Siouxsie and the Banshees

I watched a documentary a few years ago which followed groups like The Slits, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees during their embroyonic stages. The reason why Siouxsie and the Banshees stood out to me is the fact that the original line up had no musical experience at all.
They couldn't play any instruments so their set used to comprise of a 20 minute rendition of the Lords Prayer. Siouxsie would scream the Lords Prayer while a whole bunch of racket went on in the background. Don't forget that this was the era of punk so it was totally acceptable and probably what they needed to get enough attention to continue on and actually learn how to play the instruments.


Siouxsie's distinctive image has had an influence on many artists, in particular Robert Smith from the Cure. Robert Smith toured as a guitarist with the Banshees in the late 70's. It was during this time that Robert started to create his image.Siouxsie had/has a very distinctive look - red slashed lipstick, kubuki style pale skin and black teased/matted hair. Robert Smith admits to using Siouxsie's red lipstick when they used to tour and painting outside of his lip line. As much as I love Robert I think he stole a bit more of her image...what do you think?


It was hard for me to pick a Siouxsie and the Banshees song.
In fact I will more than likely include another song at a different time.
For now I have chosen the song "Peek a Boo".
The reason I have chosen this track is because it shows an example of backmasking. Bascially backmasking is where a song is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to play forward (got that?) The band had to learn how to play it backwards as well which I give them props for.
The backmasking is why the track sounds a bit off centre but I think it works well. I also love the use of the accordian in Peek a boo. I think the only person in music today that would experiment and use the accordian would be Bjork.