“Fire Woman” by The Cult

"Fire Woman" was the first single from Sonic Temple, the Cult's fourth album, in 1989, and it's a strutting, sweat-soaked hard rock number built to shake the rafters. Singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy wrote it, and Bob Rock produced it with Mike Fraser on the recording, polishing the band's swagger to a high gloss without losing the grit.

Duffy's guitar riff struts and snarls, Jamie Stewart's bass and Mickey Curry's drums pound out a hip-shaking groove, John Webster fills in on keyboard, and Astbury howls like a shaman at a bonfire. He has said the fire woman of the title is a universal symbol, something closer to a primal element than a particular person.

It peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and 46 on the Hot 100, went to number one in New Zealand and reached 15 in the UK. Two remixes, the "LA Rock Mix" and the "NYC Rock Mix", went out as B-sides and promos, and the song has since landed on every Cult hits collection and stayed a fixture of their live shows.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.