Siouxsie Sioux
| Siouxsie | |
|---|---|
 Sioux performing in 1980
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Susan Janet Ballion |
| Born | 27 May 1957 London, England |
| Genres | Punk rock Post-punk New wave Gothic rock Alternative rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, singer, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, melodica, finger cymbals |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | Polydor, Geffen Records, Sioux Records, W14 |
| Associated acts | Siouxsie and the Banshees The Creatures |
| Website | Official Siouxsie website |
Siouxsie Sioux (born Susan Janet Ballion on 27 May 1957 in London), is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work as the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996) and of its splinter group The Creatures (1981–2005). She has also sung with artists such as Morrissey1 and John Cale.2 In 2004, she began a solo career.
Siouxsie is considered to be "one of the most influential British singers of the rock era".3 Her music has influenced a variety of artists including LCD Soundsystem,4 Tricky,5 Jeff Buckley6 Massive Attack,7 and TV on the Radio.8
She was rated the number seven female rock artist by Q magazine in 2002.9
Contents |
Early life
Siouxsie was born at Guy's Hospital in Southwark, south east London, England, the youngest of three children. She attended Mottingham Secondary Modern School for Girls in Kent. Her mother was a bilingual secretary, her father a laboratory technician who milked serum from venomous snakes in the Belgian Congo. Her father died of complications from alcoholism when Sioux was 14; shortly afterward, she survived a life-threatening bout of ulcerative colitis, which she later said "completely demystified the body for me."10
During her teens, she was a self-confessed loner, who enjoyed listening to the music of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, T.Rex, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges. It was during this period that she began frequenting the local gay discos. She became well known in the London punk scene for her glam, fetish and bondage attire, which became staples of punk fashion. She also later popularized the gothic style of dress with her trademark feline-style eye makeup, deep red lipstick, spiky dyed-black hair, and black clothing.
In the mid-1970s, journalist Caroline Coon coined the term "Bromley Contingent" to describe a group of eccentric teenagers devoted to the Sex Pistols. Siouxsie was a member of the Contingent, along with fellow Banshees founder Steven Severin.
Siouxsie's first gig was with her group Suzie and the Banshees, as an unrehearsed fill-in at the 100 Club Punk Festival organised by Malcolm McLaren in September 1976. The group did not know or play any songs; they improvised as Siouxsie recited poems and prayers she had memorized. It opened a new era for women in music as Viv Albertine from The Slits later commented:
"Siouxsie just appeared fully made, fully in control, utterly confident. It totally blew me away. There she was doing something that I dared to dream but she took it and did it and it wiped the rest of the festival for me, that was it. I can't even remember everything else about it except that one performance."11
The same month, the Bromley Contingent followed the Sex Pistols to France, where Sioux was beaten up for wearing a black armband with a swastika on it. She claimed her intent was to shock the bourgeoisie, not to make a political statement.12 She later wrote the songs "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" (in memory of the anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield) and the single "Israel".13
One of Siouxsie's first public appearances was with the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's television show in December 1976. In the course of Grundy's interview with the members of the Sex Pistols, the presenter tried to flirt with her. In reaction, Pistols guitarist Steve Jones called him a "dirty bastard" and a "dirty fucker",14 which created a media furore that had a major impact on the Pistols' subsequent career.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
In 1976, Siouxsie formed the band Siouxsie and the Banshees with her friend Steven Severin on bass guitar. Two years later, their first single, "Hong Kong Garden" with its glockenspiel motif, instantaneously reached the top 10 in the UK. It was pictured by critics as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing heard in a long, long time."15
Their first album, 1978's The Scream, was described by Nick Kent in the NME in the following terms 16: "The band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can, if any parallel can be drawn." At the end of the article, he added this remark: "Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results." The Scream was later hailed by the NME as one of the best debut album of all time with Patti Smith's Horses.17 Join Hands followed in 1979.
The 1980 album Kaleidoscope marked a change of musical direction with the arrival of John McGeoch, considered "one of the most innovative and influential guitarists of the past thirty years".18 The hit single "Happy House" was qualified as "great pop" with "liquid guitar"19 and other songs like "Red Light" were layered with electronic sounds. Kaleidoscope widened her audience, reaching the top 5 in the UK charts. Juju followed in 1981, reaching number 7. During the recording sessions, the singer decided to form a second act, The Creatures, with Banshees drummer Budgie, to record music more based on percussion. The first record of the duo was the EP Wild Things. In 1982, the British press greeted the Siouxsie and the Banshees' album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse enthusiastically.20 Richard Cook in the NME finished his review with "I promise. This music will take your breath away." 21
In 1983, Siouxsie went to Hawaii to record The Creatures' first album Feast, which included the hit-single "Miss the Girl". Then with the Banshees and guitarist Robert Smith of The Cure, she revisited The Beatles' "Dear Prudence", reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart.22 Two other records followed with Smith: Nocturne, recorded live in London and Hyæna in 1984. 1986's Tinderbox and the 1987 covers album Through the Looking Glass both reached the top 15 in the UK.
In 1988, the single "Peek-a-Boo" marked a musical departure from her previous work: it anticipated hip hop-inspired rock with the use of samples. The song was praised by the NME as "oriental marching band hip hop with farting horns and catchy accordion"23 and hailed by the Melody Maker as "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance."24 The Peepshow album was considered by critics as her most successful album in years.25
Siouxsie then temporarily reformed the Creatures with Budgie and went to Spain to record Boomerang. In his review, Simon Reynolds said that it was her "most inventive and invigorated music since A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.".26
In 1991, the singer scored a hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with "Kiss Them for Me" peaking at number 23.27 After the release of Superstition that encountered enthusiatic reviews,28 she co-headlined the first Lollapalooza tour further increasing her American following. In 1992, Siouxsie recorded the single "Face to Face" and marked a pause of a few years. She then released the last Banshees studio album The Rapture. After the accompanying tour, the Banshees announced their split during a press conference called "20 minutes into 20 years".29
1994-2003
In the mid-1990s, Siouxsie started to make one-off collaborations with other artists.
Morrissey recorded a duet with her in 1994. They both sang on the single "Interlude", a track that was initially performed by Timi Yuro, a female torch singer of the 1960s.
In 1995, she released the song "The Lighthouse" on the French producer Hector Zazou's album Chansons des mers froides which translates to Songs from the Cold Seas. Siouxsie and Zazou adapted the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet Wilfred Wilson Gibson.
In February 1998, John Cale invited her at a festival called "With a Little Help From My Friends" that took place at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The concert was shown on Dutch national television and featured an unreleased composition of Siouxsie, "Murdering Mouth" sung in duet with Cale.30 The collaboration between the two artists worked so well that they later both decided to tour the USA during the summer, singing some songs together like Sioux's "Murdering Mouth" and Cale's "Gun".
The following year, Siouxsie and Budgie released the first Creatures album since the split of the Banshees. Anima Animus was described by The Times as "hypnotic and inventive".31 The singer later made another collaboration, making this time a duet with Marc Almond on the track "Threat Of Love".
In 2003, she was asked to compose and sing the title track to Basement Jaxx's album Kish Kash: the record then received a prize at the Grammy Awards.32 Shortly after, Siouxsie released the last Creatures album, Hai! which was in part recorded in Japan. Peter Wratts wrote in Time Out: "her voice is the dominant instrument here, snaking and curling around the bouncing drumming backdrop, elegiac and inhuman as she chants, purrs and whispers her way around the album" and it's a "spine-tingling achievement".33
Solo career
One year later, she toured for the first time as a solo act combining Banshees and Creatures songs: a live DVD called Dreamshow recorded the last London concert of September 2004, performed with the Millennia Ensemble. Released in August 2005, this DVD reached the number one position in the UK music DVD charts.34
Her first solo album MantaRay was released on September 2007. Pitchfork Media wrote "She really is pop" before finishing the review by declaring "It's a success."35 Mojo magazine stated "a thirst for sonic adventure radiates from each track".36
In 2008, Siouxsie took part in The Edge of Love soundtrack by composer Angelo Badalamenti, frequent collaborator with director David Lynch. She sang on the title "Careless Love". She later performed another Badalamenti number "Who Will Take My Dreams Away" at the annual edition of the World Soundtrack Awards.37
After a year of touring, the singer played the last show of her tour in London in September. A live DVD of this performance called Finale: The Last Mantaray And More Show was released in 2009.
Influence on other artists
| “ | Her voice is, in its own right, the common thread through all of it. There is no one who sings like that. And I think there are a lot of people who were influenced by it, but even if you try and sing like her, you can’t do that. You can’t throw your voice like that. You can’t throw harmony like that. That is a very distinct voice. Her technique is a thread between the really far-out stuff and opera and pop music. It’s distinct. It’s all her own. | ” |
Siouxsie's influence on modern music has been considerable. Her work has been covered and hailed by many major bands.
Siouxsie had a strong impact on two trip-hop acts. Tricky covered "Tattoo" to open his second album Nearly God39 and Massive Attack sampled "Metal Postcard" on their song "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)" for the soundtrack to the film The Jackal.40 Siouxsie's songs have also been revisited by other acts. LCD Soundsystem covered "Slowdive" for the B-side of "Disco Infiltrator": their version was also released on a iTunes Remix Album in 2006.41 Santigold based one of her tracks on the music of "Red Light". "'My Superman' is an interpolation of a Siouxsie Sioux song, 'Red Light,'" she explained.42 Jeff Buckley, who took inspiration in various female singers, covered live a Sioux song called "Killing Time", originally composed in 1989 for the Creatures album Boomerang: Buckley first performed it in 1992 for radio WFMU.4344 In 2003, The Beta Band sampled "Painted Bird" and changed the title in "Liquid Bird" on their Heroes to Zeros album.45 Red Hot Chili Peppers performed "Christine" at the V2001 festival and introduced it to their British audience as "your national anthem".46 DeVotchka covered "The Last Beat of My Heart" on the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer Win Butler: the musicians later considered it as the "centre-piece" of their Curse Your Little Heart EP.47 Jeremy Jay also covered "Lunar Camel" on his Airwalker EP in 2007 and cited her amongst his main influences.48
Siouxsie has also been hailed by other critically acclaimed groups. Morrissey said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent. They were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s".49 He also stated of modern groups in 1994: "None of them are as good as Siouxsie and the Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact." 50 Another ex-member of The Smiths, Johnny Marr mentionned on the BBC Radio 2 in February 2008 that he rated very high McGeoch for his work on Siouxsie's single "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll."51 PJ Harvey said on her website the Anima Animus album by Siouxsie's second band The Creatures in her top ten favourite records of year 1999.52 The Cure's Robert Smith declared in 2003: "Siouxsie and The Banshees and Wire were the two bands I really admired. They meant something."53 He also pinpointed what the Join Hands tour brought him musically. "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."54 For his record The Head on the Door in 1985, he stated : "It reminds me of the Kaleidoscope album, the idea of having lots of different sounding things, different colors".55 Radiohead cited John McGeoch'era Siouxsie records when mentioning the recording of the song "There There".56 U2 cited Siouxsie as a major influence57 and selected "Christine" for the track listing of a compilation made for Mojo's readers.58 The Edge also presented Siouxsie with an award at a Mojo ceremony in 2005.59 Garbage's singer, Shirley Manson has cited Sioux as a main influence on her and wrote the foreword of the 2003's Siouxsie biography by Mojo magazine journalist Mark Paytress. In a text of several pages, Manson wrote : "I learned how to sing listening to The Scream and Kaleidoscope."60 The singer of Garbage also told the Melody Maker that Siouxsie embodied everything she wanted to be as a young woman.61 Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction has made a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "there are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal. I always saw Jane's Addiction as the masculine Siouxsie & the Banshees."62 Gossip also named her as one of their influences for their 2009's Music For Men.63 The singer is referenced in the Tracey Thorn song "Hands Up to the Ceiling" with the lyrics "And up the stairs and on the wall is ... Siouxsie Sioux".
Musical genre
Garbage's singer Shirley Manson said:
| “ | (In 1981), the press began to describe them as a goth band. I never thought of them as goth. Goth has never been particularly angry, just a little dismayed. It had a weak, submissive side to it. Siouxsie & The Banshees always had a real edge to what they did. There was so much articulated spite, humour, politics with a small 'p' there that I never felt they went down that simple, gloomy path. People try to pass them off as a goth band because they find them dangerous and don't understand them. Today, I can see and hear the Banshees' influence all over the place. | ” |
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— Garbage's singer, Shirley Manson, 64
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Personal life
Siouxsie married Budgie in 1991. The following year, she and Budgie moved to the south west of France.65
In June 2005, she won the Icon Award at the Mojo Honours in London.59
In an interview with The Sunday Times in August 2007, she clarified that she and Budgie had divorced.66 In an interview with The Independent, she said, "I've never particularly said I'm hetero or I'm a lesbian. I know there are people who are definitely one way, but not really me. I suppose if I am attracted to men then they usually have more feminine qualities."67
Discography
For her works with Siouxsie and the Banshees, see Siouxsie and the Banshees discography.
For her works with The Creatures, see The Creatures discography.
Solo album
- MantaRay (2007) #39 UK
Solo singles
- 2007 "Into a Swan" #59 UK
- 2007 "Here Comes That Day" #103 UK
- 2008 "About to Happen" UK #154 UK
DVD
- 2005 Dreamshow #1 UK
- 2009 Finale: The Last Mantaray and More Show #4 UK
Collaborations with other artists
- Morrissey: "Interlude" (single recorded in duet) (1994)
- Hector Zazou: "The Lighthouse" (song recorded as guest on the Chansons des mers froides Songs from the Cold Seas album) (1995)
- Marc Almond: "Threat of Love" (song recorded in duet for the Open All Night album) (1999)
- Basement Jaxx: "Cish Cash" (song recorded as guest on the Kish Kash album) (2003)
- Angelo Badalamenti: "Careless Love" (song recorded as guest for The Edge of Love film soundtrack) (2008)
Siouxsie also performed with Suede a cover of "Carolyne Says" by Lou Reed, on 30 July 1993 at a "Red Hot & AIDS Benefit" concert.68
Film appearances of songs include The Punk Rock Movie (Don Letts, 1977); Jubilee (Derek Jarman, 1977); Out of Bounds (Richard Tuggle, 1986); Batman Returns (Tim Burton,1992); Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven, 1995); The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996); Grosse Pointe Blank (George Armitage, 1997); The Filth and the Fury (Julien Temple, 2000); 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom, 2002); Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006); Monster House (Gil Kenan, 2006); Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006); Doomsday (Neil Marshall, 2008)
Notes
- ^ Morrissey & Siouxsie released the single "Interlude" on August 1994 on EMI Records in Europe.
- ^ Siouxsie and John Cale. "Murdering Mouth". Amsterdam, Paradiso (With the Metropole Orchestra). 25 February 1998. "Murdering Mouth" is an unreleased Sioux song.
- ^ Stone, Doug. "Siouxsie'biography" Allmusicguide.com. "One of the most influential British females of the rock"
- ^ "Introns 2006" jacksonfreepress.com. LCD Soundsystem covered Slowdive" (from 1982's A Kiss In The Dreamhouse) on this Introns cd
- ^ "Moon-palace.de" Tricky Web Site. Tricky covered Siouxsie's "Tattoo" ; it's the opening track of his second album Nearly God
- ^ Untiedundone.com archives Jeff Buckley covered "Killing Time" at the radio WFMU Studios, East Orange, NJ, 10.11.92. "Killing Time" is a Siouxsie song from The Creatures' Boomerang album
- ^ "Inflightdata.com" Massive Attack site Massive Attack sampled & covered "Metal Postcard" (from 1978's The Scream album) in 1997 on the movie soundtrack The Jackal
- ^ "Icon: Siouxsie", The Fader Magazine, The Icon Issue 67, April/May 2010. Page 71: Dave Sitek (David Andrew Sitek) TV on the Radio. "I've always tried to make a song that begins like "Kiss Them for Me". I think songs like "I Was a Lover" or "Wash the Day away" came from that element of surprise mode where all of a sudden this giant drum comes in and you're like, what the fuck?! That record was the first one where I was like, okay, even my friends who don't know who The Cure or Sonic Youth are, they're going to fall for this. I feel like that transition into that record was a relief for me. Really beautiful music was always considered too weird by the normal kids and that was the first example where I thought, we've got them, they're hooked! I watched people dance to that song, people who had never heard of any of the music that I listened to, they heard that music in a club and went crazy.
- ^ "100 Women Who Rock The World" Q magazine. January 2002
- ^ Paytress, Mark
- ^ Queens of British Pop. BBC One. Air Date : 1 April 2009.
- ^ Paytress, p. 32
- ^ Paytress, p. 104
- ^ "Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's 'Today' show most requested clip". NME.com. 28 July 2008. http://www.nme.com/news/sex-pistols/38482. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
- ^ Rambali, Paul. "Hong Kong Garden" review. NME. 19 August 1978.
- ^ Kent, Nick. "Bansheed! What's in an image?". NME. 26 August 1978.
- ^ Watson, Don. "Siouxsie's Sombrero Bolero". NME. 15 December 1984. "After Patti Smith’s ‘Horses’, ‘The Scream’ is the best debut LP of all time. Was it 1978 or ten years on? From the underwater claustrophobia of its cover, through the fractured monochrome scenarios to the morbid fascination of ‘Switch’s’ final flickers, its poetry in sound and splinters."
- ^ Simpson, Dave (12 March 2004). Obituary - John McGeoch: Innovative and influential guitarist of the post-punk era. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/12/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries.
- ^ Hewitt, Paulo. "Kaleidoscope" review. Melody Maker. 26 July 1980
- ^ Sutherland, Steve. "Awakening Dreams" A Kiss in the Dreamhouse review]. Melody Maker. 6 November 1982. "The Banshees achieve an awesome, effective new pop without so much as a theory or qualm." "Dreamhouse" is an intoxicating achievement."
- ^ Cook, Richard. "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse"review. NME. 6 November 1982.
- ^ Paytress, pp 137, 143
- ^ Quantick, David. "Peek-A-Boo" review. NME. 23 July 1988.
- ^ Mathur, Paul. "Born Again Savages". Melody Maker. 9 July 1988.
- ^ Cooper, Mark. "Peepshow" review. Q Magazine. September 1988. "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom."
- ^ Reynolds, Simon. "Boomerang" review. Melody Maker. 11 November 1989.
- ^ "Billboard page with the Siouxsie and the Banshees us singles chart positions" Allmusicguide.com
- ^ Southwell, Tim. "Supersition" review. NME, 15 June 1991. "With the delicious 'Kiss Them for Me' gracing the Gallup Top 40 with a touch of real class, the release of Siouxsie and the Banshees' 10th studio LP could not have come at a better time. 'Superstition' is a giant of a record, casting a sinister shadow over the listener in true Banshee style."
- ^ "Split In The Dreamhouse". Melody Maker. 13 April 1996.
- ^ Siouxsie and John Cale. "Murdering Mouth". Amsterdam, Paradiso (With the Metropole Orchestra). 25 February 1998
- ^ "Anima Animus" review. The Times. 2 February 1999.
- ^ "47th Annual Grammy Awards Winners". Billboard. 13 February 2005. Best Electronic/Dance Album: "Kish Kash," Basement Jaxx (XL Recordings/Astralwerks
- ^ Wratts, Peter. "Hai!" review. Time Out. "Her voice is the dominant instrument here, snaking and curling around the bouncing drumming backdrop, elegiac and inhuman as she chants, purrs and whispers her way around the album. The centrepiece is the tense, sensual, whirl of 'Tourniquet', a spellbinding nine minutes around which the rest of the album hangs, awed but not unbowed but it's presence. 'Landlocked/ wind and bind/you grind and grind', growls Siouxsie with a seductive sneer. It's a virile, sultry salute to lust and bondage, and will cure anybody of their hangover. A spine-tingling achievement."
- ^ "Siouxsie Number One in UK Music DVD chart". The Creatures Web Site. 30 August 2005. "Dreamshow" Siouxsie Number One in UK Music DVD Chart
- ^ Abebe, Nitsuh. "Mantaray" review Pitchforkmedia. 4 September 2007.
- ^ "Mantaray" review. Mojo. September 2007, p. 102
- ^ Siouxsie Sioux and Angelo Badalamenti. "Who will take my dreams away" Gent, the World Soundtrack Awards 2008
- ^ "Icon: Siouxsie", The Fader Magazine, The Icon Issue 67, April/May 2010. Page 71
- ^ "moon-palace.de" Tricky web Site. Tricky covered "Tattoo" for the opening track of his second album Nearly God in 1996
- ^ "Inflightdata.com" Massive Attack sampled & covered "Metal Postcard" in 1997 on the movie soundtrack The Jackal
- ^ "jacksonfreepress.com" LCD Soundsystem covered Slowdive on this Itrons CD
- ^ Hresko, Lisa. "SANTOGOLD: All That Glitters Is Santogold". CMJ. 28 April 2008
- ^ "Untiedundone.com" archives Buckley's version of "Killing Time" performed at the radio WFMU Studios, East Orange, NJ, 10.11.92 "Killing Time" is a Siouxsie/The Creatures song from the Creatures's Boomerang album
- ^ "JeffBuckley-fr.net" list of songs covered by Jeff Buckley including "Killing Time" composed by Siouxsie for The Creatures.
- ^ Lapatine, Scott. "Earlash". April 2004. "EL: On previous albums you’ve used some left-field samples as a jumping off point to do something new and original. JM: Yeah, we’ve got Siouxsie and the Banshees on this record. It was Robin’s idea." "Liquid Bird" featured a sample of Siouxsie and the Banshees's "Painted Bird" from the album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.
- ^ "Saunalahti.fi" (Red Hot Chilli Peppers'site). setlist of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' concert performing "Christine" at the V2001 festival
- ^ "Devotchka.net" DeVotchka biography mentions that Win Butler from Arcade Fire suggested them to cover a banshees song. "The Curse Your Little Heart EP showcases the band’s versatility, reinterpreting tracks by the Velvet Underground, Frank Sinatra, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and others, in addition to taking on one of their own older songs. Could the band itself even have predicted what would transpire of the Arcade Fire’s Win Butler’s suggestion to the band that they take on "Last Beat of My Heart"? The end result is the center-piece of the EP, a grand and soaring take on the song.
- ^ Pryor, John-Paul. "Jeremy Jay" Dazeddigital.com. 28 September 2009. "Splash comes from that thing of being away from somewhere and writing about it. It’s a lot heavier sounding than other stuff I’ve done – Pavement meets Evol-era Sonic Youth played by Siouxsie Sioux. I’m really excited about it."
- ^ Blade, Richard. "KROQ interview" Morrissey-solo. air date: 6 July 1997.
- ^ Maconie, Stuart. "Hello Cruel World". Q Magazine. April 1994. "Weren't The Smiths supposed to be the reaction of beauty and charm after the snarling negativity of punk? Yes, they were beauty and charm but if you listen to songs like Sweet And Tender Hooligan... well, I don't like The Smiths being categorised as folk music. It wasn't like that. The appearances were extremely, expressively violent. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. But if you study modern groups, those who gain press coverage and chart action, most of them aren't actually as good as The Angelic Upstarts, aren't as exciting as Sham 69. None of them are as good as Siouxsie And The Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact. Most modern groups as far as I can see are Creedence Clearwater Revival."
- ^ Mitchell, Pete. "Spellbound : the story of John McGeoch" BBC2. February 2008. About McGeoch's contribution of the single "Spellbound", Marr states: "It's so clever. He's got this really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll and this actual tune he's playing is really quite mysterious." Radio 2’s Pete Mitchell talks to Howard Devoto, Siouxsie Sioux and Johnny Marr among others, as he shines a light on the life of this unsung guitar hero.
- ^ "PJ selects her Top 10 Albums of 1999" Pjharvey.net. 7 January 2000. Artist Album Title : Bonnie Prince Billy I See a Darkness, Yat-Kha Dalai Beldiri, Tricky with DJ Muggs & Grease Juxtapose, The Rachel’s Selenography, Various Book of Life Soundtrack, The Creatures Anima Animus, Guided By Voices Do The Collapse, The Black Heart Procession Eponymous, Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Avenue, The Kamkars Kani Sepi
- ^ Paytress, (interview of Robert Smith by Alexis Petridis), p. 95
- ^ Paytress, (Interview of Robert Smith by Alexis Petridis), p. 96
- ^ Sutherland, Steve. "A Suitable Case for Treatment". Melody Maker. 17 August 1985.
- ^ "Radiohead Official US Biography" capitolmusic.ca. Colin Greenwood remembers: "The first single we're releasing is actually the longest song on the record. ("There There"). It was all recorded live in Oxford. We all got excited at the end because Nigel was trying to get Jonny to play like John McGeoch in Siouxsie And The Banshees. All the old farts in the band were in seventh heaven."
- ^ McCormick, Neil (ed), (2006). U2 by U2. HarperCollins Publishers, pp. 56, 58 and 96
- ^ U2 Wanderer U2'Compilation for Mojo featuring "Christine"
- ^ a b Mojo Awards 2005 Mojo Icon Award 2005 : Siouxsie Sioux presented by The Edge
- ^ Paytress, (foreword by Shirley Manson), p. 9
- ^ Simpson, Dave. "Rebellious Jukebox". "Garbage's Shirley Manson reveals what rings her bell". Melody Maker. 28 March 1998. 2 Siouxsie & the Banshees "The Scream". Primal Howl from the psychotic darklands of seventies punk. "Siouxsie embodied everything I wanted to be when I was a freaky adolescent. She was really articulate and string; there's so much power in songs like 'Jigsaw Feeling'. Siouxsie was my first schoolgirl crush. I always wanted black hair and black eyebrows but I couldn't have been further from that whole look because I was ginger! I still listen to 'The Scream' to this day and it's amazing."
- ^ Paytress, p. 199
- ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry. "Gossip Q&A" Spin.com. 28 April 2009. "What bands influenced the new album's sound? Everything from the Birthday Party to house music and Siouxsie and the Banshees."
- ^ Paytress, Mark. (Foreword by Manson, Shirley). "the Siouxsie & The Banshees the authorised Biography. Sanctuary 2003, p. 9
- ^ Paytress, Mark. Siouxsie & the banshees, The Authorized Biography. Sancturary 2003, p. 207
- ^ Cairns, Dan.Siouxsie Sioux is back in bloom. The Sunday Times. 26 August 2007
- ^ Eyre, Hermione. "The Punk Icon". The Independent. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
- ^ "Carolyne Says" London July 1993 Siouxsie with Bernard Butler from Suede introduced by Brett Anderson
References
- Paytress, Mark. Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography. Sanctuary, 2003. ISBN 1-86074-375-7
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Siouxsie Sioux |
- Official site
- The Banshees & Other Creatures U.K. A comprehensive website with an array of information.
- Untiedundone A site with several articles and interviews from 1977.
- Siouxsie at MySpace
- Siouxsie Sioux at the Internet Movie Database
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