Siouxsie and The Banshees

Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of the most seminal bands from the post-punk generation - they helped to define the lines and forms of post-punk, goth and new wave styles, and influenced artists of following decades like The Cure, Massive Attack and LCD Soundsystem.

There were only three permanent members of the band -- Siouxsie Sioux (vocals), Steven Severin (bass) and Budgie (drums) -- however the list of famous musicians who got their start with Siouxsie and the Banshees includes Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Robert Smith (The Cure) and Marco Pirroni (Adam and the Ants). It wasn't only their music that so many tried to emulate, but also Siouxsie's sexually androgynous and fetish wear-inspired fashions.

Their first album The Scream was one of the most vital debut albums of the 70s. Its dark lyrical images and melding of edgy punk guitars with monster drums combined to make this often ambiguous album a real breakthrough. Only Siouxsie and the Banshees could take a Beatles classic, "Helter Skelter", and turn its dirty, metal-friendly sound into the dark, sexually thrilling goth anthem that it became. The Scream stirred the silt from the bottom of both the punk music scene and the mainstream rock movement and made the stark but definite statement: 'it's a new game now boys and it's time you let the women play'.

Another classic album was 1980's Kaleidoscope, which saw them change direction and sound towards new wave. It was layered with electronic keyboards and flirted with an oriental feel, pioneering the sound that would be come so popular in the mid and late 80s. Siouxsie and the Banshees released more than 15 albums in their career, and although all members had other bands (most notably The Creatures) and side projects, it is for their work as Siouxsie and the Banshees that they will be most fondly remembered.