siouxsie and the banshees: classic or dud? search and destroy

I'm 100% behind that list.

A, LS: your essay, along with the latest Prince developments, got it in my head that S&TB and Prince were walking oddly parallel paths through the 80s, if you exchange punk roots with funk roots. 1980-1990, both had a nearly perfect run of singles that toyed with new wave, pop, psychedelia and dance music in equal measures. They were juggling kink and camp and high art, and I see a lot of matches between the mood and production on their big singles. Like, the opening to this "Dazzle" remix could easily break into "Take Me With You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAOOUR2KCpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMzkXdiAggs

Some of it is just the gated snare and polyrhythms that were standard in 1984, but both artists were very good at balancing the gaudy and the raw and feeling like outsiders when they were right in the middle of everything.

then it all comes apart after 1988?

Fascinating analysis – thanks!

Yeah, 88 is where it gets shaky. Their respective landscapes get taken over by sample-heavy hip hop and shoegaze, trends that owed a lot to them but they were too established to comfortably capitalize upon. 3 Feet High and Rising, Isn't Anything owe them tons.

"Night Shift" is my all-time Siouxsie track

It's totally alien to me -- the omission of The Lord's Prayer from any list or overarching discussion about this band's history

I think "The Lord's Prayer" is more interesting as an artifact than it is enjoyable to listen to. I feel that way about large sections of Join Hands actually, unless I happen to be super pissed off and hating everything in which case the whole album slides into focus and is perfect.

^^^ otm

That said, "Playground Twist" and "Icon" rule

I think "The Lord's Prayer" is more interesting as an artifact than it is enjoyable to listen to.

totally disagree, but it's one of those things like tunafish sandwiches, where I acknowledge and respect the popularity of the opposite viewpoint, even though I'm shaking my head dolefully as I type.

is "The Lord's Prayer" the tuna fish sandwich

the opposite.

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper
A friend of Harward's says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a "shit sandwich."

Do wish there was a decent recording of their original take on Lord's Prayer from the 100 Club. Different line up improvising on the spot. May have been a better idea than execution but seems archetypal.
Marco Pirroni on guitar, was it Sid on drums?

iirc yes

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper
A friend of Harward's says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a "shit sandwich."

― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.),

is this what "This Wheel's On Fire" is about

Icons falling from the spiiiiiirrrrrrrres

Join Hands totally slays

You know, there's no handy Banshees anthology. I think most bands benefit from a 30-40 track roundup of their best material. Sure there's the two singles collections but that's not the same.

What about this: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Siouxsie-Banshees/dp/B00006IJXN

Looks pretty good!

It needs to be twice as long! I know there's a 2 disc version but the second disc is all remixes.

oh that's actually pretty cool, I wasn't aware that all those 12" versions were on CD

Didn't they add contemporary singles including 12" mixes to the relevant lps when they did the remasters over the last decade?

Was going to come over and say for me the John McGeoch era is the greatest in its psychy folky otherness.
There's a load of live stuff around from the era including a Rockpalast.

They didn't include anything from the "Downside Up" box when they did the reissues, only some demos and the occasional 12" mix - those are strewn about various releases as well.

This performance still sends shivers down my spine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK1ny-YPV4U

Happy belated 60th birthday Siouxsie. Your albums mean more to me the older I get. I hope you perform once again.

I will happily echo that.

Siouxsie, Love and Rockets, Iggy Pop, Echo & The Bunnymen, Adam Ant, Billy Idol playing Cruel World 2023. Details: https://t.co/IjadKbfmUP pic.twitter.com/53xUZO8FoJ

— Slicing Up Eyeballs (@slicingeyeballs) January 23, 2023

'[Siouxsie's] father was a bacteriologist who milked venom from snakes' is a joyous wikipedia fact.

While we're on this tangent, Siouxsie was included last week in a quiz round I compiled on famous Belgians (she qualifies via her father).

Cruel World is only a 20 minute drive (w/o traffic) from my house. Legit excited at dad goth lineup.

Xp hah, never knew. Saw her in Brussels on her solo tour but that was quite a detached performance

Bob Geldof too, sort of.

Come to think of it, 'milked venom from snakes' sounds like a line from the Banshees' early 80s heyday

Cruel World is only a 20 minute drive (w/o traffic) from my house. Legit excited at dad goth lineup.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, January 24, 2023 2:18 AM

I'm in the OC so it's a bit further for me but would love to go to this. Not sure tho as I think my festival days are behind me.

Wow, Billy Love and Echo AND Idol Rockets?

poor Gang of Four, they don't deserve the 5th line

It's a great eye chart for a punk rock ophthalmologist's office

Looks like I'm going, I have been convinced.

I heard horror stories about the heat last year so as tempting as this is, going to pass and pray she does a bay area stop (love and rockets too; I imagine they might, does david J still live here or did he move to LA?)

AFAIK, David J has been in LA for awhile now.

Drugs -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoZivXDGgYM

I love this one

Somehow always puts me in the mind of The Aloof - Abuse

I think it's how the dutdutdut is often matched by a slowly descending double. E rush kosmische or something.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-05-22/cruel-world-siouxsie-iggy-pop-festival

I forget which thread the cruel world fest was discussed on, but here’s Simon Reynolds review