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59-563: Boces is the second album by Mercury Rev , released in 1993. It was their final album with frontman David Baker, who was asked to leave shortly after the supporting tour concluded. The title is derived from the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services system of vocational schools in New York. During the tour (on Lollapalooza ) for this album, the band were forced off the stage for being too loud. All tracks are written by Mercury Rev according to

118-418: A community . Cult followings are also commonly associated with niche markets . Cult media are often associated with underground culture , and are considered too eccentric or anti-establishment to be appreciated by the general public or to be widely commercially successful. Many cult fans express their devotion with a level of irony when describing such entertainment. Sometimes, these cult followings cross

177-624: A Deep Listening instructor, university lecturer and electro-acoustic improviser, as well as becoming part of "pirate-punk" band The Wounded Knees. Thorpe has also returned for occasional band revisitations of the Harmony Rockets project, including one at the 2009 All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England. Chambers would later form the band Odiorne. By 2001, the band's nucleus was Grasshopper, Donahue and Mercel, with Fridmann remaining as co-producer and studio bass player. The All Is Dream album

236-518: A Jesuit guest house in upstate New York, Donahue began to listen to records of children's music and to write simple melodies on piano (in contrast to the band's former psychedelic/electric compositional approach. At the same time, he was invited to guest on a Chemical Brothers track called " The Private Psychedelic Reel ". This in turn inspired him to repair his musical and personal friendship with Grasshopper. Mercury Rev relocated to Donahue's birthplace of Kingston, New York , and began recording in

295-454: A cult classic after leaking in 2006 and being notoriously shelved by Interscope Records . The musically experimental album quickly developed a following and acclaim online, becoming what The Village Voice writer Craig D. Lindsey called "the black-music equivalent of Fiona Apple 's once-shelved (and also notoriously bootlegged) album Extraordinary Machine ". Pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen 's post-" Call Me Maybe " career has been called

354-401: A cult following after their cancellation, which may cause interest in renewal. Arrested Development , which was cancelled in 2006 after its third season , was renewed by Netflix in 2013 and received two additional seasons. Futurama was cancelled in 2003 after its fourth season on Fox , but was later picked up by Comedy Central for an additional three seasons. In 2022, it was announced

413-453: A cult following, sometimes due to prestige like Apple and Supreme , while others like Spam do so for cultural reasons. There are also many cult car brands ranging from Trabant to Volvo and even specific models like the Fiat 500 , Ford Crown Victoria and Toyota AE86 have all spawned dedicated followings within the car enthusiast community. In September 2021, AMC Theatres began airing

472-623: A cult following. Quentin Tarantino 's films borrow stylistically from classic cult films, but are appreciated by a large audience; therefore, Tarantino's filmography is noted worldwide as lying somewhere between cult and mainstream cinema. Also, certain cult phenomena can grow to such proportions that they become mainstream, such as the filmography of cult directors like John Waters , John Sayles , John Cassavetes , Armando Bó , Eliseo Subiela , Ruggero Deodato , Takeshi Kitano , Abbas Kiarostami or Jesús Franco . Certain television series develop

531-433: A cult success, particularly her third studio album, Emotion . Japanese dub and dream pop band Fishmans gained a dedicated online cult following after the death of frontman Shinji Sato via word-of-mouth spread on imageboard and music forum sites throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti has gained a cult following after releasing his second studio album Whole Lotta Red . Brands can also attain

590-480: A cult-classic status among followers of hardcore punk. Some alternative albums have also developed cult followings. The American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails released their 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine to modest success on the Billboard 200 , peaking at number 75. It developed an underground popularity in subsequent years and sold enough to receive a platinum RIAA certification in 1995, becoming one of

649-491: A gig promoter for other bands' concerts in Buffalo, which brought him into contact with The Flaming Lips in 1989: he then toured with them as guitar technician before formally joining as lead guitarist in time to play on their 1990 album In a Priest Driven Ambulance . The latter album was co-produced by Dave Fridmann, who went on to co-produce every Flaming Lips studio album to date with the exception of 1993's Transmissions from

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708-545: A lot of the time. Suzanne was of the mind set of trying to conquer all these guitars with her flute. I thought people should be able to put their thing into the mix because it is better to have everything in... The drummer was writing a song, the bass player was writing a song and it would get blown up by someone else. Jonathan was a major song writer and I did a lot but everybody got to contribute... There were pre-ideas and songs brought in but I don't think anybody would have been allowed to tell people what to do. They knew their song

767-617: A melodic, ornate sound. The band's first post-Baker album, See You on the Other Side (1995) contained a variety of styles, including a sprawling psychedelic opening track and noise rock numbers like "Young Man's Stride" (for which a music video was released), but also more melodic songs, such as "Sudden Ray of Hope". By this time the live band included organist Adam Snyder and brothers Jason and Justin Russo of psychedelic rock band Hopewell (as bassist and keyboardist respectively). That year,

826-487: A pair of albums on September 29, 2008: Snowflake Midnight , and a free MP3 album of instrumentals, Strange Attractor , following which Jeff Mercel left the band (although he would rejoin them on tour in 2011 to promote the release of the double disc reissue of Deserter's Songs ). Former Midlake keyboardist Jesse Chandler was recruited to Mercury Rev in 2014. Mercury Rev's first studio album in seven years, The Light in You

885-444: A performing artist, or an artwork in some medium . The latter is often called a cult classic . A film, book, musical artist, television series, or video game, among other things, is said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fanbase . A common component of cult followings is the emotional attachment the fans have to the object of the cult following, often identifying themselves and other fans as members of

944-499: A prestigious slot at the Reading Festival for their third-ever gig, and later appeared on the smaller second stage at some 1993 Lollapalooza stops. The band's second record, Boces was recorded during 1992 and 1993, with the band's collective creative approach in full flow. David Baker later recalled "[Jimy Chambers] was really into a lot of '60s music; Dave Fridmann, his background was more jazz. He used to put Steely Dan on

1003-405: A record producer. Bassist John DeVries substituted for Fridmann at an increasing number of live shows, including an Ireland-and-England tour in the autumn of 1992, with Gerald Menke taking over live bass duties by 1993. Despite considerable critical acclaim, Mercury Rev's early releases gave them little more than cult popularity, although thanks to early British press interest they secured

1062-440: A small team which continues as of 2023 . One of the earliest cult classics in rock was The Velvet Underground 's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico . While hugely influential, it originally flopped commercially and alienated radio stations, music retailers, and magazines, who found the content too controversial to market. Over the next decade, it received greater recognition from rock critics , who helped make

1121-501: Is especially loved within the hippie subculture, while Hocus Pocus (1993) holds cult status among American women born in the 1980s and early 1990s. Certain mainstream icons can become cult icons in a different context for certain people. Reefer Madness (1936) was originally intended to warn youth against the use of marijuana , but because of its ridiculous plot, overwhelming number of factual errors and cheap look, it became watched by audiences of marijuana smokers and has gained

1180-569: The Hit to Death in the Future Head album. This enabled him to return to Buffalo and concentrate full-time on Mercury Rev. Fridmann, meanwhile, had produced the band's early recordings as part of his university course-work, meaning that Mercury Rev could access and use the SUNY Fredonia studios in off-hours and at cheap rates. As they began to play live (and across a greater spread of venues and events),

1239-466: The Catskill Mountains . The personnel for the album was a loose core of Jonathan Donahue, Grasshopper and Suzanne Thorpe, joined by Dave Fridmann and by former drummer Jimy Chambers, and augmented by local musicians (including two former members of The Band - Garth Hudson and Levon Helm ). The involvement of the latter began to shift the band's musical focus closer to roots and acoustic music. At

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1298-487: The Hitman franchise to be the first and last great Hitman game, despite its outdated controls and gameplay, and not receiving deserved acclaim at the time, Alan Wake (2010), an action-adventure game whose story is modeled similar to a thriller television series format and has gained loyal followings despite its underselling, Spec Ops: The Line (2012), a critically acclaimed third-person shooter known for its portrayal of

1357-530: The UK , NME magazine made Deserter's Songs their Album of the Year . Donahue's earnest, high-pitched vocals and concentration on relatively concise, melodic songs gave the band's material an entirely new feel and much increased popularity ( Deserter's Songs spawned three UK Top 40 singles: " Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp ", "Opus 40" and " Goddess On A Hiway "). Both Suzanne Thorpe and Jimy Chambers left Mercury Rev following

1416-613: The UK Albums Chart , but only 105 in the US. The Man Who Sold the World ' s influence on future musicians, such as The Cure , Siouxsie and the Banshees , and Gary Numan , as well as the dark wave genre, lent it a cult following in the music scene. Punk rock has produced several albums with cult followings. The Ramones ' 1976 self-titled debut album sold poorly, but was hugely influential on

1475-423: The " horrors of war " and the deep psychological impact of armed conflict on soldiers , and Dwarf Fortress (2006), a construction and management simulation and roguelike indie video game known for its roguelike cuboidal-grid world model and sometimes difficult text-based interface , rich and complex simulation gameplay, similarly rich procedural world generation and history of continuous development by

1534-522: The "Car Wash Hair" single, a more straightforward song typifying the band's early merging of psychedelic rock and noise rock. During this year, the band had begun to solidify and concentrate on more sustained effort. Yerself is Steam had been completed during Donahue's breaks from Flaming Lips activity in tour and in Oklahoma: following creative disagreements with the band's frontman Wayne Coyne , Donahue left The Flaming Lips in mid-1991, shortly after recording

1593-499: The American hardcore punk band Bad Brains released their self-titled debut exclusively on cassette, struggling to gain an audience in the vinyl-dominated marketplace. The appearance of the single " Pay to Cum " on the compilation album Let Them Eat Jellybeans! (1981) helped Bad Brains develop a following in the UK, while the album's musical innovation and growing influence later ensured it

1652-646: The Australian soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H , the Indian soap opera that ran for eight years Kasautii Zindagii Kay and the mock animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast aired on Cartoon Network , which then spawned many spin-offs and other shows that had a similar sense of humor as Coast to Coast when Adult Swim became a block on the network. A large proportion of the titles aforementioned within this article might not be considered cult classics due to their wide saturation within contemporary audiences, though

1711-499: The Mayor of Denver. David Baker parted company with Mercury Rev after the Boces tour, citing musical and personal disputes. Baker remained on good terms with the band, and would later record albums as Shady and Variety Lights. With his departure, the thematically darker and musically experimental features of Mercury Rev began to disappear, with the music gradually shifting over time towards

1770-453: The Other Side failed to sell well, a situation which helped to trigger a destructive period for the band during which they fell into debt, came into conflict with their record label, lost their manager and lawyers, and parted company with drummer Jimy Chambers. Donahue and Grasshopper, in particular, were failing to communicate with each other and struggling with their individual drug and relationship problems. While Grasshopper retreated to

1829-468: The Satellite Heart . Mercury Rev's debut album was 1991's Yerself is Steam . Once referred to as "soundtracks to actual movies, composed by a band that didn’t really exist," it originated as the collective's attempts to devise and perform musical scores for student films showing in local galleries, or for existing nature documentaries which they'd watch on television and jam to. It was followed by

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1888-539: The Season " becoming a surprise hit the following year. While the Zombies disbanded just before its release, the album's status grew as a cult classic in the following decades. David Bowie 's 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World also did not impact the record charts on its original release while receiving mixed reviews from critics. After Bowie achieved mainstream success in the early 1970s, its 1972 reissue reached number 24 on

1947-528: The UK Top 40 single "In A Funny Way" (#28). The album itself reached #16 in the UK Albums chart. Jeff Mercel moved to keyboards for the subsequent tours, with his place on drums being taken on live dates by Jason Miranda. The Secret Migration was followed up in 2006, by a compilation album , The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 and the film soundtrack album Hello Blackbird . The band released

2006-470: The album more popular. The Beatles ' self-titled album known as The White Album at first received mixed reviews from music critics who considered its satirical songs unimportant and apolitical amid the turbulent political and social climate of 1968, but later attracted acclaim, and has since become a cult classic. The Zombies ' 1968 album Odessey and Oracle was also originally a critical and commercial flop, failing to chart despite its single " Time of

2065-447: The band and subsequently added enough bass guitar and sonic effect parts to make himself a full band member), and a late addition in the form of drummer Jimy Chambers (who joined towards the end of initial recording sessions to "effectively serve as the frame around Mercury Rev’s musical splatter.") The band was initially formed to score its members' student films, and had a loose playing and recording existence. The band's initial music

2124-430: The band began to make a name for themselves as creators of powerfully experimental, often chaotic psychedelic music, with Pitchfork later recalling "in their formative years, Mercury Rev really did sound like a careening bus headed towards a fiery crash — one where half the people on board were frantically fighting each other for control of the wheel, and the other half were in the back obliviously singing nursery rhymes as

2183-486: The band had ceased by 2016, Chandler had become a full member of Mercury Rev by the time that the band released Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited in February 2019. This was a reworking of Bobbie Gentry ’s 1968 album The Delta Sweete , featuring instrumentation by Mercury Rev and a different female guest singer on each song. Lucinda Williams , actress Carice van Houten , Beth Orton and Norah Jones were among

2242-442: The band on tour this time, their places being taken by bass player Paul Dillon and by multi-instrumentalist Carlos Anthony Molina on keyboards, augmented by second keyboard player Michael Schirmer. Carlos Anthony Molina had become a full Mercury Rev member by the time of Mercury Rev's fifth album, The Secret Migration , which was released on January 24, 2005, and on which he played both keyboards and bass guitar. The album featured

2301-498: The border to camp followings. Fans may become involved in a subculture of fandom , either via conventions , online communities or through activities such as writing series-related fiction , costume creation, replica prop and model building, or creating their own audio or video productions from the formats and characters. There is not always a clear difference between cult and mainstream media . Professors Xavier Mendik and Ernest Mathijs, authors of 100 Cult Films , argue that

2360-410: The context, we knew who Bowie was, we knew who all the bands were, but we didn't put them with us. We were just making music. It was, 'Us? Are we in a band?' Well, none of us live in the same town, we just meet in the studio and have a great time together doing stuff." At this early stage, several members also had other musical interests which prevented consistent Mercury Rev activity. Donahue worked as

2419-587: The creation of a "cottage industry" selling memorabilia to the EarthBound fandom , Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), an unusually mature 3D platform game for the Nintendo 64 celebrated for its dark humor and story, Yume Nikki (2004), a surreal free-to-play Japanese horror game , Psychonauts (2005), an initially unsuccessful platformer that has consistently kept one of the strongest fan followings, Hitman: Blood Money (2006), considered to many long-time fans of

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2478-437: The design of later video games. An example of a cult video game is Ico (2001), an initial commercial flop that gained a large following for its unique gameplay and minimalist aesthetics, and was noted as influencing the design of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013) and Rime (2017), among other games. Other games that have cult followings include EarthBound (1994), another unsuccessful game that later resulted in

2537-430: The devoted following among these films make them cult classics. In many cases, films that have cult followings may have been financial flops during their theatrical box office run, and even received mixed or mostly negative reviews by mainstream media, but are still considered a major success by small core groups or communities of fans. Some cults are only popular within a certain subculture . The film Woodstock (1970)

2596-516: The first independently released albums to accomplish the feat. Also in 1989, Nirvana 's debut album Bleach was released to some positive notice from critics, but failed to impact record charts, until the band's massively successful 1991 album Nevermind drew further interest to it. Radiohead 's albums Kid A and Amnesiac both received mixed reviews from fans and critics, but later attracted some praise and became cult classics. The R&B singer Bilal 's second album, Love for Sale , became

2655-462: The group also recorded and released the album, Paralyzed Mind Of The Archangel Void , under the moniker "Harmony Rockets". The album featured a single forty minute track of mostly instrumental psychedelic improvised music. It was rated four and half stars, out of five, by AllMusic . (Fourteen years later, in 2009, the group would revisit it for performance in the Don't Look Back concert series .) See You on

2714-778: The liner notes; actual writing credits from the ASCAP Repertory are listed below. Mercury Rev Mercury Rev was formed in 1989 by students at the University at Buffalo , partially inspired by the drone music of composer/ media studies professor Tony Conrad (then working as a teacher at the university, and a strong artistic influence on co-founder Grasshopper). The line-up gradually coalesced around Donahue, Grasshopper, vocalist/keyboard player David Baker and flute/French horn player Suzanne Thorpe; subsequent additions were bass guitarist/in-house producer Dave Fridmann (a music production student at SUNY Fredonia, who began by recording

2773-455: The recording of the album, with the tours promoting Deserter's Songs featuring the return of the Russo brothers and Adam Snyder (although all three would depart the live band during 2000). Jeff Mercel, who'd played on Deserter's Songs , also joined as touring drummer, and would soon become a full band member. Although Thorpe would return as a guest player for All is Dream , she would subsequently concentrate on academic research and emerge as

2832-537: The reveal of Laura Palmer 's murderer, who was left intentionally unknown by Lynch. Eventually, the show was canceled, ending on a cliffhanger. It was not until 2017 that Twin Peaks returned as a limited series on Showtime , ending one of the longest hiatuses in television history. Series often considered cult classics include the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who , the ITC sci-fi thriller series The Prisoner ,

2891-429: The secondary recording and mixing stage, Donahue, Grasshopper and Fridmann opted not to use their previous method of distorted guitar and electronic overdubs and instead began to use strings, horns and woodwinds, resulting in more of a chamber pop sound while retaining a psychedelic tinge. The 1998 release of the resulting Deserter's Songs album met with acclaim, and made Mercury Rev unexpected pop stars. In

2950-454: The series would be renewed for 20 additional episodes (released weekly) on the streaming service Hulu . Star Trek was cancelled after three seasons, but in broadcast syndication it gained a more substantial following, ultimately spawning a successful media franchise . David Lynch 's Twin Peaks ran on ABC for two seasons from 1990 to 1991, initially garnering high ratings and critical acclaim. Ratings and reception declined following

3009-399: The term cult classics may have loose classifications such as an initially unsuccessful release or large number of cliches (intentional or otherwise) leading to such a broad range of classification relative to personal experiences of its assigner. Some video games, often those with unique concepts that fail to gain traction with the mainstream audience, attract cult followings and can influence

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3068-402: The then-young punk movement, and eventually sold well enough to earn a gold sales certification in 2014. The British post-punk band Magazine also released their debut, Real Life (1978), to little popular success, reaching only number 29 in the UK. Its subsequent acclaim as an innovative and influential work in the burgeoning post-punk genre earned it a reputation as a cult classic. In 1982,

3127-461: The vocalists. The album achieved a Top 40 position in the UK charts, peaking at #32. 2021 saw further changes to the Mercury Rev line-up, with new bass player Chris Heitzman and second keyboard player Marion Genser joining the band. On June 4, 2024, Mercury Rev announced their latest studio album, Born Horses , which was released on September 6, 2024. The first single from the album, “Patterns,”

3186-405: The whole bucket of bolts went up in flames... [It was] less a melding of disparate sounds than a battle royale of oppositional ideologies: order and anarchy, ecstasy and terror, purity and perversion." Although Dave Fridmann remained the band's bass player, co-producer and co-composer in the studio, he often had to step back from his role as live bass player due to increasing demands on his time as

3245-465: Was a blend of experimental , psychedelic rock , drone and noise rock . David Baker recalls "we were in Buffalo, sitting there thinking, there's no hope of us being a band, we’re not going to be Guns N’ Roses . What we did wasn't considered real, because it wasn't being covered by Spin or Rolling Stone , so we could just be whatever we wanted to be. We'd take the microphone and record pots and pans or guitar and make our own little world. I mean, we knew

3304-421: Was also released on the day of the announcement. The band's line-up changed again this year, with Joe Magistro taking over on drums, and guitarist/flugelhorn player J.B. Meijers (who'd already made some band contributions in 2018) joining full-time. Cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular

3363-466: Was going to get blown up. Maybe you don’t bring in a song that you weren’t ready for somebody to blow up." Later in 1993, the band embarked on a tour to support the release of Boces , including some Lollapalooza shows during the summer. At the Lollopalooza gig at Greenwood Village, Colorado on 26 June, the band were forced off the stage for being too loud and "out of control" following an objection by

3422-472: Was issued in 2001 and became the band's highest charting album in the UK to date (#11). It included "Little Rhymes", "Nite and Fog" and "The Dark is Rising," which reached No. 16 in the UK Singles Chart . David Bowie producer Tony Visconti arranged strings and provided Mellotron parts for the album, which also featured contributions from Jason and Justin Russo. However, the Russo brothers did not join

3481-401: Was released on October 2, 2015, through Bella Union . It reached #39 on the UK albums chart. This was the first Mercury Rev album not to be co-produced by Dave Fridmann. At this point the band were officially a duo of Donahue and Grasshopper, with Molina, Miranda and Chandler still regularly contributing but as part of a set of support musicians. Although Molina and Miranda's involvement with

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