t/s: siouxse + the banshees vs the b-52s

Huh, I would never have thought to compare Siouxsie and the B-52s. I dunno, I'm not sure on that one. Siouxsie and early Cocteaus, definitely.

Siouxsie.

I just watched the Siouxsie & the Banshees Play At Home Special a few days ago; it's the most hilariously artygoth thing I've ever seen. The appearance of "Weathercade" is nice.

Oh yeah, B-52s and Siouxsie are definitely two sides of the same coin. I always disliked B-52s as a kid, because they came from an aesthetic place that I just didn't get: all that weird-ass retro cocktail kitsch. I still don't like that crap. They did headline at my first real rock concert, but I only went to see the Violent Femmes open. The Banshees were more up my alley: trenchcoats and gloominess. Ah, middle school.

Both groups have spare, trebley guitars, strong female vocals, and 60's psychedelic pop and surf music undercurrents.

For all their goofiness and irony though, the B-52s come across as more sincere than S&tB. Cindy would take a line like "Why don't you dance with me? I'm not no Limburger!" and infuse it with seething angst, like a proto-Riot Grrl in a bulbous buffant. Somehow, that seriousness and determination in the midst of the weirdness give it extra resonance for me.

siouxsie has some absolutely timeless-seeming singels, for sure. OTOH I suspect I will remember fred schnieder's persona long after I've gotten too old to enjoy the bansheez - the B-52s were about vitality, S&TB were all about decay. When I'm in a nursing home I know what I'll be jumping out the wheelchair for, and it ain't some genius goth-wave, it's going to be some goddamn love shack - I'll probably end up strapped down for a week or more because frankly if I were a nurse working there I'd be offended too.