How I Fell In Love With: Siouxsie & The Banshees

For my recent 30th birthday, I received a gift for which I had pined for quite a long time - "Downside Up", the B-Sides and Rarities box set from Siouxsie and The Banshees. Apparently, I had mentioned this to my bandmates Amy and Brandon, and they had somehow remembered this and went out and purchased it for me, much to my surprise!
As a result, I am now presenting my tribute to this great band, one who tried to reach out to me several time before finally taking hold. This is the story of how I fell in love with Siouxsie and her banshees.

When I was first starting out in the world of musical obsession and pop record collecting, I would get all these different mail-order catalogs, magazines, flyers, etc, because I lived in the middle of Kansas, and the internet wasn't around yet. I had to mail order everything. And, being a farm kid with a budget of $30 a month, I wasn't able to order much of anything, so the big thrill was just looking through those pages and deciding what - out of everything - I would actually be able to afford.
I remember at that time, there was a plethora of Siouxsie merchandise - t-shirts, posters, flags, records, etc - and I remember that she was usually next to or near Morrissey. Together, they were like the king and queen of this underground world that I knew nothing about. The only thing I really knew about Siouxsie was that she had weird eye makeup and her look really, really scared me.
Finally, one day on MTV I saw a video for "Peek-A-Boo" and I got to hear and see this enigma. The song (and video) was weird - but weird in a way I liked. However, it was obvious that this would not be a popular song with my friends, and that if I was to get too into, it would just be one more nail in my coffin of already having what my friends considered *questionable* musical tastes. It's funny that looking back now, I was completely ahead of everyone, as the people who I was listening to back then, including Siouxsie, are now considered legendary and many of them are still working - as opposed to the MC Hammers, Vanilla Ices and Rick Astleys of the day.
Anyway, due to my fear of being completely regarded as a freak, I failed to pursue my interest in the Banshees at that point, although I did have the album "Peek-A-Boo" in my hands many times at the record store, going back and forth on whether I should take the plunge.

Fast forward to a few years later, and I'm starting out high school in a new town. One night I see the video for "Kiss Them For Me" on MTV, and it becomes the last of a dying breed - those videos that I would stay up late for, watching MTV and hoping they would play it. Finally, one night I was ready with my VCR and blank tape, and I recorded the video so that I could watch it over and over again. I was obsessed with the song, and the video with it's heart-shaped bathtub and a much softer, pretty looking Siouxsie. Gone was the goth-punk witch look that had scared me so much years before - now there was a glamorous, elegant movie star in it's place.
I did run out and purchase the "cassingle" for "Kiss Them For Me," but for whatever unknown reason, I didn't go beyond that. I didn't buy the album, "Superstition," and within a year or so, the thought had faded from my mind.

Finally, a couple more years later, on another late-night MTV watching spree, the video for "Dear Prudence" comes on. I think it was a "third time's the charm" thing. I had already been enamoured by the weirdness of "Peek-A-Boo." I had been seduced by the sophistication and serenity of "Kiss Them For Me". And now, seeing this cool video of Siouxsie doing a Beatles cover will floating on some gondola in Venice or something - well, I think my first thought was how pretty the song was, and that their music must have never been as scary as her image was. So, it was after seeing this video that I went out and bought "Twice Upon A Time."

I was surprised by how much I loved "Twice Upon A Time" - I loved hearing the different musical phases, journeys, and flavors touched on by this amazing band that had seemingly been around forever. When I put two and two together and realized there was also a "Once Upon A Time," well then I was pretty much in heaven. From then on out, I began collecting any Siouxsie albums I could find, and bought the VHS for the TUAT videos. For a period, namely that awkward phase known as "junior year", I was obsessed with Siouxsie and the Banshees, and they became the only band I listened to. Even when I delved into some of their darker materials (such as "The Scream" or "Juju") I could completely appreciate it at the point I was at in life. I only regret that, in such a small town, there really was no "goth" scene, and I didn't even know that such a scene existed anywhere until I moved to LA later in life. Had I known, I may have started my own goth movement in Hays, Kansas. Then again, I probably wouldn't have... but at least I could have daydreamed about it.

"The Rapture" was the only Banshees album that came out after I had become a fan. I remember learning about it in some very odd way, like it was mentioned in Seventeen magazine or some other girly rag. I was so excited for it, but everything from the odd lead single "O Baby" to the font on the cover (I was REALLY into fonts at the time, and the one they used was an old one that I happened to harbor a particular hatred for), to the gloomy sound of the record at a point in my life where I was more cheery, spelled out an unfortunate quick end of my love affair with the Banshees. I was, after all, about to graduate high school, and I was having a really good year, so there just wasn't much cause in my life to want to be depressed by listening to the eleven minute title track to "The Rapture."

Ultimately, somehow this drifted naturally into Blondie becoming my favorite, all-encompassing, completely obsessed-with band, but that's another story. The good news was, that when I finally moved to LA I discovered that there were A LOT of people there who had been, and still were, fans of Siouxsie. In fact, there had been whole clubs, scenes, groups of friends, etc., where Siouxsie was practically a God (or at least Goddess). My appreciation for the band was renewed, just in time to finally see Siouxsie perform live at the KROQ Inland Invasion in 2003 or 4 (can't remember for sure). And now, 20 years after my first exposure to this band, I am finally getting to live through their b-sides! Hurray for birthday presents!