Siouxsie and The Banshees
Last week on a Monday, I took a train from Westchester to the city. I was going to see Siouxsie and The Banshees, well actually they're now The Creatures but everybody knows who they were. When I arrived in the city I walked from Grand Central to BBKings. When I got there, I went downstairs to where the conert was going to be. The concert area was very small, they said it could carry 1000 people but I doubt it could carry 500. The placed was filled with smoke, it was either from people or the placed was just like that. We (me and my mother, I am no momma's boy, I am just a bit young to go to a concert by myself) came early to get good spots; there were still people there, but it wasn't a lot. We waited about an hour for her to come; later on she finally came. Siouxsie looked good but she now has a big head (no doubt from the cause of her age) :X. They played music such as Kiss Them For Me, The Happy House, etc. We met a friend of Iggy Pop. He was a bit stinky though. Well, that's what happened in The Creatures (Banshees) concert.
posted by BrooklynCubanJew @ 11:43:00 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Hi. You don't know me, and I don't know you, but I was browsing through blogs instead of doing my French homework and stumbled across yours. What do you think of Siouxie and the Banshees? Obviously, you don't dislike them, or you wouldn't have gone to see them ((or The Creatures, whatever)). I've only really listened to a bit ((Kaleidoscope and a few random tracks)), but I think that they don't musically live up to the hype they recieve. Rebuttal? Agreement? Angered confusion?
How could you not like Siouxsie! She's one of the first punk rock chick chicks (I can't remember if it was Siouxsie, Joan Jett or Exene Cervenka that came first. Although I think actually it was someone at CBGB's, but I can't remember her name.) These ladies are great influences to great current bands like Tsunami Bomb and Go Betty Go. Plus, you have to look in the context of the music that was around at the time. There's better stuff now if you look at the clarity of the recordings and such, but it was more original than anything that's out now!
for M: Well, I think they deserved the hype because after all the Banshees were around for 20 years starting in '76. They had Sid Vicious and Robert Smith as bandmates for a while. I like their lyrics because they cover a lot of historical stuff.
for Orion: Eggscene (kidding) in X started in '77 and was not famous 'til the 80s and as I said Siouxsie started in '76. Joan Jett was a rocker, not punk-rocker. I like some of her stuff though.
JJ was punk at heart. She's still associated with the scene and she's still revered(sp?) as a punk icon in most circles.
I never said I necessarily disliked Siouxsie, I do. I just think that people hype up the band to a level that isn't quite met with the actual music. Possibly, though, my opinion is tainted by my exposure to more modern music. I definitely agree that the Banshees were definitely an important musical influence, though.
I think maybe that what I dislike about Siouxsie and the Banshees is the incongruousness and messy cobbling together. I enjoy the traits in other bands (when I feel like they're more well-done, like some "old school" industrial and some punk), but for some reason, that aspect of the Banshees' style just rubs me the wrong way.
To Orion: I don't mean to argue, but have you heard the song "I love Rock n' Roll", she did more of the classic rock from the '50s.
To M: Well, when you talk about the Banshees you usually hear music from Siouxsie that was very odd. She had a deep voice in her songs, "The Happy House" was a kind of punk-gothic song. What is it in the Banshees' music you don't like? Explain it to me more specifically.
Cheers. - Alex
Yeah, but have you heard "Bad Reputation"? And "Cherry Bomb" is very punk-rock too. Sure, there are a lot of songs that aren't really punk, esp. the way we think of it today (put punk today, for the most part, sucks) but that's the way a lot of bands from the 80's were like. Look at Social Distortion. A lot of the songs they've done are more like a heavy honky-tonk, like When The Angels Sing, or just rocked-out country, like I Was Wrong, but Social D are still punk icons. Punk isn't so much a musical style, it's a lifestyle. She's got it, and that's what she's known for. The Who aren't really considered a punk band, but, essentially, they are.
The Who never were punk, they were a '60s type of music and were known as mod. Also, take it for Avril Lavigne for example, she dresses in black but she's a rocker not a punk. I know Bad Reputation is punk and so are others, but if JJ was punk it would've been really short.
Dude, JJ is punk. Ask any punk and they will tell you that JJ is punk. And Lifestyle is not what clothes you wear, the clothes you wear is only fashion. Punk is not nessessarily a fashion. You're not a punk because you "look" punk, you're not punk because you "play" punk, you're punk because you live punk. I know plenty of people that are completely punks, but to look at them you wouldn't know! It's a lifestyle. The Who were punk in lifestyle, not in music. They had the attitude. Punk is all about living beyond the norm, living for chaos and against the government. It's not about looking "cool".
OK, I'm going to throw in my two cents (and invade Alex's space; my apologies, won't do it again). As a former punk/goth/whatever, b/c I hate labels myself, I am actually surprised that JJ is considered punk today. Joan Jett was not actually considered punk "during our time" - that does not mean she isn't the greatest rock and roller, nor that the newer generation can't call her punk. "Bad Reputation" indeed sounds like a tune that the Ramones would have churned out...and the essence of the music was likely influenced by the "punk" or "alternative" movement at the time. Would JJ have liked to be called a punk during that time? I think there were a few interviews at the time where she preferred to call herself a "rocker". However, times change, and I guess you are what your fans say you are.
Regarding Siouxsie & the Banshees for the other commentator, Siouxsie is definitely an acquired taste. However, her anthology was created during a time when creativity, not the current-day music business machine, dictated what the fans would hear from a band. As someone involved in the music business (entertainment law) I can tell you, musicians do NOT get as much freedom that was previously afforded to them re: music making. More business/marketing = less creativity. New bands who try to be as socially/musically different as Siouxise, Sex Pistols, Cure, Social Distortion, etc. were during THEIR time just wouldn't have an easy time getting airplay today.
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