Description
LIVING COLOUR Cult Of Personality (1991 Austrian 4-track CD single also including Talkin Loud And Sayin Nothing Love Rears Its Ugly Head – Live and Burning Of The Midnight Lamp picture sleeve)
At a time when rock was increasingly looking beyond its own frontiers for inspiration, Vivid was a genre-mashing stake in the ground, taking in hard rock, modern jazz, funk and soul and more and binding them together with an incisive political spirit. Blistering opener Cult Of Personality is an powerful and eloquent statement of intent, and this is a seminal album.
Living Colour Cult Of Personality
Label: Epic 657535 2
Format: CD, Maxi-Single
Country: Europe
Released: 1991
Genre: Rock
Style: Funk Metal, Hard Rock
Track list:
1 Cult Of Personality (Edit) 4:05
2 Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing 4:02
3 Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Live) 4:10
4 Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
Written-By Jimi Hendrix
5:30
Track 3 recorded live at Chez Crib, NYC, April 25, 1991.
Barcode: 5 099765 753523
“Cult of Personality” is a song by funk metal band Living Colour. It was the first single from their debut album, Vivid, released in 1989. “Cult of Personality” reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. It also won the Grammy award for “Best Hard Rock Performance” in 1989. Its music video earned two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Group Video and Best New Artist. The song was ranked #69 on VH1s 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. The solo was ranked #87 in Guitar Worlds “100 Greatest Guitar Solos” list. It was also selected as one of many songs you must hear & download in the musical reference book, 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download. In 2007, the song was re-recorded and released for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
The bands founder, Vernon Reid described the song as very special for the band not just for its commercial success but because it was essentially written in just one rehearsal session. The riff was stumbled upon while practicing something else and by the end of the session they had written what was to become Living Colours best known song.
The song contains many political references, and shares its name with a phenomenon involving psychology and politics.
“Cult of Personality” prominently includes several audio samples of speeches from twentieth-century political leaders.
The song begins with an edited quote from the beginning of “Message to the Grass Roots”, a speech by Malcolm X. As it appears in the song, the quote is:
“. . . And during the few moments that we have left, . . . We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand.”
The unabridged beginning of the speech is:
“…And during the few moments that we have left, we want to have just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me — us. We want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand.”
During a rest in the music at 4:35, John F. Kennedys inaugural address is heard (“Ask not what your country can do for you…”). The song ends with Franklin D. Roosevelt saying “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, from his first inaugural address.
Along with the above quotes, the following political leaders are mentioned in the lyrics:
Benito Mussolini
John F. Kennedy
Joseph Stalin
Mohandas Gandhi
Chart Peak
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock 9
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 13
UK Singles 67
In other media :
It is included in the soundtrack of the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything…
In 2004, a shortened version was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack on Radio X.
In 2007, Living Colour re-recorded the song for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock because the original master recordings could not be located. This version was also included in Guitar Hero: Smash Hits.
It was included in the 2008 video game Shaun White Snowboarding.
The New York Islanders use this song for home games at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Several Rutgers Scarlet Knights athletics teams use this song when starting lineups are introduced.
In 2009, the song was used by the WWE in a video promoting Stone Cold Steve Austins induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Professional wrestler CM Punk used this song as his entrance theme during his time in Ring of Honor and again in WWE. The latter usage was introduced with CM Punks surprise return to the company after winning the WWE Championship at the end of his contract. His popularity during this time brought the song to #111 on iTunes’ Singles Top 200 in July 2011
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