From wikipedia:

"The name derives from the belief that various ritualistic acts will lead to a bestowing of material wealth."

Basically, slavishly copying someone else's actions without actually understanding the underlying principle behind those actions. The most famous example is from WWII - Japanese and American armed forces built airstrips on underdeveloped islands, and either abandoned or shared what seemed like massive amounts of wealth with the islanders. When the war was over, islanders replicated airstrips and military bases, some even dressing up as soldiers, in order to bring back the flow of cargo.

>Basically, slavishly copying someone else's actions without actually understanding the underlying principle behind those actions.

And it should be noted that this works really well much of the time, which is why humans often do it. A deep understanding can be beneficial if you're capable of grasping it, but if we're honest, most people aren't.

Yeah but the idea of the expression is to apply it in situations where it clearly isn't working. If it works you don't call it a cargo cult anymore

This is not the answer, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_Cult_%28musician%29

Looks like someone already had the idea of using this as a band name!