Cult Of Youth’s Sean Ragon Dead At 45

Sean Ragon, founder and frontman for the goth- and punk-rooted psych-folk band Cult Of Youth, has died. "It is with a heavy heart that I say, Sean Ragon has left this mortal coil," reads an announcement from the band's Facebook page. "Thank you to all of you for the support over the years. Love will prevail." No cause of death has been listed. He was 45.Ragon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to prominent local philanthropists Philip "Terry" Ragon and Susan Ragon. He got his start in music in the late '90s, playing in local punk bands like Class Action and Wreckage, pursued abrasive electronic music under the alias Axiomata, and circa 2010 did a brief stint playing bass in the Olympia, Washington indie band Love As Laughter. But by then he had launched the band that would be his main musical legacy.Cult Of Youth began as Ragon's solo project in the late 2000s. Taking influence from pagan folk acts, a wide range of goth and punk bands, and industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, Ragon's early releases for labels like Dais Records honed in on a doom-laden, militaristic strain of neo-folk that built up a fervent underground audience. By 2011, they'd become a full-fledged band and si...