared the next month. The band set out on a three-month World Crusade I UK/European tour, with their dedicated followers, 'Eskimos', in tow. They also appeared on British television
1530-482: A shift in sound and commercial success. Southern Death Cult reformed as the Cult , a more conventional hard rock group. Bauhaus members reformed as the psychedelia-influenced Love and Rockets achieving both critical and commercial success during the late 1980s and '90s. In their wake, the Mission , which included two former members of the Sisters of Mercy (Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams), achieved commercial success in
1632-646: A small tour of Japan. A second single, "Beyond the Pale", made less of an impact and a third scheduled for the end of the year was cancelled. At the end of 1988, the Mission embarked on an eight-date arena tour around the UK, while a collection of their music videos, From Dusk to Dawn , was released. In the first half of 1989, Hussey spent some time writing new material in the Black Mountains in South Wales before
1734-816: A sold-out show at the Brixton Academy. This performance and an earlier one in Cologne was captured on film and released as Silver , together with an audio recording from the Frankfurt show. Revitalised, the band decided to continue touring and played shows in South America, Mexico, Europe, and on the Download Festival in 2012. They also added a rendition of " All Along the Watchtower " to their repertoire. In September 2012, they supported
1836-641: A taste for literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and/or supernatural mysticism." Critic John Stickney used the term "gothic rock" to describe the music of the Doors in October 1967, in a review published in The Williams Record . Stickney wrote that the band met the journalists "in the gloomy vaulted wine cellar of the Delmonico hotel , the perfect room to honor the gothic rock of
1938-568: A two-CD set including all eleven of the band's Top 40 hits alongside rare mixes, long-lost B-sides, BBC sessions, five previously unavailable tracks, and five tracks appearing on CD for the first time. A new single, "Keep It in the Family", was released in March 2007, followed a month later by the new album God Is a Bullet , featuring Hussey, Thwaite, Vernon, and Spring, and guest musicians Simon Hinkler, Bricheno, and Julianne Regan . To coincide with
2040-407: A venue for the goth scene: the band Specimen gave many concerts there. That same year, Ian Astbury of the band Southern Death Cult used the term "gothic goblins" to describe Sex Gang Children 's fans. Southern Death Cult became icons of the scene, drawing aesthetic inspiration from Native American culture and appearing on the cover of NME in October. In February 1983, the emerging scene
2142-480: Is another forerunner genre of gothic rock. Pitchfork wrote: "Although it abandoned the psychedelic color palette and exchanged alien worship for a vampire cult, goth kept glam's theatricality intact, as well as its openness to experimentation." In April 1977, critic Dave Marsh of The Morning Record described Philip Glass 's current album North Star as "the best neo-Gothic rock since John Cale and Terry Riley 's Church of Anthrax , or more appropriately,
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#17327829497592244-608: The Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, "The Ghost In You" also charted. Mirror Moves became a Top 20 album on the Canadian Albums Chart and was named the No. 1 album of 1984 by Toronto new wave radio station CFNY . By the mid-1980s, the band had become a staple on both US college radio and modern rock radio stations. Simultaneously, they were experiencing consistent mainstream success placing several singles in
2346-690: The Kyalami racetrack in Johannesburg . After the Mission disbanded, Hussey spent his time in Orange County, California , with his wife and young daughter. In semi-retirement, he produced sporadic remixes and singles for Cleopatra Records and Dancing Ferret Records, as well as up-and-coming acts, and contributed a new song for a Mission album put together by Mission fans over the internet. In 1999, after releasing an album of solo versions of Mission classics in his home studio, Hussey resurrected
2448-691: The Pornography album, which is considered as "the Cure's gothic piece de resistance". They would later become the most commercially successful of these groups. The Cure's style was "withdrawn", contrasting with their contemporaries like Nick Cave 's the Birthday Party, who drew on blues and violent turmoil. With the Birthday Party's Junkyard album, Nick Cave combined "sacred and profane" things, using Old Testament imagery with stories about sin, curses and damnation. Their 1981 single " Release
2550-517: The "gothic" label "became a critical term of abuse" for a band like Bauhaus , who had arrived on the music scene in 1979. At the time, NME considered that "Siouxsie and the Banshees, Adam and the Ants and even... Joy Division" opened up "a potentially massive market" for newcomers like Bauhaus and Killing Joke : journalist Andy Gill then separated these two groups of bands, pointing out that there
2652-533: The 1989–1990 period, they formed a glam rock cover band, the Metal Gurus, and released a number of singles under the moniker. Gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth ) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and
2754-446: The 2000s, critics regularly noticed the influence of goth on bands of that time period. English band The Horrors mixed 1960s garage rock with 1980s goth. When referencing female singer Zola Jesus , writers questioned if she announced the second coming of the genre as her music was described with this term. In terms of fashion, gothic bands incorporated influences from 19th-century Gothic literature along with horror films and, to
2856-505: The Banshees , Joy Division , Bauhaus , and the Cure . The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from post-punk. Gothic rock stood out due to its darker sound, with the use of primarily minor or bass chords, reverb, dark arrangements, or dramatic and melancholic melodies, having inspirations in gothic literature allied with themes such as sadness, nihilism, dark romanticism, tragedy, melancholy and morbidity. These themes are often approached poetically. The sensibilities of
2958-560: The Bats " was particularly influential in the scene. Killing Joke were originally inspired by Public Image Ltd. , borrowing from funk, disco , dub and, later, heavy metal . Calling their style "tension music", Killing Joke distorted these elements to provocative effect, as well as producing a morbid, politically charged visual style. Reynolds identified the Birthday Party and Killing Joke as essential proto-goth groups. Despite their legacy as progenitors of gothic rock, those groups disliked
3060-411: The Cult on a tour of the UK, which attracted some controversy. In October 2012, Hussey announced that "The Mission are gonna be recording a new album next year. The band are spending time right now writing new songs and will convene to a rehearsal room near Bristol in early April to start working on these new songs together". He also revealed that David M. Allen would be producing. The Brightest Light
3162-700: The Doors and, certainly, early Velvet Underground". In March 1979, Kent used the gothic adjective in his review of Magazine's second album, Secondhand Daylight . Kent noted that there was "a new austere sense of authority" to their music, with a "dank neo-Gothic sound". The second Siouxsie and the Banshees album, also released in 1979, was a precursor in several aspects. For journalist Alexis Petridis of The Guardian , "A lot of musical signifiers... – scything, effects-laden guitar, pounding tribal drums – are audible, on... Join Hands ". In September, Joy Division's manager Tony Wilson described their music as "gothic" on
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3264-566: The Doors". The author noted that contrary to the "pleasant, amusing hippies ", there was "violence" in their music and a dark atmosphere on stage during their concerts. Stickney ultimately titled his article, "Four Doors to the Future: Gothic Rock Is Their Thing". Musicians who initially shaped the aesthetics and musical conventions of gothic rock include Marc Bolan , the Velvet Underground ,
3366-509: The Doors, David Bowie , Brian Eno , and Iggy Pop . Journalist Kurt Loder would write that the song " All Tomorrow's Parties " by the Velvet Underground is a "mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece". However, Reynolds considers Alice Cooper as "the true ungodly godfather of goth" due to his "theatrics and black humor ". Nico 's 1968 album The Marble Index is sometimes described as "the first truly gothic album". With its stark sound, somber lyrics, and Nico's deliberate change in her look,
3468-469: The Flat Field in 1980, and the album is often considered the first gothic rock album. In the early 1980s, post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure included more gothic characteristics in their music. According to Reynolds, with their fourth album, 1981's Juju , the Banshees included several gothic qualities, lyrically and sonically, whereas according to The Guardian , Juju
3570-481: The Furs' biggest Top 40 hit in the US. The album also featured drummer Paul Garisto and saxophonist Mars Williams , both of whom toured with the band. In the wake of Midnight to Midnight , Ely returned, and the Furs issued the single " All That Money Wants ", a track recorded for the 1988 best-of compilation album All of This and Nothing . 1989's Book of Days , produced by the band and David M. Allen , featured
3672-723: The March Violets , who performed in a similar style. According to Reynolds, the March Violets "imitated Joy Division sonically". Another band, the Danse Society was particularly inspired by the Cure's Pornography period. American gothic rock began with 45 Grave and Christian Death . This harder, more punk rock -influenced style of gothic rock became known as deathrock . Christian Death combined "self-consciously controversial tactics" with Los Angeles punk and heavy metal influences. Their singer Rozz Williams committed suicide by hanging in 1998 at age 34. 45 Grave
3774-457: The Mission gained a new bassist in the form of Rich Vernon and within a matter of months, Garrett also left, to be replaced by Steve Spring. This new lineup carried on through to mid-2004. In September 2005, the band's first DVD, Lighting the Candles , was released, complemented by a live CD. It took over a year for Hussey to compile this two-DVD set, which includes a live gig, some video clips,
3876-525: The Mission had reformed. Drummer Mick Brown had passed on the invitation to join and Spear of Destiny 's Mike Kelly took his place. In contrast to previous incarnations, the band only played material from the 1986–1990 period. In October 2011, they played a warm-up show as their alter ego, Blood Brothers, in Hussey's hometown of Bristol, before embarking on the XXV UK/European tour that culminated in
3978-622: The Mission pre-released the album's lead single, "Met-Amor-Phosis", through YouTube, eventually made available for download on 1 September. In October 2016, the group embarked on a 30th-Anniversary tour with 28 shows across Europe, three in Australia, and two in New Zealand, to coincide with the release of Another Fall from Grace on 30 September; the album entered the UK album charts at No. 38. The band continued to tour in support of Another Fall from Grace into 2017. The tour culminated in
4080-513: The Mission undertook a large world tour supporting the album. However, the stresses of touring and diminishing returns once again saw tensions grow, and during the South American leg of their 2002 tour, Adams decided to leave once more. Hussey continued the leg of the tour by himself, with some acoustic shows backed by pre-recorded tapes, also lining himself up for a number of much more successful solo acoustic shows in Europe. In early 2003,
4182-534: The Ocean", co-produced by Andy Partridge of XTC , became a minor hit and was backed by a live version of "Amelia". The band and Hinkler were on friendly terms again and they resurrected the Metal Gurus project to record a cover version of " Merry Xmas Everybody " with Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from Slade for the Childline charity. After a break to recuperate, the band teamed up with engineer Joe Gibb to create
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4284-655: The Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene. The band had several hits in their early career. In 1986, filmmaker John Hughes used their song " Pretty in Pink " for his film Pretty in Pink . They went on hiatus after they finished touring in 1992, but resumed in 2000 and continue to perform live. The band released Made of Rain , their first studio album in nearly three decades, on 31 July 2020. Richard Butler stated that
4386-477: The Psychedelic Furs began rehearsing in his family's front room but were soon banished because of the noise. The band was initially called RKO, then Radio. They later vacillated between calling themselves the Europeans and the Psychedelic Furs, playing gigs under both names before permanently settling on the latter. The word psychedelic was chosen to separate the band from punk rockers who ostentatiously scorned
4488-512: The Stooges , the Velvet Underground, the Birthday Party, Suicide , and the Fall , created a new, harder form of gothic rock. In addition, they incorporated a drum machine . Reynolds identified their 1983 single " Temple of Love " as the quintessential goth anthem of the year, along with Southern Death Cult's "Fatman". The group created their own record label, Merciful Release , which also signed
4590-514: The Sugarcubes . Reynolds has spoken of a shift from early goth to gothic rock proper, advanced by the Sisters of Mercy . As journalist Jennifer Park put it, "The original blueprint for gothic rock had mutated significantly. Doom and gloom was no longer confined to its characteristic atmospherics, but as the Sisters demonstrated, it could really rock". The Sisters of Mercy, who cited influences such as Leonard Cohen, Gary Glitter , Motörhead ,
4692-536: The U.S. in search of a producer. The band recorded their next album, Forever Now , with record producer Todd Rundgren in Woodstock , New York . Released in September 1982, this album contained " Love My Way ", which became another UK chart entry, and also their first US Billboard Hot 100 single. Ely left the band after Forever Now (though he would later return in 1988). The next album, Mirror Moves
4794-410: The album became a crucial music and visual prototype for the gothic rock movement. Gothic rock creates a dark atmosphere by drawing influence from the drones used by protopunk group the Velvet Underground, and many gothic singers are influenced by the "deep and dramatic" vocal timbre of David Bowie, albeit singing at even lower pitches. Although gothic rock is an offshoot of post-punk , glam rock
4896-515: The album, with only the reworked B-side "Evermore & Again" ever becoming a regular staple in subsequent tours. A short stint around the UK, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands afterwards turned out to be a farewell tour: after ten years, Hussey and Brown decided that enough was enough. The band finished it all off with festivals in Spain and South Africa, the latter being their final gig, at
4998-503: The band made their last appearance on Top of the Pops . The compilation, entitled Sum and Substance , was released the next month and featured two new tracks: "Sour Puss" and a remix of "Afterglow" by Mark "Spike" Stent . The latter was also released as the final single through Vertigo /Phonogram. The seven-album contract was now up, and neither of the parties was interested in a continued relationship. Recordings proceeded slowly, while
5100-429: The band negotiated a new independent record deal, and Hussey produced a collection of three BBC sessions as Salad Daze . In late 1994, a single, "Raising Cain", was released on Equator Records. Early in 1995, the single "Swoon" paved the way for the next studio album, Neverland , more or less a Mission signature sound but with a much heavier production. The Neverland tour saw a slight revival in popularity, with two of
5202-565: The band played a number of European festivals supporting the Cure . In contrast to the large shows the band had been playing on the Children Play tour, they decided to embark on a low-key Scottish Highlands tour with some of their most ardent fans in tow. The last commitment of the year was another headline appearance at the Reading Festival, before the band returned to the studio to complete the album. They once again enlisted
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#17327829497595304-634: The band reconvened in April to start the recording process. At the end of the same month, they played two shows, one in support of the Lockerbie bombing and another for the Hillsborough disaster fund. The latter featured guest appearances by Pete Wylie and Mick Jones of the Clash and saw a committed Hussey, who as a lifelong Liverpool F.C. fan, was keen to support the victims. In between recording,
5406-518: The band released the official video for Made of Rain ' s fifth single "Wrong Train". It premiered exclusively on NME.com and was inspired by Richard Butler's paintings. He starred in the video himself. The Strokes ' Grammy Award-winning album The New Abnormal (2020) featured the song "Eternal Summer" which quotes the Furs' "The Ghost in You", for which songwriters Richard and Tim Butler received songwriting credits. On 1 September 2021, two weeks before
5508-425: The band to be pressured into entering the recording studio with producer Chris Kimsey to record a follow-up release before they were ready. The result was Midnight to Midnight , their biggest Top 40 success to date, but an album that Richard Butler later characterised as "hollow, vapid and weak". A more overtly commercial effort than their prior recordings, the album also featured the single " Heartbreak Beat ",
5610-451: The band with Adams, drummer Scott Garrett (Adams' bandmate in the Cult), and Mark Thwaite , for what was intended to be a one-off tour with Gene Loves Jezebel across the United States and an also-resurrected All About Eve across the United Kingdom. The success of the tour and the reaction of the crowds gave the band plenty of encouragement to continue beyond the tour, and 2000 saw them take on
5712-732: The band's 1984 single "The Ghost in You" was featured in the second season of Netflix hit series Stranger Things and was included on the Sony Music soundtrack companion to the season, Stranger Things: Music from the Netflix Original Series , released in October 2017. That same year, the band's 1982 single "Love My Way" was played several times in the Oscar -nominated film Call Me by Your Name . The Psychedelic Furs released their eighth studio album Made of Rain on 31 July 2020 to positive reviews. This release marked
5814-500: The band. In June 2010, SPV released Dum Dum Bullet , a collection of recordings taken from the God Is a Bullet sessions. As the Mission's 25th anniversary was approaching, it was suggested to Hussey that he should reform the original lineup of the band. Hussey initially resisted, occupied with other projects. Eventually he was convinced, and in the summer of 2010, the announcement was made that with Craig Adams and Simon Hinkler on board,
5916-408: The cancelled French dates from earlier in the year. The band also played dates in Australia and New Zealand for the first time in their career. For the second half of 1990, they enlisted the help of Paul "Etch" Etchells (ex- Ghost Dance ) on keyboards and guitars. This last leg of the tour, which included a performance filmed for the Rockpalast programme, saw Hinkler returning twice as a guest during
6018-429: The charts on both sides of the Atlantic . Still, according to biographer Dave Thompson , they would "have more impact on future musicians than they ever did in the marketplace." In 1986, the band recorded a new version of "Pretty in Pink" for the film soundtrack. Released as a single, it became their biggest hit to date in the US and their biggest UK hit. Butler later claimed that the success of "Pretty in Pink" caused
6120-430: The concerts being filmed for German television, a promo-only live EP released, and a handful of summer festivals played. In March 1996, the band set up in Bristol for eight weeks to record new songs that Hussey had been developing. When the resulting album, Blue , was released, it received mixed reviews from music critics but left portions of the old fanbase rather unimpressed. Future interviews would see Hussey hating
6222-425: The direction of the forthcoming release, Masque (produced by Mark Saunders ). Masque was originally intended to be a solo release by Hussey; however, the remaining band members contributed to the recording, and the album was released under the group name as a result. Hussey later said, "with Masque , we attempted to break down these preconceptions that people had of us but it didn't go down very well". Adams left
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#17327829497596324-475: The encores and occasional songs during the main set. The final concert in the series was filmed, and each night recorded and later released as part of a box set . In February 2009, the Mission's record label SPV GmbH released a double album, Live & Last , plus the DVD Final Chapter recording of the final show, which included additional footage from the tour. The DVD debuted in the official UK BBC charts at No.6—the highest UK chart position in many years for
6426-453: The encores at Leeds and the final night at the Brixton Academy . The Mission had a lot of surplus material after the Carved in Sand sessions and had difficulties deciding on the running order of the album. In October 1990, the companion album, Grains of Sand , was released. It contained the rest of the candidates, some of which had already surfaced as B-sides, supplemented by acoustic renditions and cover versions . A single, "Hands Across
6528-410: The end of the same month, the album appeared and charted at number 2 in the UK album chart. The rest of the year was taken up by the Children Play world tour, which included a six-night residency at the London Astoria , Theatre where John Paul Jones made a guest appearance on keyboards. The rest of the tour included a support slot for Robert Plant , the first dates the band played in Latin America, and
6630-443: The end of the year. The first single, " Butterfly on a Wheel ", was released in January 1990 and narrowly missed the top ten. The new album appeared a month later, together with the "Waves upon the Sand" video that documented the recording sessions and Scottish tour of the previous year. The Deliverance tour in support of the album proved problematic. The band hired David Wolfenden as a supplemental guitarist to give Hussey free rein as
6732-569: The first couple of Doors albums". Reynolds retrospectively described Kate Bush 's 1978 song " Wuthering Heights " as "Gothic romance distilled into four-and-a-half minutes of gaseous rhapsody". In the late 1970s, the word "gothic" was used to describe the atmosphere of post-punk bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees , Magazine and Joy Division . In a live review about a Siouxsie and the Banshees' concert in July 1978, critic Nick Kent wrote that concerning their performance, "parallels and comparisons can now be drawn with gothic rock architects like
6834-490: The first full-length studio album by the band since 1991's World Outside . It became the band's second-highest charting UK Album ever and featured at the end-of-year Best Albums roundup in Mojo , Uncut , Classic Pop , ABC's Good Morning America , and Vive Le Rock among others. "Don't Believe", the first single from the album was released on 20 January 2020. It was followed by "You'll Be Mine", "No-One" and "Come All Ye Faithful", each with an official video. On 1 March 2021,
6936-513: The four-piece a significant amount of publicity. As the Sisterhood, the band made their live debut on 20 January 1986 at the Alice in Wonderland, London. While the band was on tour as support to the Cult around Europe, Eldritch released a single as the Sisterhood . Back in the UK, Hinkler was briefly dismissed and reinstated for three dates where the band revealed their new name, the Mission. Although Hussey and Adams were still under contract with WEA , manager Tony Perrin prepared their material for
7038-410: The frontman and principal songwriter, the trio required a second guitarist to facilitate a live setup. They recruited Simon Hinkler ( Artery ), who also contributed keyboards and thus completed the four-piece. The name the Sisterhood was chosen with a nod to the past and rehearsals for the first shows started in January 1986. The new name quickly became a point of discussion in the UK music press, giving
7140-420: The frontman. An inebriated Hussey showed up on the James Whale show and reports of their debauched behaviour continued to appear in the press. The release of a second single, "Deliverance", coincided with the UK arena dates. Illness beset the first European leg of the tour as Hinkler contracted scarlet fever , leading to some cancellations. Personal tensions led to a confrontation during the North American leg of
7242-477: The genre led gothic rock lyrics to exhibit literary romanticism , morbidity, existentialism , religious symbolism, or supernatural mysticism. Gothic rock is an offshoot of post-punk and, according to AllMusic , "took the cold synthesizers and processed guitars of post-punk and used them to construct foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes." Early gothic rock had introspective or personal lyrics, but according to AllMusic, "its poetic sensibilities soon led to
7344-456: The genre led the lyrics to represent the evil of the century and the romantic idealization of death and the supernatural imagination. Gothic rock then gave rise to a broader goth subculture that included clubs, fashion and publications in the 1980s, 1990s, and into the 21st century. According to music journalist Simon Reynolds , standard musical fixtures of gothic rock include "scything guitar patterns, high-pitched basslines that often usurped
7446-410: The group New Disease), to be replaced by Rob Holliday of Sulpher. Aura was released on their own Playground label run by former Phonogram A&R man Charlie Eyre. The sound was heavy and the production very intricate, but fans noted that several songs were uncomfortably similar to previous Mission songs, notably "Dragonfly", which was very similar to the 1990 hit "Butterfly on a Wheel". Nonetheless,
7548-494: The group subsequent to the release of the album. Reduced to a duo, the Mission began searching for new members, even placing an advertisement in Melody Maker . The second incarnation of the Mission consisted of Brown, Hussey, Mark Thwaite (formerly of Spear of Destiny ) on guitar, Rik Carter (formerly of Pendragon ) on keyboards, and eventually Andy Cousin (formerly of All About Eve) on bass. This lineup's first release
7650-580: The help of Tim Palmer to produce the record, while Reeves Gabrels , Baluji Shrivastav , and Guy Chambers also made contributions. Slated for an early-1990 release, the recording of the Carved in Sand album had been completed by the end of August 1989. To kill time, the foursome then promptly went camp to form a glam rock tribute band , the Metal Gurus, playing support for the Wonder Stuff towards
7752-482: The help of Chris Bocast to play bass with them for the remainder of the tour, which included an opening slot for the Psychedelic Furs . In March 1987, the single "V" ("Severina"), with guest vocals by Julianne Regan , was released. Back in England, Adams returned to the band to play a handful of European festivals, and two support dates in Leeds and Edinburgh on U2 's Joshua Tree Tour . A live video entitled Crusade
7854-494: The imagination that startles the slumbering mind and body from their sloth". That year, myriad goth groups emerged, including Flesh for Lulu , Play Dead , Rubella Ballet , Gene Loves Jezebel , Blood and Roses, and Ausgang . The 4AD label released music in a more ethereal style, by groups such as Cocteau Twins , Dead Can Dance , and Xmal Deutschland . The Icelandic group Kukl also appeared in this period, which included Björk and other musicians who later participated in
7956-510: The label. Adam Ant 's early work was also a major impetus for the gothic rock scene, and much of the fanbase came from his milieu. Other early contributors to the scene included UK Decay and Ireland's Virgin Prunes . Gothic rock would not be adopted as "positive identity, a tribal rallying cry" until a shift in the scene in 1982. In London, the Batcave club opened 21 July 1982 to provide
8058-407: The legacy of 1960s rock music. The band initially consisted of Richard Butler (vocals), Tim Butler (bass guitar), Duncan Kilburn (saxophone), Paul Wilson (drums), and Roger Morris (guitars). By 1979, this line-up had expanded to a sextet with Vince Ely replacing Wilson on drums and John Ashton joining as a second guitarist. The Psychedelic Furs' debut, a self-titled album released in March 1980,
8160-420: The melodic role [and] beats that were either hypnotically dirgelike or tom-tom heavy and 'tribal ' ". Reynolds described the vocal style as consisting of "deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Leonard Cohen ". Several acts used drum machines downplaying the rhythm's backbeat . Gothic rock typically deals with dark themes addressed through lyrics and the music's atmosphere. The poetic sensibilities of
8262-612: The mid-1980s to early 1990s, as did Fields of the Nephilim and All About Eve . European groups inspired by gothic rock also proliferated, including Clan of Xymox . Other bands associated with gothic rock include All Living Fear , And Also the Trees , Balaam and the Angel , Claytown Troupe , Dream Disciples , Feeding Fingers, Inkubus Sukkubus , Libitina, Miranda Sex Garden , Nosferatu , Rosetta Stone , and Suspiria . The 1990s saw
8364-439: The original version of " Pretty in Pink ". The latter song served as inspiration for the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink and was re-recorded for the platinum-selling Pretty in Pink soundtrack – though Richard Butler was later adamant that the cinematic interpretation had very little to do with the song's original intent. In 1982, the band was reduced to a quartet with the departures of Morris and Kilburn and moved to
8466-593: The release, Mercury Records reissued the first three Mission albums as enhanced CDs, complete with bonus tracks. In February–March 2008, the band played a tour of Europe that culminated in a series of four concerts at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, with each night dedicated to a particular period of the band's history. Hussey announced that these would be the last ever Mission concerts, as he wished to have an indefinite break from band activity and concentrate on other personal projects. Simon Hinkler joined on each night for
8568-403: The same year, Hussey became a father to a girl named Hannah, an event that inspired much of the lyrical content. Musically, the band moved more towards a Led Zeppelin-inspired hard rock style. In January 1988, the band recorded some additional material in London together with Stent. In February, the first single, " Tower of Strength ", was released, reaching number 12 in the UK Singles Chart . At
8670-399: The singles "Should God Forget" and " House ". Produced by the band and Stephen Street , 1991's World Outside included the single " Until She Comes " and was the Furs' final studio album for more than two decades. From 1988 on, the Furs' singles had steady chart success with three No. 1 hits on the newly established US Modern Rock Tracks chart between 1988 and 1991. "All That Money Wants"
8772-830: The space of a single song" whereas American artists such as Marilyn Manson combined "atmosphere from goth and disco" with " industrial sound". In 1997, Spin qualified Portishead 's second album as "gothic", "deadly" and "trippy". Critic Barry Walters observed that the group got "darker, deeper and more disturbing" in comparison to their debut album Dummy . In the late 2010s, the Twilight Sad included gothic elements in their music. The Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar ,
8874-404: The summer of 1985, Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams left the Sisters of Mercy . Based in Leeds, the duo continued to work on various musical ideas and recorded them over the autumn. Dismissing the use of a drum machine , Adams and Hussey asked Mick Brown ( Red Lorry Yellow Lorry ) to help out with the sessions. By the end of the year, he had joined the band on a permanent basis. With Hussey as both
8976-492: The television show Something Else , and their producer Martin Hannett described their style as "dancing music with gothic overtones". In 1980, Melody Maker wrote that "Joy Division are masters of this gothic gloom". When their final album Closer came out a couple of months after the suicide of their singer Ian Curtis , Sounds noted in its review that there were "dark strokes of gothic rock". Not long after,
9078-504: The tour and Simon Hinkler left the band after a gig at Montreal 's Metropolis. The remaining members continued with a variation of stand-ins that included Tim Bricheno (of All About Eve ) before he joined the Sisters of Mercy . A third single, "Into the Blue" was released in May 1990 to coincide with a number of festival dates, including a headlining slot at Pinkpop and indoor dates to replace
9180-479: The tour. Hussey announced that 2006 would hold no tours, as he would concentrate on a new album and his personal projects. As well as Lighting the Candles , 2005 saw the release of Waves Upon the Sand and Crusade for the first time on DVD. In 2006, Hussey marked the 20th anniversary of the Mission with the issue of a limited edition T-shirt designed especially for the occasion. Meanwhile, Phonogram Records released another "best of", Anthology: The Phonogram Years ,
9282-493: The years and the band has been on hiatus twice. The band's catalogue consists of ten studio albums: God's Own Medicine (1986), Children (1988), Carved in Sand (1990), Masque (1992), Neverland (1995), Blue (1996), Aura (2001), God Is a Bullet (2007), The Brightest Light (2013), and Another Fall from Grace (2016), with several live albums, compilations, and other miscellaneous releases. After an aborted recording session with Andrew Eldritch in
9384-473: Was art rock on certain album tracks and pop on the singles. Their bassist, Steven Severin , attributed the aesthetic used by the Banshees around that time to the influence of the Cramps . The Cure 's "oppressively dispirited" trio of albums, Seventeen Seconds (1980), Faith (1981) and Pornography (1982), cemented that group's stature in the genre. The line "It doesn't matter if we all die" began
9486-509: Was a No. 1 hit in 1988, while "House" topped the chart in 1990 and "Until She Comes" was No. 1 in 1991. The band took a long break in the early 1990s, with Richard and Tim Butler going on to found Love Spit Love with Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer (both of whom would later join Guns N' Roses ). In 2000, Richard Butler, Tim Butler, and Ashton reformed the Psychedelic Furs. The touring lineup also included Fortus and, later, Ferrer. They released
9588-418: Was a difference "between art and artifice". However, Bauhaus's debut single, " Bela Lugosi's Dead ", released in late 1979, was retrospectively considered to be the beginning of the gothic rock genre. According to Peter Murphy , the song was written to be tongue-in-cheek, but since the group performed it with "naïve seriousness", that is how the audience understood it. Bauhaus released their debut album In
9690-610: Was a fanclub-only flexi disc cover of the Osmonds song " Crazy Horses " in early 1993. The recording of a new album started, while a BBC live album, No Snow, No Show for the Eskimo , was compiled by Hussey and Joe Gibb. For the first time in three years, the band decided to tour, and a warm-up was arranged as the "Off the Street" benefit for the homeless in Leeds. As Andrew Eldritch signed up, completely unfounded press speculation about
9792-495: Was cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak, however, and rescheduled for 2021. The near-150 date world tour finished with five consecutive dates in the UK, in October 2023. Initially known as the Sisterhood , the band was forced to change their name after Andrew Eldritch claimed it. After some deliberation, the Mission was chosen, referring to the proselytising mission that was part of Hussey's Mormon upbringing. Mick Brown has
9894-466: Was described as "positive punk" on the front cover of NME : in his article, journalist Richard North described Bauhaus, Theatre of Hate and UK Decay as "the immediate forerunners of today's flood", and declared, "So here it is: the new positive punk, with no empty promises of revolution, either in the rock'n'roll sense or the wider political sphere. Here is only a chance of self-awareness, of personal revolution, of colourful perception and galvanization of
9996-659: Was more inspired by heavy metal than Christian Death and featured female singer Dinah Cancer . Some punk and garage rock bands like The Cramps , The Gun Club , Lydia Lunch , The Nuns , The Misfits and T.S.O.L. have been credited to be influential on both the sound and the aesthetics of the Goth subculture in America, being subsequently credited to be pioneers in the "Goth Punk" sub-genre. Notable 1980s American Goth bands include Super Heroines , Human Drama , The Wake and Kommunity FK . Later stages of Gothic Rock came with
10098-402: Was produced by Keith Forsey (who also programmed the drums and became the band's drummer) and featured the songs " The Ghost in You " and " Heaven ". Both charted in the UK and "Heaven" became the band's highest charting UK hit at the time, peaking at No. 29. Columbia Records opted for "Here Come Cowboys" for the corresponding US release which failed to chart but "The Ghost In You" was a hit on
10200-578: Was produced by Steve Lillywhite . The album quickly established the band on radio in Europe and was a No. 18 hit in the UK Albums Chart . The album also found success in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. The Furs found success in the US with their next release, 1981's Talk Talk Talk , which saw the band making its debut on the US Billboard 200 chart . In the UK, the album yielded two charting singles , " Dumb Waiters " and
10302-431: Was released in September 2013, and the band embarked on a tour in support around North America, Germany, and the UK. In 2014, the Mission returned to South America for a nine-date tour. In May 2016, Hussey confirmed Tim Palmer as producer for the band's tenth studio album. They promised a return to their 'classic' sound, and soon the album—titled Another Fall from Grace —was made available to pre-order online. On 12 August,
10404-590: Was released, capturing the band and their noisy audience at the early stage of their career. It coincided with the release of The First Chapter in June 1987, a collection of material from the first two EPs. By the summer of 1987, Hussey had already written some new material that was first aired during the band's summer festival shows and U2 warm-up performances. The Mission enlisted the help of Led Zeppelin 's John Paul Jones to produce their second studio album, Children , engineered by Mark 'Spike' Stent . In October of
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