Siouxsie & The Banshees formed in London in 1976 around Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin and grew from punk's front row into post-punk and gothic rock royalty. Juju (1981), with John McGeoch's atmospheric guitar, is the classic entry; A Kiss in the Dreamhouse rewards the return trip. Browse Siouxsie & The Banshees vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Siouxsie & The Banshees formed in London in 1976 around Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Janet Ballion, born May 27, 1957, Chislehurst, Kent) and Steven Severin (Steven Bailey, born September 25, 1955, London) - both founding members of the foundational punk rock movement of 1976-1977 (Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans). They debuted at the 100 Club Punk Special in September 1976 with a 20-minute cover of The Lord's Prayer (with Sid Vicious on drums). The classic Juju-era lineup featuring Sioux, Severin, John McGeoch (ex-Magazine), and Budgie solidified by 1979-1980. They are widely cited as one of the most important post-punk and gothic rock bands, with foundational influence on contemporary alternative rock, gothic rock, and dream pop genres (influence on Smashing Pumpkins, Massive Attack, the Cure, and many others). The band dissolved in 1996. Siouxsie and Budgie continued parallel work as the Creatures (since 1981, with Wild Things EP 1981 and subsequent material) and Siouxsie solo work (Mantaray 2007). Their foundational influence on post-punk and gothic rock is widely cited.
Siouxsie & The Banshees's sound is foundational to post-punk and gothic rock as recognized genres - combining post-punk, gothic rock, alternative rock, art rock, new wave, dream pop, and ethereal wave with Siouxsie Sioux's distinctive vocal delivery (range and use of theatrical phrasing), John McGeoch's foundational lead guitar work (use of distinctive atmospheric distorted phrasing), varied compositional approaches across their multi-decade career, and lyrical content addressing dark literary themes drawing on gothic and surrealist literary traditions.
Original Polydor Records and Wonderland Records pressings of the Siouxsie & The Banshees catalog are foundational items in post-punk and gothic rock collecting, with collector premiums on rare pressings.
Listeners new to Siouxsie & The Banshees typically start with Juju (1981) or A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982).
