Siouxsie & the Banshees Songs Ranked

Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band, formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. Q included John McKay’s guitar playing on “Hong Kong Garden” in their list of “100 Greatest Guitar Track Ever”, while Mojo rated guitarist John McGeoch in their list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” for his work on “Spellbound”. The Times cited the group as “one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era” Here are all of Siouxsie & the Banshees songs ranked.

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20. She’s a Carnival (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, 1982)

“She’s a Carnival is one of the bounciest, most danceable goth numbers ever. Not quite as brilliant or groundbreaking as Kaleidoscope, but like Juju it finds the band continuing to find interesting new ways to develop their sound, as well as being the first Banshees album you can really dance to from beginning to end. Four well-earned stars seems fair.”

19. Israel (Israel, 1980)

“Think about the best Banshees songs. What do you find. A delicious mix of pop songcraft with the strange and macabre. A cool array of arrangement choices, adhering closely to basic rock enjoyments, with wonderful little touches. The things that make the world taste good, the Banshees can.”

18. The Passenger (Through the Looking Glass, 1987)

“Siouxsie had this voice she could pull out on occasion, where she sounds forceful but detached at the same time. Like a robot with the volume cranked up. She uses that voice to best effect here.”

17. Hong Kong Garden (The Scream, 1978)

“Effectively the debut of the band as a whole, preceding as it did their debut album later in the same year. In some quarters this gets celebrated something heavy, and though I don’t really see that? I do see a really cool oddly catchy Punk track that just got on the other side of the Post gates and still feels unsure of its new home.”

See more: Siouxsie & the Banshees Albums Ranked

16. Fireworks (Juju, 1981)

“”Fireworks” predates War for a year, so I can almost tell how the inspiration flowed directly into Bono’s head. This one has a terrific orchestral arrangement that’s handled perfectly, and just in terms of sound you can tell it’s one of their biggest songs, all of that without losing the creepy factor. It’s nice to see that the band could actually afford releasing stuff like this as non-album singles.”

15. Cities in Dust (Now That’s What I Call Music! 6, 1985)

“Their strongest single to date, and possibly their poppiest one to date, as well. But there’s still an edge here that cuts through the modest amount of gloss. This is one of the songs that made me such a huge Banshees fan in the first place, and 20-something years later, nothing’s changed.

14. Halloween (Juju, 1981)

“John McGeoch’s work on the aforementioned Halloween is a great example; the song opens up and he makes his guitar legitimately sound like people screaming frantically, and he’s the dealbreaker on the song. I mean, it’s also excellent as it is but his guitar work cannot be understated there.”

13. Night Shift (Juju, 1981)

“Songs like Night Shift are still extremely dark and violent (listen closely to the lyrics), and have heavy and brutal guitar work. The mid-tempo only gives more opportunity for distortion and terror here. This is something their earlier albums didn’t quite hone in on, although their attempts were by no means bad.”

12. Trophy (Kaleidoscope, 1980)

“Trophy” is as heavy and oppressive as Join Hands, complete with menacing brass (it apparently originates from those earlier sessions),”

11. Suburban Relapse (The Scream, 1978)

“The major-key guitar riff hints at the stuff that would inspire U2 in the ’80s to develop their iconic arena rock style, although here it’s played almost as if it didn’t matter. One of the only genuinely immersive bits of sonic arrangement can be found on “Suburban Relapse” (it’s the reverberated little guitar figure that can be heard throughout the track). Siouxsie can’t vocalize for shit, almost as if she was well aware that her nonsensical gothic poetry doesn’t matter at all.”

10. Obsession (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, 1982)

“”Obsession” is one of my favorites, it’s so minimal yet it sort of sways back and forth in a dream like state. “Obsession”, a hypnotic and obscure number driven by haunting strings, banging percussions, edited guitars, heavy breathing and all kinds of creepy noises, and the sensual and exotic.”

9. Starcrossed Lovers (Tinderbox, 1986)

“So at this stage in the game things are a little different, this is more like beautiful dream alternative or something, it’s sort of whirling with Siouxsie’s lovely passionate vocals.  The drumming is more rock in nature as it’s more hard hitting, the music has that jewel tone to it and the layers of gorgeous guitar that I love so much.”

8. Sin In My Heart (Juju, 1981)

“On “Sin In My Heart”, his guitar doesn’t sound like a guitar, it is mysterious, one doesn’t know how he makes these beautiful noises but the result is impressive.”

7. Slowdive (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, 1982)

“I’m a sucker for “Slowdive” for fairly obvious reasons. Here the Banshees are, appealing to the dancefloor on the one hand, while completely undermining any chance of the thing becoming a major hit by refusing to include a chorus the people can hum, and introducing strings that could harry the most easy-going person in the world to an early grave. It’s the sort of thing undertakers prance around funeral parlours to when they think no-one’s looking.”

See more: The Cure Songs Ranked

6. The Sweetest Chill (Tinderbox, 1986)

“The Sweetest Chill remix manages to make one of the best SATB songs ever even more interesting by emphasizing the incredible rhythmic interplay between the guitar and drums.”

5. Painted Bird (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, 1982)

“But hey lets embrace the more ordinary blasts of melody too, the undeniable epic of Painted Bird really is among their best work after all. All these songs really do swirl with a new sort of magic thanks to the dense and busy production”

4. Spellbound (Juju, 1981)

“Not every band has a song that so fully demonstrates their strengths, a song you can play to someone and know, based on how they react, and know whether they’ll like the band as a whole or not. Siouxsie and the Banshees have one.”

3. Cannons (Tinderbox, 1986)

“Cannons dazzle with a glorious twinkling downbeat riffage that can’t help but get you to notice. To the point where I feel like I had to be putting in effort to AVOID noticing how fantastic they were.”

2. Song from the Edge of the World (Tinderbox, 1986)

“The Banshees have all but disavowed this song, which is a shame, because it is a great one.  It has a sort of airiness and freedom that is not common on a Banshees track.  It is similar in tone to “The Killing Jar.”  Apparently, the band was unhappy with the mix, but to these ears, although possibly a little too polished, the strength of the song still shines through.”

1. Candyman (Tinderbox, 1986)

“I’ve confessed before that i’m not much on reading into the lyrics of a song (when i can even be bothered to learn any of them), so perhaps i’ve missed the point of this one all along.  I’ve always heard it as a rather morbid Hansel & Gretel type storyline with lines such as “Sickly sweet, his poison seeks for the young ones who don’t understand the danger in his hands” and “With open arms to welcome you, beware the masked pretender – he always lies, this Candyman”.