Monday, September 24, 2007

Banshee Wail

Today, whilst stuck in traffic on the way home from work, I slowly rolled by a house for sale on Rte 9. This abode, from the outside at least, seemed rather unremarkable and the fact that it was situated on a fantastically busy thoroughfare made it that much less so. Still, it managed to catch my eye for one simple reason, namely the "For Sale" sign out front. The house, you see, was being sold by Susie Hsu.

While the music buffs among you have already gotten the reference immediately, the rest of you are undoubtedly scratching your heads. Susie Hsu? Huh? What's all this about?

Not much, really. Just a delightful little play on words and an excuse to play some music. You see, Susie Hsu, whom I'm sure is a top notch realtor, also has a homonymed compatriot (or, if you're feeling really adventurous, an evil twin sister) named Siouxsie Sioux, who is more famously known as the front woman for Siouxsie and the Banshees - one of the more famous Goth/Post-Punk bands to come out of England in the late 70's and early 80's. I didn't get into them until the early 90's, when I hit musical appreciation puberty, and when they were decidedly more pop (they somehow managed to chart a Top 40 hit - an event which caused many of their "loyal" fan base to that point to label them sell-outs.) Regardless, Siouxsie was one of the original and more influential "not to be messed with" front women in punk and modern rock, and she (and her band) have influenced countless popular music acts since their dawn - including, I might add, a certain fiery redhead who cites her as her biggest influence ever and whom I've written about before.

So, needless to say, I was delighted to find she was selling houses in Massachusetts. I can only imagine what the interiors of the properties she sells look like - all the walls painted black and gray with decaying statues of gargoyles and saints. Sheer magnificence! Remind me to look her up if these damned housing prices ever drop. In the meantime, I got some tunes to tide us all over. Enjoy.
  • Spellbound - From their 1981 album, Juju, Spellbound is one of their most classic and most recognizable tunes. I love the guitar work and frantic energy throughout this track. Fun stuff.
  • Cities In Dust - The newer more pop sounding Siouxsie & The Banshees. This one's off the 1986 album Tinderbox, and this tune with it's synthesizers and electronic bells in the beginning definitely raised some hours. The rather dour lyrics however confirmed that it was indeed the old Siouxsie, though, and besides, the tune is just so damn catchy.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

So. Ummmmmm. This begs the question: Hsu's on first?

8:55 PM  
Blogger GB (admin) said...

Wasn't Robert Smith in the band at some point? Weren't they sort of a side project for him in the early-mid 80s?

10:27 AM  

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