Siouxsie and The Banshees - Legacy and Influence

Legacy and Influence

Siouxsie and the Banshees have inspired many musicians of different genres.

The Banshees had a strong effect on two main trip hop acts. Tricky covered "Tattoo" to open his second album, Nearly God: the 1983's proto trip-hop version of that song helped Tricky in the creation of his style. Another group of Bristol, Massive Attack, sampled "Metal Postcard" for the song "Superpredators", recorded prior to their Mezzanine album.

The group have been cited by their peers. Morrissey said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent". "They were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s". He also said in 1994, "If you study modern groups, those who gain press coverage and chart action, none of them are as good as Siouxsie and the Banshees at full pelt. That's not dusty nostalgia, that's fact." Another ex-member of The Smiths, Johnny Marr, mentioned his liking for Banshees guitarist John McGeoch and his composition on "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll." U2 cited Siouxsie and the Banshees as a major influence and selected "Christine" for a Mojo compilation. The Edge was the presenter of an award given to Siouxsie at the Mojo ceremony in 2005. Guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction once made a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "There are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal. I always saw Jane's Addiction as the masculine Siouxsie and the Banshees." The Cure leader Robert Smith declared in 2003: "Siouxsie and the Banshees and Wire were the two bands I really admired. They meant something." He also pinpointed what the 1979 Join Hands tour brought him musically. "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like the Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."

The Banshees have been hailed by other acts. Radiohead cited John McGeoch-era Siouxsie records when mentioning the recording of the song "There There". Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain selected "Jigsaw Feeling" from The Scream amongst his favourite songs. Jeff Buckley, who took inspiration in several female voices, covered "Killing Time" on various occasions. Suede's singer Brett Anderson named Juju as one of his favourite records. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed "Christine" in concert and their guitarist John Frusciante cited the Banshees in interviews. Garbage singer Shirley Manson wrote in the foreword to Paytress' Banshees biography, "I learned how to sing listening to The Scream and Kaleidoscope. Today, I can see and hear the Banshees' influence all over the place." Siouxsie has also been praised by various female singers including PJ Harvey and Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters. PJ Harvey selected Siouxsie's album Anima Animus in her top ten albums of year 1999.

The Banshees continue to influence younger musicians. Singer James Murphy was marked by certain Banshees albums during his childhood. His band LCD Soundsystem covered "Slowdive" as a B-side to the single "Disco Infiltrator". The Beta Band sampled "Painted Bird" on their track "Liquid Bird" from the Heroes to Zeros album. TV on the Radio said they have always tried to make a song that begins like "Kiss Them for Me" where all of a sudden, there's an "element of surprise" with "a giant drum coming in". Electronica singer Santigold based one of her songs on the music of "Red Light". "'My Superman' is an interpolation of 'Red Light,'" she explained. Lo-fi songwriter Jeremy Jay covered "Lunar Camel" on his Airwalker EP and he cited the band amongst his main influences. Indie folk group DeVotchKa covered the ballad "The Last Beat of My Heart" on the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer Win Butler; it was released on the Curse Your Little Heart EP. Gossip named the Banshees as one of their major influences during the promotion of their single "Heavy Cross". British indie band Bloc Party took inspiration from "Peek-a-Boo" and their singer Kele Okereke stated about that Banshees' single: "it sounded like nothing else on this planet. This is just a pop song that they put out in the middle of their career that nobody knows about, but to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard." The Weeknd sampled different parts of "Happy House" for his song "House of Balloons", and also used the chorus of the initial version.