It’s a powerful start to their debut album. “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour is the opening track on their 1988 debut album Vivid. The song launched them into the public eye, thanks in large part to MTV. The song was a commercial success winning the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards. Its music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video and MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.
The band's guitarist and founder, Vernon Reid said that the song came together quite quickly in just one rehearsal session. He stumbled onto the guitar riff while practicing something else and by the end of that session they had written what was to become their best known song. The title comes from a psychological phenomenon called cult of personality, and the lyrics contain many political references.
