History Music / TheSistersOfMercy

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sisters.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250: [[SarcasmMode Clearly not Goth Rock.]]]]

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!! Associated Tropes:

You could also count ''Gift,'' which was released under the pseudonym "The Sisterhood" in 1985 by Eldritch, Morrison, Avalanche, Lucas Fox, James Ray, and [[Music/{{Suicide|Band}} Alan Vega]] in the midst of the legal dispute between Eldritch on the one side and Hussey and Adams on the other. The album secured Eldritch's legal right to continue as ''The Sisters of Mercy'' while Hussey and Adams were forced to rename their band to "The Mission" ("The Mission UK" in the US, as there had been another band with that name).

* ShoutOut: The band's {{catchphrase}} "Tune in, turn on, burn out" is a variation on "Turn on, tune in, drop out," made famous by Timothy Leary, a counter-culture figure from the 1960s.

* GothRock: The Sisters of Mercy is, for all intents and purposes, one of the most influential goth bands and has inspired the gothic scene aesthetically and musically. Andrew Eldritch, who adamantly insists otherwise, says in an interview:

* CoverVersion: "1969" by Music/TheStooges, "Gimme Shelter" by Music/TheRollingStones (on ''Some Girls Wander By Mistake''), "Sister Ray" by the Music/VelvetUnderground, "Ghost Rider" by Music/{{Suicide|Band}}, the GarageRock staple "Louie Louie," "The Sisters of Mercy" by Music/LeonardCohen (a live staple), "Emma" by Hot Chocolate (a bonus track on the 2006 copy of ''Floodland''), and ''Gimme Gimme'' by Music/{{ABBA}} and "Jolene" by Music/DollyParton are live favourites.

* AfterTheEnd: The Music video for "This Corrosion" takes place in ''very'' bleak post-apocalyptic future that wouldn't look out of place in the ''Franchise/Terminator'' films.

You could also count ''Gift,'' which was released under the pseudonym "The Sisterhood" in 1985 by Eldritch, Morrison, Avalanche, Lucas Fox, James Ray, and [[Music/{{Suicide}} Alan Vega]] in the midst of the legal dispute between Eldritch on the one side and Hussey and Adams on the other. The album secured Eldritch's legal right to continue as ''The Sisters of Mercy'' while Hussey and Adams were forced to rename their band to "The Mission" ("The Mission UK" in the US, as there had been another band with that name).

* CoverVersion: "1969" by Music/TheStooges, "Gimme Shelter" by Music/TheRollingStones (on ''Some Girls Wander By Mistake''), "Sister Ray" by the Music/VelvetUnderground, "Ghost Rider" by Music/{{Suicide}}, the old staple "Louie Louie," "The Sisters of Mercy" by Music/LeonardCohen (a live staple), "Emma" by Hot Chocolate (a bonus track on the 2006 copy of ''Floodland''), and ''Gimme Gimme'' by Music/{{ABBA}} and "Jolene" by Music/DollyParton are live favourites.

* GothRock: As much as Eldritch would insist otherwise, the Sisters of Mercy is one of the bands that has inspired the gothic scene aesthetically and musically. He says in an interview:

The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band formed in Leeds, [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} England]] in 1977, when guitarist Gary Marx and then drummer Andrew Eldritch "just wanted to hear themselves on the radio." Widely regarded as GothRock by their fans, but Eldritch denounced this label himself, preferring to call The Sisters an "Industrial Groove Machine."

The band's lineup is ever-changing, with the exception of Andrew Eldritch (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Doktor Avalanche (a drum machine). Past members include, but are not limited to: Ben Gunn (who left to play in a band called Torch in 1983), Gary Marx (who left to form Ghost Dance in 1985), Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (who left to form Music/TheMission in the same year), Patricia Morrison (who left after Andrew didn't pay her for playing on ''Floodland''), Tony James (ex-''Generation X'' and Music/SigueSigueSputnik, who left after ''Vision Thing'').

Somewhat more importantly, they also have ''Some Girls Wander by Mistake,'' a compilation of (most) of the singles and [=EPs=] they released during the early '80s before they actually had a recording contract. It contains many of their best (and a few of their worst, and they'll tell you that) songs. None of these albums sound anything like each other, except for Eldritch's [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] ish vocal style. ''Some Girls'' was about icy, mechanical drum machine beats coupled with deep bass and high end, [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth minimal guitar riffs]] ("Alice" is notable because... Well, because it's awesome, but also because the riff is almost always mistaken for Music/{{ACDC}}'s "Thunderstruck" from 8 years later. The riffs are both one string wonders using the same string). Note that Eldritch plays the drums quite horrendously on "The Damage Done," although most the other stuff on the the album use a drum machine. Most of the Sisters' imitators (and they have many) tend to use the early ''Some Girls Wander by Mistake'' stuff as their template.

''First and Last and Always'' was made at a tumultuous time in the band's career, which involved Andrew Eldritch out of his mind on amphetamines for large chunks of the sessions, stringing himself out until he had to be hospitalised, heaps of material being left by the wayside (some of it later reworked by Marx and Hussey to be used in ''Ghost Dance'' and ''The Mission'' respectively), and culminated in guitarist Gary Marx leaving the band in a huff around the time of the album's release. For this album, they tried for a warmer sound with more sophisticated guitar pop and less challenging lyrics. It's also the most stereotypically gothic of the releases, and has a large cult following for it.

** HEY NOW, HEY NOW NOW, SING THIS CORROSION TO ME. Hey hey hey hey hey, na-na-na-nah-now. Lather, rinse, repeat.

* CityOfCanals: Eldritch lived in UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}} while writing ''Floodland,'' and named the album that in reference to the city's excess of water.

* CrazyCatLady: Eldritch. Well, not quite.

* GothRock: Just don't tell Andrew.

* IAmTheBand: Eldritch. Especially on ''Floodland,'' where the personnel list is basically him, a session guitarist named Eddie Martinez, the New York Choral society, ''maybe'' Patricia Morrison (sources vary on whether she actually played on the album or not) and some additional producers (including no less than Jim "Bat out of Hell" Steinman!).

* NewSoundAlbum: The more straightforward rock oriented ''Vision Thing,'' leading to quite a bit of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

* {{Omniglot}}: Eldritch. Well, he did study languages at Oxford...

* RecordProducer: With the exception of ''First and Last and Always,'' which was produced by David Allen (whose work Eldritch and Marx have criticised), Eldritch has had a production credit on all their other albums, which he shared on ''Floodland'' with Larry Alexander and Music/JimSteinman (whose main contribution was recording the gospel choirs for "This Corrosion" and "Dominion / Mother Russia;" Eldritch said Steinman didn't care about anything else and had no other input). Steinman returned on ''Vision Thing'' to co-produce and co-write "More" (and later borrowed that song's riff and part of the chorus for ''Theatre/BatmanTheMusical''), and Chris Tsangarides is credited for "When You Don't See Me," but the rest was self produced.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Mostly 3-5, though a sizable amount of ''[[NewSoundAlbum Vision Thing]]'' goes up to a 6. Also, "1959," being a piano ballad, is a 1.

The band's lineup is ever-changing, with the exception of Andrew Eldritch (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Doktor Avalanche (a drum machine). Past members include, but are not limited to: Ben Gunn (who ran away to play in a band called ''Torch'' in 1983), Gary Marx (who ran away to form ''Ghost Dance'' in 1985), Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (who ran away to form ''The Mission''), Patricia Morrison (who ran away after Andrew didn't pay her for playing on ''Floodland''), Tony James (ex-''Generation X'' and Music/SigueSigueSputnik, who ran away after ''Vision Thing'').

You could also count ''Gift,'' which was released under the pseudonym "The Sisterhood" in 1985 by Eldritch, Morrison, Avalanche, Lucas Fox, James Ray, and [[Music/{{Suicide}} Alan Vega]] in the midst of the legal dispute between Eldritch on the one side and Hussey and Adams on the other. The album secured Eldritch's legal right to continue as ''The Sisters of Mercy'' while Hussey and Adams were forced to rename their band to ''The Mission'' (''The Mission UK'' in the US, as there had been another band with that name).

* OneWomanWail: The late Ofra Haza provided one in the re-arranged (i.e. the famous) version of "Temple of Love."

** The 1992 version of "Temple of Love" with the late Ofra Haza's OneWomanWail contrasting against Eldritch.

* BreakupBreakout: Oh lord.

*** Even more so in ''Triana'''s cover of the song: Full 7 minutes of "Heartland." Just try to sing along and not lose your breath along the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxX7E0ocQwk way.]]

* [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Cat Man]]: Eldritch. Well, not quite.

-->"Temple of Love"

The band's lineup is ever changing, with the exception of Andrew Eldritch (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Doktor Avalanche (a drum machine). Past members include, but are not limited to: Ben Gunn (who ran away to play in a band called ''Torch'' in 1983), Gary Marx (who ran away to form ''Ghost Dance'' in 1985), Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (who ran away to form ''The Mission''), Patricia Morrison (who ran away after Andrew didn't pay her for playing on ''Floodland''), Tony James (ex-''Generation X'' and Music/SigueSigueSputnik, who ran away after ''Vision Thing'').