The Sisters Of Mercy

Although frontman Andrew Eldritch bristles at the term goth, The Sisters of Mercy gained notoriety in the UK as a goth rock band in the late-'70s/early '80s. Their commercial breakthrough would come with their second album, Floodland, in 1987.

The band shares its name with an order of Catholic nuns, but Eldritch and Marx took it from Leonard Cohen's 1967 song "Sisters of Mercy," which they heard in the Robert Altman film McCabe & Mrs. Miller, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Eldritch (Sounds, 1987): "I took it from the Leonard Cohen song which is all about prostitutes and I thought the balance between nuns and prostitutes was very appropriate for a rock band, still do."

Their debut album, First and Last and Always, was crafted during a series of intense recording sessions that pushed the group to its breaking point. Marx, Hussey, and Adams - who left the band shortly after - were increasingly frustrated with Eldritch and his perfectionist tendencies. Marx claimed: "We wasted weeks at a time in the studio, waiting for him to come up with a handful of lyrics. It was very painful and very expensive."