I personally could go for hours and hours citing tracks of theirs that really do the trick for me (everything from forgetten singles like "Song from the Edge of the World" to latter-period album tracks like "Ornaments of Gold" and old warhorses like "Make Up to Break Up", etc.) but at the end of the day, it does say "only pick one," so I'm going to have to go with ye olde standby,.... "Spellbound"
.....et vous?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 15 March 2003 21:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 15 March 2003 21:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 15 March 2003 21:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Omar (Omar), Saturday, 15 March 2003 21:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 March 2003 21:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 15 March 2003 22:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nathan Webb (Nathan Webb), Saturday, 15 March 2003 22:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
I'll take "Kiss Them For Me". There are some AMAZING melodies in that one.
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 15 March 2003 22:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― paul cox (paul cox), Saturday, 15 March 2003 22:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― your null fame (yournullfame), Sunday, 16 March 2003 01:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 16 March 2003 02:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Millar (Millar), Sunday, 16 March 2003 02:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Sunday, 16 March 2003 07:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Sunday, 16 March 2003 07:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
Though I do love their cover of "This Wheel's On Fire"
― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Sunday, 16 March 2003 09:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dave q, Sunday, 16 March 2003 12:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 16 March 2003 16:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 16 March 2003 17:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kate (suzy), Sunday, 16 March 2003 17:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 16 March 2003 17:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 16 March 2003 18:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kate (suzy), Sunday, 16 March 2003 18:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Sunday, 16 March 2003 20:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 16 March 2003 20:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 16 March 2003 20:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 16 March 2003 21:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 16 March 2003 21:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 16 March 2003 21:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Sunday, 16 March 2003 22:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
I once dreamt about an imaginary video for "Swimming Horses."
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 16 March 2003 23:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kephm, Sunday, 16 March 2003 23:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― disco stu (disco stu), Monday, 17 March 2003 01:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dz, Monday, 17 March 2003 02:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Monday, 17 March 2003 08:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
Also 'Melt' (their greatest lyric).
They did the best Batman film theme, too, I thought. 'Face to Face' was another fine track.
I didn't get to ee them last year in London, but a friend who went reckoned they were better than ever. And she's looking pretty amazing, too.
― russ t, Monday, 17 March 2003 11:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― piscesboy, Monday, 17 March 2003 12:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 17 March 2003 12:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
(Apparently I am the only person who thinks "Dear Prudence" is deeply embarrassing.)
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
Is my memory faulty, or was there some cheezy club rekkid that blatantly copied the guitar intro figure from "Happy House", only played on a synthesiser?
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevo (stevo), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
revive....for Desert Kisses, and of course Switch
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Monday, 2 March 2009 22:11 (fifteen years ago) link
Several years on, I'm pretty sure my answer is "Night Shift".
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Monday, 2 March 2009 22:13 (fifteen years ago) link
yep, it's terrifying, the most disturbing track on juju, and that's saying something
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Monday, 2 March 2009 22:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Hybrid. For so many reasons - John McGeoch's sick-cat guitar; the bitten-off finger on the floor; the oh-OH-oh, HO-ohs. The very, very odd drumming. The goth bassline (Hi Bimble!) The surging and crashing pace. Siouxsie's fantastic vocal. Yes, Hybrid. (Or maybe Icon, Cities In Dust, or Skin).
― Fishes, You Hit Me With A Flounder (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Monday, 2 March 2009 22:25 (fifteen years ago) link
My answer to this is DEFINITELY "Night Shift".
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 18:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Although I can't be the only one who will rep for "Suburban Relapse" or "Mirage"!
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Am currently listening to the AT THE BBC box (borrowed from a neighbor) and am gobsmacked. The live version of "Spellbound" on disc three is life-affirming.
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 19:19 (fourteen years ago) link
A friend and I once had a minor-key bass and guitar jam/improv, which after a long while (and we both realized this at about the exact same moment) we morphed into "Tenant" (from Kaleidoscope .) Love that song, but don't know if it's OPO.
― Such A Hilbily (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 19:27 (fourteen years ago) link
My answer is almost definitely "Icon" but partly for personal reasons.
― My Slow Descent into Assholism (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
"Mirage" is great but I can't get into 'Suburban Relapse' at all.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Dan I hope you had written, in spirally penmanship, 'a happy-go-lucky child always dressed in black' on some or another highschool notebook.
I think my #1 song of theirs is 'Take Me Back.'
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Just realized the other day after listen # ~837 that 'Cities in Dust' is abt Pompeii,,,,,lols?
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:26 (fourteen years ago) link
haha Abbott, I never actually heard "Night Shift" until maybe 9 years ago? So well past high school!
Basically my discovery of the depth of the Siouxsie & the Banshees back-catalog makes me very, very angry that I saw that picture of her with the swastika way way back and vowed to never listen to their pre-1986 material.
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:30 (fourteen years ago) link
did she ever give a reason for that?
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Irony, I think.
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:33 (fourteen years ago) link
dumb
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Shock value.
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 23:41 (fourteen years ago) link
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Tuesday, 7 July 2009 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I believe she's long since recanted it. Kind of late in the day to get mad at her about it.
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
But she DID call Killing Joke goth. Oh wait.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm amused that Alex's neighbor had a copy of the BBC bootleg set.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:07 (fourteen years ago) link
What bootleg set? A formal edition came out a couple of months ago, 3 CDs and 1 DVD I think.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Thus:
http://www.amazon.com/BBC-3CD-DVD-Set-Region/dp/B001UJGK7C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247011973&sr=8-1
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
AT THE BBC, I meant.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:13 (fourteen years ago) link
YEAH RIGHT etc.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
He's amused his neighbors had the BBC set bootlegged while they were AT THE BBC.
― kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player (Abbott), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I should get that BBC box set.
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 08:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I guess my pick would be Love In A Void.
― Dr.C, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 11:23 (fourteen years ago) link
and mine probably 'Overground'
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 12:22 (fourteen years ago) link
If I go by album (because I like making lists):
"Metal Postcard""Icon""Christine""Night Shift""Cascade""Dazzle""This Unrest""Gun""Ornaments Of Gold""Kiss Them For Me"... "Stargazer" by default, I've never heard this entire album
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 13:11 (fourteen years ago) link
really? The last album is pretty good I find!
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 13:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm hearing most of their albums as proper albums (as opposed to scattered tracks) for the first time via the reissues! I only had Hyaena, Tinderbox, Peepshow and Superstition back in the day, and then I turned into a techno/trip-hop head and never got around to getting the others. They are (or were, anyway) a massive blind spot in my musical tastes; I really didn't know how much I'd like them until way way way WAY after the fact because of the aforementioned swastika boycott.
― her performance (ie, her pubes) stood out for me (HI DERE), Wednesday, 8 July 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I agree that Night Shift is truly spectacular and genuinely scary, though it didn't make much of an impression on me when I first bought the album.
I don't think anything by them has ever had quite the impact on me as the two b-sides "Staring Back" & "Return", and I find it pretty impossible to choose between them.
― which was a bit synth-cheese-tastic for my tastes (Bimble), Thursday, 9 July 2009 01:21 (fourteen years ago) link
fuck the mothers kill the othersfuck the others kill the mothers
― DJP, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 15:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Cities In Dust. Should prob. do a search to see if I already said that.
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 16:05 (thirteen years ago) link
Dazzle
― kkvgz, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 16:08 (thirteen years ago) link
came on to post "Christine" after considering half-dozen others then I saw "Cities In Dust" and remembered blasting that song like every day during summer 1985...
OPO/POO might be impossible w/this crew
― communist kickball (m coleman), Wednesday, 23 February 2011 17:28 (thirteen years ago) link
The live version of "Spellbound" on disc three is life-affirming.
This, only moreso.
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:21 (thirteen years ago) link
"Happy House" will always instantly, INSTANTLY evoke one of the first times I ever went goth-clubbing, at 19, and was crushing all over the tall, adorable 17-year old goth boy dancing in the corner to that song. Such a vivid memory.
So yeah that.
― Trayce, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:25 (thirteen years ago) link
a compilation of all of these songs would be amazing
― DJP, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
wow, i had no idea Capella swiped the intro melody oh Happy House for U Got 2 Know
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:46 (thirteen years ago) link
I gotta go for "Desert Kisses", man I love that tune.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Loving "Desert Kisses"
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 23:05 (eight years ago) link
It may be the nostalgia (the first song I heard by SATB) but I gotta say "Kiss Them For Me".
― daavid, Wednesday, 14 October 2015 18:12 (eight years ago) link
Man, why I don't have all of their albums is offensive and confusing to me.
― austinato (Austin), Wednesday, 14 October 2015 18:14 (eight years ago) link
Noone's mentionned "Arabian Knights", but I think it would be my pick. The bass, the guitar, the drums, the vocals are all quintessential SATB to me.
― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 14 October 2015 20:54 (eight years ago) link
"Desert Kisses" is really amazing, true
I think I'd have to go with "Slowdive" though
― sleeve, Thursday, 15 October 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
As someone who never cared to much about about siouxsie music before or after i bought hyaena in 1984, i am surprised by how much i’m totally enjoying almost every song on “through the looking glass.” I just heard _the passenger_ tho and that arrangement/production tho... never mind this cale cover is cool. 😌
― Hunt3r, Saturday, 15 December 2018 01:10 (five years ago) link
Oh this is opo- “Kiss them for me” is so memorable- that.
― Hunt3r, Saturday, 15 December 2018 01:14 (five years ago) link
“Green Fingers” for me - febrile pastoral witchcraft
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 15 December 2018 01:28 (five years ago) link
green fingers is sooo sick. but if i have to OPO it's either gonna be icon or spellbound.
― J. Sam, Saturday, 15 December 2018 01:36 (five years ago) link
Night Shift all day every day
― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Saturday, 15 December 2018 02:23 (five years ago) link
'Spellbound' without a doubt.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 15 December 2018 22:13 (five years ago) link
I am still ride or die for "Night Shift" but it's a little startling to realize that my second choice would be "Suburban Relapse"
― Arugula Raccoon (DJP), Thursday, 9 May 2019 18:19 (four years ago) link
Debut album bangs from start to finish
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 9 May 2019 18:44 (four years ago) link
Placebo Effect
― Duke, Thursday, 9 May 2019 20:51 (four years ago) link
I still can't pick one for this band, its between Desert Kisses, Melt, Switch, Into the Light; the swirling, the mesmeric or the dazzling?
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 17:11 (four years ago) link
"Thorn" EP version!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 15 May 2019 01:29 (four years ago) link