Monday 20th September 1976 saw one of the most unexpected moments in
music history when what was to become one of the most iconic, important
and mimicked bands of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s took to the stage at
The 100 Club in Oxford Street, London. A last-minute addition to the
'100 Club Punk Special' that included The Clash, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks
and The Damned, an unknown Siouxsie and The Banshees, comprising Sid
Vicious, Steve Severin, Marco Pirroni and Siouxsie Sioux, unleashed
twenty minutes of 'performance art' improvisation, featuring fragments
of 'Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles', 'Twist And Shout' and
'Satisfaction'. 'The Lord's Prayer', which was to become a staple of
Siouxsie and The Banshees' early live repertoire, was a white-noise
assault on the senses and a barometer of the alienation many teenagers
felt from the bloated nature of mid-1970s 'arena rock'. Several line-up
changes later, in 1978, Siouxise and The Banshees were propelled into
the pop stratosphere. Signed to a major record label, the band released
'Hong Kong Garden' and wrote one of the most influential post-punk
albums of all time, The Scream, a savage critique of curtain-twitching
suburbia, the cheap titillation of the tabloids, and the dangers of
believing and following any one doctrine. 1979's Join Hands, influenced
by the political landscape in Britain and further afield, and the
catastrophic loss of life in World War One, was a milestone of the
band's increasing maturity, from the adrenaline-fuelled stomp of 'Icon'
to the phased guitar, saxophone and bells of 'Playground Twist'. After a
tour fraught with fractiousness, a new line up with Slits' drummer
Budgie and Magazine guitarist John McGeoch, together with Siouxsie Sioux
and Steve Severin, released the band's most experimental album,
Kaleidoscope, which was a heady mix of psychedelia and sonorous
adventures including the singles 'Happy House' and 'Christine'. Siouxsie
and The Banshees The Early Years explores the adventures, trials and
tribulations of a band defying categorisation. Their uncompromising
brilliance is exemplified by three unique albums, which are chronicled
in the pages of this authoritative survey.
