Soundtrack of Your Life is an occasional feature in which we mark the songs of our relative youth as played over public muzak systems.
Date: October 5, 2023, noon
Place: Chuze Fitness in Uptown Albuquerque
Song: "Kiss Them for Me"
Artist: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Irony Matrix: 3.3 out of 10
Comment: It was just faint enough at first and so out of context, that I had to hum it a bit as I did some ab crunches before I recognized the melody, and, caught off-guard, I assumed it was a cover. But no, I checked the monitor, and there was Siouxsie Sioux along with Budgie and the Banshees in the video.
This might have been the band at its acme. Formed in the '70s after a Roxy Music show at the peak of punk, Siouxsie and the boys spent the '80s as a fringe goth outfit, known as much for their covers ("The Passenger," "Dear Prudence") as their originals ("Cities in Dust," "Peek-a-Boo"). They were more of a presence in dance clubs and on "120 Minutes" than they were in my record collection.
But "Kiss Them for Me" was a legitimate top-40 hit, and it led directly into their co-headline billing at the first Lollapalooza in 1991. Siouxsie's mascara was legendary. She was the only woman fronting a band that day, sandwiched between Living Colour and Jane's Addiction. (Miki Berenyi and Lush would have that distinction the following year.) For us, she was the capper. We decided to beat traffic and skip most of Jane's Addiction finale. It was a proper pinnacle for a unique band. "Kiss Them for Me" places them firmly in the pantheon.
No comments:
Post a Comment