Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release date - November 13, 1978
"People forget the punk thing was really good for women. It motivated them to pick up a guitar rather than be a chanteuse. It allowed us to be aggressive," said Siouxsie Sioux.
Siouxsie Sioux began her life as Susan Janet Ballion in London, England. She adopted the name "Siouxsie" as a tribute to the Sioux Native American tribe, inspired by her interest in Native American culture and music.
Siouxsie Sioux's childhood was different from that of most children. Her father, a former bacteriologist who used to milk venom from snakes, was an alcoholic, and as a result, throughout her entire childhood, she could never make friends and was not allowed to host friends at home.
Unsurprisingly, she developed a deep hatred for the suburbs where she grew up, and spent most of her time reading instead of socializing, in what she called an attempt to "escape".
The gray, frustrating life of her childhood made her feel rejected, and her escape into realms of imagination turned her into an opinionated and aggressive person, with special ideas for realizing her musical and visual vision. She wore black, wore dark makeup, and hated the stifling, hypocritical music industry. She channeled her love of the avant-garde, of everything different, through her band, "Siouxsie and the Banshees", whose debut album, "The Scream", was released on November 13, 1978.
In September 1975, Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steve Severin met at a concert by "Roxy Music". It was the period of the decline of glam rock, and just before the birth of the punk craze in Britain.
About half a year later (February 1976), Siouxsie and Steve, together with a few other friends, began following a coalescing, wild band that had not yet signed with a record company, "Sex Pistols". They followed them to every show and earned the nickname the "Bromley Contingent", because most of the group of fans came from the borough of Bromley in London, among them the future singer Billy Idol.
At one of the Pistols' shows at the punk festival at the 100 Club, one of the bands canceled its appearance, and Malcolm McLaren, manager of "Sex Pistols", approached Siouxsie and Steve Severin and offered them the slot that had opened up. The duo spontaneously said yes, even though in reality they did not have a band.
Two days later, on September 20, 1976, they took the stage for a 20-minute set with two temporary musicians alongside them: guitarist Marco Pirroni ("Adam & the Ants") and drummer Sid Vicious, who would later become the bassist of "Sex Pistols".
The band intended to part ways after the show, but they were asked to perform again and again in the following months. Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin recruited drummer Kenny Morris and guitarist Peter Fenton, who was replaced in July 1977 by John McKay, in the lineup that formed the core of the band.
The band began to fill venues in London in early 1978, but was in no rush to sign with record companies, because of its desire for full artistic control, which was indeed secured with the signing of a contract with Polydor in mid-year (June 1978).
The debut album "The Scream", released toward the end of the year, introduced music fans and journalists to a lineup that played Gothic rock in the style of "Velvet Underground", along with tribal rhythms, conducted by the strong vocal delivery and dark lyrics of Siouxsie Sioux, as well as the unique production of Steve Lillywhite, who was then at the start of his career.
The production gave the album a sound with a deep echo that created thunderous drums, which emphasized the album's Gothic atmosphere even more. The innovative combination of guitar that follows the rhythm of the bass guitar and machine-like drums played mainly on toms made it a pioneering work in the post-punk genre.
Siouxsie Sioux does not try to beautify reality on "The Scream". It is essentially her scream, her identity, and the songs express the recognition that life is hard, certainly and especially for Siouxsie Sioux.
The songs on "The Scream" address a variety of subjects: from manic depression and loss of control in "Jigsaw Feeling", through the desire for change and musical and artistic recognition in "Overground", with its addictive guitar riff, to love from Siouxsie Sioux's sober point of view in "Carcass".
The album includes a cover of "Helter Skelter" by "The Beatles". Another "Beatles" cover, "Dear Prudence", would earn the band five years later its second UK Top 10 hit (after the debut single "Hong Kong Garden", which was not included on the original album), a success for someone who never pretended to aim for it.
In "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)", Siouxsie combines lunch and iron, in a song inspired by the photomontage of the German anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield. In the picture, a family is seen eating various pieces of metal, as a cynical response to a quote by Hermann Göring: "Iron always makes a nation strong, butter and lard only make people fat."
Keen-eared listeners will recognize the repetitive rhythm of the guitar and drums, which is especially reminiscent of "Are Friends Electric?" by Gary Numan's "Tubeway Army", released half a year later.
Siouxsie does not hesitate to dig into bad habits and addictions in "Nicotine Stain", but there is no doubt that her most painful point comes from the place she so hated in her childhood, which she writes about in "Suburban Relapse", a song that Siouxsie wanted to give a cinematic atmosphere, inspired by the score of composer Bernard Herrmann for Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho".
The album's name was partly inspired by the 1968 film "The Swimmer", starring Burt Lancaster. In the film, the main character, Ned Merrill, reaches a state of mental and physical exhaustion after swimming long distances, so that all that is left for him is to scream out of exhaustion.
The album cover was created by photographer Paul Wakefield, who wanted to convey a frightening feeling of night underwater. The photo was taken in a YMCA swimming pool in central London, which was covered in dark blue tiles that gave it a gloomy look, different from the standard.
The album was widely praised as one that developed post-punk, and it influenced many diverse musicians such as "Joy Division", "Killing Joke", "Sonic Youth", Dave Gahan, "Faith No More", "The Jesus and Mary Chain", "Massive Attack" and more.
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