Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. The Times called them "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".
members: Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Budgie, Sid Vicious, Marco Pirroni, Peter Fenton
formed in: London
labels: Polydor Records, Sanctuary Records, Geffen Records
genres: post-punk, gothic rock, alternative rock, new wave
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Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy Music concert in September 1975, at a time when glam rock had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify. From February 1976, Siouxsie, Severin and some friends began to follow an unsigned band, the Sex Pistols. Journalist Caroline Coon dubbed them the "Bromley Contingent", as most of them came from the Bromley area of south-east London, a label Severin came to despise. "There was no such thing, it was just a bunch of people drawn together by the way they felt and they looked". They were all inspired by the Sex Pistols and their uncompromising attitude. When they learned that one of the bands scheduled to play the 100 Club Punk Festival, organised by Sex...
Siouxsie and the Banshees are recognized as post-punk pioneers. They have been described as developing "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation". The Times wrote that "The Banshees stand proudly [... as] one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era". With some of their darkest material, the band also helped spawn the gothic scene. The band is also considered a new wave act.
The band cited the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Iggy Pop and the Stooges amongst their first influences. At their beginnings, they also shared a common interest for the "glamorous art rock" of David Bowie, Roxy Music and T. Rex. They also had "a love for Can, Kraftwerk and Neu!". The films of Alfred Hitchcock were also influential.
Siouxsie and the Banshees have impacted many genres including post-punk, new wave, synth pop, gothic rock, alternative music, shoegaze and trip hop. They have been cited as influential by a wide range of musicians such as Joy Division, the Cure, the Smiths, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Tricky and LCD Soundsystem.
Are you them, or do you know them? The mail slot is open.
"Cities in Dust" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees from their album Tinderbox (1986). It was released on 18 October 1985 as the album's lead single.
"Cities in Dust" is a dance-rock, and dance-pop song. The lyrics describe the city of Pompeii, destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Imagery describing the volcano and its magma chamber, the condition of the victims of the eruption, and the subsequent discovery and excavation of the city comprises the bulk of the lyrics. The lyrics mention a shrine to Lares Familiares.
"Cities in Dust" peaked at No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1985. In the US, Geffen released the single in early 1986 and included a remix of the song by Bob Rock on the A side of the vinyl and also on the 12 inch vinyl as an additional track. Although not Siouxsie and the Banshees' first song to enter the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco chart, it was their first significant success, climbing to No. 17.
Spin hailed the group for creating "this intoxicating wonderful commercial dance record without losing their edge". Reviewer John Leland said, "In a month of good dance rock records, this is the best", and noted that it was "full bodied, dense, with layers of chugging funk guitars, toy piano, and various electronic things". He concluded with praise for Siouxsie's performance: "It's rare these days to find a full production job that draws its identity from the voice". NME praised it as a "massively confident burst of pop", recapturing "the wondrous hypnotic pop of the Banshees' greatest singles era".
Pato Fu recorded a version on their album Daqui Pro Futuro (2007). A cover by electronic artist Junkie XL was released as a single in 2008, and included on the Booming Back at You album, the soundtrack for the racing video game Burnout Paradise and the compilation album OMFGG – Original Music Featured on Gossip Girl No. 1.
"Kiss Them for Me" is a song written and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was produced by Stephen Hague.
It was released in 1991 as the first single from the band's 10th studio album, Superstition.
The song presented a change in musical direction for Siouxsie and the Banshees, adopting a much more straightforward pop-oriented feel than previous post-punk and gothic rock efforts, due in part to Hague's production work. Siouxsie Sioux's cryptic lyrics were an ode to American actress Jayne Mansfield. The lyrics refer to Mansfield in several ways: her catchword "divoon" (a creative respelling of “divine”, indicating luxuriance); referring to her heart-shaped swimming pool and her love of champagne and parties; and to the car crash that killed her in 1967. Kiss Them for Me was a 1957 film starring Mansfield and Cary Grant.
Melody Maker wrote a rave review, calling it "sublime", but noting that some listeners would be "horrified by its baggy backbeat and sheer unashamed danceability. It doesn't just groove, [...] It floats almost imperceptibly to its ecstatic climax, each sweet verse and saccharin chorus a tantalising hint of what's to come. And when it comes, by Christ your knees give way".
"Kiss Them for Me" was released on 13 May 1991, and was Siouxsie and the Banshees' biggest hit in the United States. It became their second and last entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and their first single to hit the top 40, peaking at No. 23 in the week of 19 October. It also became the band's second chart-topper on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart, spending five weeks at No. 1 during the summer of 1991. "Kiss Them for Me" was the first Banshees song to hit the top 10 on the US US Hot Dance/Disco chart, peaking at No. 8. In the US it also spent several months on heavy rotation on MTV.
The song was covered by Diane Birch, School of Seven Bells in 2010 and Anna Nalick in 2011. It was occasionally used as background music on the CBC Radio One program Q and was used in the Daria episode "Ill". "Kiss Them for Me" was the last song played on the MTV program 120 Minutes.
"Peek-a-Boo" is a song by the English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in July 1988. It was the first single from their 1988 album Peepshow.
It peaked at number 16 in the UK Singles chart. In the United States, "Peek-a-Boo" became Siouxsie and the Banshees' first single to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately peaking at number 53.
The song's peculiar sound is due to its experimental recording which was based on a sample. The song was built on a loop in reverse of a brass part with drums which the group previously arranged a year before for a cover of John Cale's "Gun". The band selected different parts of that tape when played backwards, editing them and re-recording on top of it, adding a different melody plus accordion, a one-note bass and jarring guitar. Drummer Budgie also added another beat. Once the instrumental parts were finished, Siouxsie sang her lyrics over it. The lyric track was further manipulated by Siouxsie's use of a different microphone for each line of the song. It took the band a year to arrive at this result. When initially composed to be an...
Melody Maker described the song as "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance" and qualified its genre as "thirties hip hop". "Peek-a-Boo" was rated "Single of the Week" in both Sounds and NME. Sounds wrote that it was a "brave move", "playful and mysterious". NME described it as "oriental marching band hip hop" with "catchy accordion." They concluded: "If this nation was served by anything approaching a decent pop radio station, 'Peek A Boo' would be a huge hit."
Bloc Party praised "Peek-a-Boo" and their singer Kele Okereke said: "It sounded like nothing else on this planet. [...] to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard."
"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut single by the English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released as a single on 18 August 1978 by Polydor Records, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
The first version, titled "People Phobia", was composed by guitarist John McKay in 1977. The band first heard it on a tour bus.
The band's label, Polydor Records, booked a big recording studio in London, Olympic Studios, in July 1978 to record the song with the help of American producer Bruce Albertine, who was more into soul music. The result was not convincing; the band hated it. Their manager, Nils Stevenson, quickly decided to call another sound engineer, Steve Lillywhite, who had a musical approach closer to theirs. Lillywhite was in London at that time recording with Johnny Thunders. The group and Lillywhite chose to work in a more intimate place and opted for a smaller studio, the Fallout Shelter located in the basement of Island Records.
"Hong Kong Garden" was released on 18 August 1978 by Polydor Records. It reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, and became one of the first post-punk hits.
Sonic Youth vocalist and guitarist Thurston Moore named "Hong Kong Garden" as one of his all-time favourite songs. Uffie covered "Hong Kong Garden" on her debut album, mentioning it was one of her favorite songs.
"Face to Face" is a song recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was composed by the group along with Danny Elfman and was produced by Stephen Hague.
The track was featured in the 1992 film Batman Returns and is included on its soundtrack. The director of the film, Tim Burton, asked the band to compose the main song of the movie.
The song featured strings that build to a dramatic conclusion. Lyrically, the song makes indirect references to the film's characters Bruce Wayne/Batman played by Michael Keaton, and Selina Kyle/Catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer. "Face to Face" was heard in the film during a ballroom scene in which the characters dance together, not realising that, as their alter-egos (Batman and Catwoman), they are enemies. The lyrics reflected the characters' conflict ("...Cheek to cheek / the bitter sweet / commit your crime / in your deadly time / It's too divine / I want to bend / I want this bliss / but something says I must resist..."). At one point, lead singer Siouxsie Sioux can be heard purring like a cat, a reference to Catwoman. Tim...
In the US, the song was first included on the Batman Returns movie soundtrack album, which was released by Warner Bros. Records on 23 June 1992. Due to contractual problems, the song was then released on its own a couple of weeks later in the US, but only on cassette by Warner Bros, which had owned the copyright for the Batman Returns soundtrack. Consequently, Geffen, the band's US record company, didn't have the license and was not allowed to release the song on any other format. Outside the US, Polydor found an agreement with Warner Bros to release the song as a single, on vinyl, 7-inch and 12-inch, and on cassette and CD. 808 State remixed the song, issued as "Face to Face (Catatonic Mix)".
At the time of its release as a single, the Stud Brothers wrote in Melody Maker: "It's a slow, heavily orchestral & sensuously tense piece with Siouxsie first tapt, then cracked and finally spiralling off into the ether".