THE CULT SEEKS MASS APPEAL

The last thing the Cult wants is the small but fervent following suggested by its name. The fast-rising English rock group craves Top 10 acceptence so badly that it is willing to go back to 1976 for it.

To help in its mainstream rock assault, the Cult teamed up on its forthcoming album with Rick Rubin, the U.S. record producer who made rock stars out of rappers Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys.

No, the Cult hasn’t turned to rap.

Rubin has simply helped the group define its sound in a way that evokes the aggressive, guitar-dominated style of the bands that he enjoyed a decade ago as a Long Island teen-ager. The result is a hard-rock cross between the relentless drive of AC/DC and the slighlty more melodic approach of Aerosmith.

On stage last weekend at the 3,500-seat Hammersmith Odeon Theatre here, lead singer Ian Astbury even looked like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler: long flowing hair, a frilly black shirt and pouting lips. The show’s production also echoed ‘70s hard-rock cliches: drum solos, strobe lights and fireworks-like explosions.

Though Astbury pranced around like a ‘70s rock hero should, his lyrics were little more than the usual hard-rock babble about sex and good times. Sample line from one of the group’s new songs: Living in a shack in a one-horse town/ Trying to get to heaven before the sun goes down . . . Come on lil devil/ be my angel.

Guitarist Billy Duffy framed the group’s lean, sensual sound and contributed the most convincing punch. A no-nonsense guitarist whose stinging style leans heavily on familiar riffs, he still asserted a winning spirit.

The Rubin association and the ‘70s trimmings haven’t been lost on the playful British pop press. “Def Cult!” was the wry headline this week on a New Musical Express review of the three sold-out Cult shows--a reference to the band’s pairing with Rubin, co-owner of Def Jam Records.

A rival publication had fun with the cliches in the live show, though the reviewer admitted that it all worked. “(The show) may be everything that punk taught us to hate, but the heartstopping rush of truly violent rock guitar will always be impossible to resist.”

The Cult’s bare-bones strategy should go over well with hard-rock U.S. fans when the band tours with Billy Idol this spring. The new attack should also clear up the band’s image problem following the 1985 release of its debut album. Because the band was embraced during its early days by the colorful (if color less ) Gothic gloom-rock contingent in England, its U.S. record company promoted it last year as part of a new-wave underground.

While the band displayed some hard-rock elements the first time around, its punch was diluted by some psychedelic edges and hippie trimmings. But there’s no mistaking the Cult’s intent now.

Rubin, basking in the glow of the Beastie Boys’ tremendous U.S. success (its album has been No. 1 for three weeks), thinks he has another winner in the Cult.

“You think of (high energy) rock and roll and you think of AC/DC, ZZ Top, Aerosmith and now you’ll probably also think of the Cult,” he told a British pop journal recently. “This . . . album will put the Cult’s name up there with groups like that.”

Astbury and Duffy both deny that they were simply jumping on a commercial bandwagon in asking Rubin to produce the new record, due out next month in the United States.

Wearing an L.A. Raiders jacket backstage after Sunday’s concert, Astbury said they heard a Rubin-produced Beastie Boys single more than a year ago and liked the guitar and drum sound. They later contacted Rubin, who expressed interest in someday working with them. Their biggest worry in recent months, in light of Rubin’s success with the Beasties and Run-D.M.C., was that he wouldn’t have time for them.

They even began working on their second album with Steve Brown, who produced the Cult’s first LP. After a couple months, however, they had second thoughts.

“We realized that we were making the first album all over again in terms of sound,” said Duffy. “We wanted to get down to basics. When we (switched) to Rick, we just wanted him to remix a couple of the tracks, but he said, ‘I think we should redo the whole record.’

“We couldn’t believe it at first, but we finally realized that he was right. He was tough on us in the studio, making me come up with whole new riffs for songs,” Duffy continued. “But it was worth it. We’ve got the album we wanted. It’s got the power of the bands that first made us want to be in rock and roll.”

LONDON BITS: Members of the Cult aren’t the only ones looking back these days. Last week’s British Top 10 singles chart included three oldies (Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and Jackie Wilson’s “I Get the Sweetest Feeling”) and two remakes (Boy George’s version of Bread’s “Everything I Own” and Freddie Mercury’s rendition of the Platters’ “The Great Pretender”). . . . U2, whose “The Joshua Tree” album entered the sales charts here at No. 1, will headline two concerts this summer at Wembley Stadium, the English home of 1985’s Live Aid benefit. . . . Russell Simmons, who was here this week to work on the next album by Whodini, said Run-D.M.C. won’t be making a guest appearance on the Michael Jackson album as originally planned.