Siouxsie and The Banshees - The Scream (1978)

"I'm Cold" was a b-side to The Cure's third single "Jumping Someone Else's Train" and featured guest Siouxsie Sioux on the backing vocals. Not only were The Cure and Sioux's band two of the leading forces of the post-punk movement, but they also held a strong respect for each other and the groups' members collaborated often on side-projects. Robert Smith (lead singer of The Cure) even substituted as The Banshees's guitarist for the length of a 1979 tour.


Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin first became known as prominent members of the Bromley Contingent, vocal followers of the Sex Pistols that helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement. Several bands came out of the Contingent such as Billy Idol's Generation X and Sioux and Severin's Siouxsie and the Banshees. The band debuted at the 100 Club Punk Festival in Fall of 1976 to fill in for a last minute empty slot despite not having enough members to round out the band. The gig survived with the aid of borrowed musicians Marco Pirroni on guitar and still unknown Sid Vicious on drums. Severin played bass and Siouxsie naturally rounded out the quartet with her unique vocals. The two intended to break up the band after the festival but were asked to keep performing. With a serious future now in mind, they officially added two members to the Banshees: Kenny Morris (drums) and John McKay (guitar).

The Banshees, who were now selling out venues, held out for a contract that allowed complete creative control and eventually received one from Polydor. The first result of the contract came out in early 1978 with the Top Ten UK single "Hong Kong Garden". The band released their debut album The Scream by the end of that same year that peaked at 13 on the UK charts. A follow-up single "The Staircase (Mystery)" was released early in 1979.

With all expectations that Siouxsie and The Banshees be a punk outfit like their figureheads Sex Pistols, their debut album became one of the earliest works to be described as post-punk. They began with the foundation of the punk movement and pushed it in a more complex and experimental direction that contrasted with the pure, raw energy of their predecessors. Siouxsie and the Banshees also strayed away from calls for revolution, instead lyrically turning inward to more personal and individual issues while delivering them by more poetic means. Earlier, calling Siouxsie's voice unique might have been a bit of an understatement. Her one-of-a-kind delivery slides and jumps through every song and ties the music together. Her voice, just like her image, is unmistakably punk because it breaks all the rules.

Here is the discography surrounding Siouxsie and the Banshees's debut album:

Hong Kong Garden (1978 single)
The Scream
The Staircase (Mystery) (1979 single)
Love in a Void (1979 single)





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