More short story time here !!!

Memory lane

Around 1984-1985 an old friend gave me a dubbed tape of `Siouxie & The Banshees – Hyena` album. The opening track `Dazzle` took my head off. A mix of classical arrangements, ethereal voice with a punkish / new wave / new music / indy attitude. I never heard anything like this before. It sounded classical, modern and…Pop. I loved the whole album with the exception of `Dear Prudence`, a cover of The Beatles song. I was never into The Beatles, I`m more a Rolling Stones kinda guy. My favorite Rolling Stones period is early sixties up until early eighties. I recognize The Beatles music but it never grew on me or touched my heart and soul. It`s good music but not my cup of tea if you will. Even though Siouxie`s voice on `Dear Prudence` is simply exquisite. A couple of months later I went at `Dutchy`s record cave` and purchased a vinyl version of `Hyena`. The cover design freaked me out. An abstract (kinda Picasso) drawing of some type of animal probably a hyena. 

Upon opening the record sleeve I look at the band`s picture. I immediately notice two things.
A – Robert Smith (The Cure`s head honcho) is lead guitarist for Siouxie & The Banshees. In fact, he was with The Banshees on two albums `Hyena` and `Nocturne` (a live recording).

B – What is that? Who is that? There`s a picture of Siouxie Sioux on her knees with a black outfit, with a deep dark, almost gothic looking eyeliner. She was long, slinky, skinny, a sexy dark feline. That day, I fell in love with Siouxie Sioux. 

          She had it all: looks, brains, attitude, talent you name it. The first thing that gets my attention or more likely attracts me is a person`s eyes. Siouxie has beautiful blue eyes which are accentuated by really dark eyeliner. There`s some sort of tribal, maybe gothic, maybe aboriginal, maybe abstract, maybe Egyptian more likely cat-like design in her eyes makeup. I always found this mysterious, feline, sensual, and highly original (or so it seemed). 

Between 1981 up until approximately early nineties I was into a lot of English bands: Siouxie & The Banshees, Echo & the Bunnymen, 

The The,

Gang Of Four, 

Icicle Works, 

The Bollock Brothers, 

PIL, 

and The Jesus And Mary Chain. 

Then in the early nineties I discovered / rediscovered electronic music. I was listening to a mix of old school (Kraftwerk, YMO, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and Neuronium) and new school (Skinny Puppy, Front 242 and Severed Heads). Once in awhile I`d pick up `Hyena` and listen to it non-stop for a couple of days. During the following years, I had a lot of different / diverse music phases: grunge, punk, old jazz & blues (I`m still into that), cassette culture, anything experimental, datkwave ambient, noise, etc  These days I`m into anything electronically oriented. I purchase, trade and download music. There`s so many styles of freely downloadable mp3`s it`s simply unreal. I also review music on my blog. I recently got a parcel form Mark Ritchie (Hiroshima Yeah! Zine). His letter was written on an old black and white postcard. On the front there was a picture of a girl dressed in black, with dark hair and black eyeliner / makeup. She has almost the same makeup as Siouxie Sioux, I thought to myself. While reading Mark`s letter I notice something printed on the bottom left side of the postcard: Elizabeth Taylor –1962. 

It means that Siouxie either copied Liz Taylor`s style or was highly influenced / inspired or maybe never heard of her. And this is all just pure coincidence. New things are seldom created and recycling / re-interpreting is the norm nowadays. Kudos to Siouxie Sioux thought, I tend to think that she just did her thing without actually giving a damn about anything. After all The Banshees where formed in 1976 during UK`s punk explosion (Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Vibrators, The Damned, The Slits, etc).                                                    
Dazzle
The stars that shine and the stars that shrink
In the face of stagnation the water runs
Before your eyes
Swallowing diamonds
A cutting throat
Your teeth when you grin
Reflecting beams on tombstones
A jamboree of surprises
Playing Russian roulette
Or the lucky dip
A clenched fist to your heart
Coal dust on your lungs
A silver tongue for the chosen one
Heavy magnum in your side
Or a bloody thorn
Skating bullets on angel dust
In a dead sea of fluid mercury
Baby piano cries
Under your heavy index and thumb
Pull some strings let them sing
The stars that shine and the stars that shrink
In the face of stagnation the water runs
Before your eyes
Dazzle it's a glittering prize
Dazzle it's a glittering prize
Before your eye
It's a glittering prize
The stars that shine and the stars that shrink
In the face of stagnation the water runs
Before your eyes                                                                                                                                           
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group,                                                                              CHRYSALIS MUSIC GROUP.