Danny Elfman | FOREVER YOUNG

I was quite late jumping on to the Siouxsie And The Banshees train. I was a fan of Top 40 music for many years, before branching out in 1987 (thanks to my new friend, Michael) into more Alternative music (called Modern Rock back in the day).

The memory in my ginormous melon is a bit fuzzy on this, but I honestly believe my first introduction to Siouxsie And The Banshees was with 1988’s “Peek-A-Boo.” The band had been together for 12 years at that point, and had been releasing music for 10 years.

While American college radio had been enjoying the London band’s first eight studio albums and one live album, commercial American radio was late in hopping aboard on the Siouxsie train as well. By 1988, Siouxsie Sioux and Co. had racked up 14 Top 40 hits in their U.K. homeland, while “Peek-A-Boo” was their first American hit.

The following year, The Creatures (a side project away from The Banshees featuring Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie) released their second album, BOOMERANG, and I fell in love with the remixes of the gorgeous, pulsating “Standing There,” and the fun, playful “Fury Eyes.” I still have the CD single.

The Creatures (Siouxsie and Budgie), 1989.

From there, my love for the music of Siouxsie And The Banshees only grew. Unlike 1989’s brilliant BATMAN, which featured an incredible score by Danny Elfman and songs by Prince, 1992’s BATMAN RETURNS primarily featured Danny Elfman’s score throughout the film, but with a lone song featured in the movie – the stunning and haunting “Face To Face.” That song was co-written by Siouxsie And The Banshees and Danny Elfman, who orchestrated the song, and which was produced by Portland, Maine native, Stephen Hague.

Later that year, their second singles compilation, TWICE UPON A TIME: THE SINGLES, was released, and I was able to catch up some with the band that had eluded me for so long. And by the time my STUCK IN THE 80s program first aired in 1996, Siouxsie And The Banshees became a regular staple throughout the show’s nearly 21 years.

It’s funny how you can love a band for so long, but become enamored with certain tracks much later after you discover them. That happened with me and 1984’s “Dazzle.” From their sixth studio album, HYÆNA(their only album to feature The Cure’s Robert Smith, on guitars and keyboards), “Dazzle” was dazzling from the start. The band recruited a 27-piece orchestra by the name of the “Chandos Players,” which played strings from a piece written by Siouxsie Sioux that originated on piano (which itself was originally called “Baby Piano”).

From there, “Dazzle” thrusts itself into an incredible anthematic marriage of pounding drums and guitars and strings, complimented by Siouxsie Sioux’s stirring vocals, enhanced with the perfect amount of reverb.

In a 1984 MELODY MAKER review of HYÆNA by critic Steve Sutherland, “Dazzle” was referred to as “naively daring. Siouxsie’s voice, framed alone against the firmament of strings. It could be [Andrew] Lloyd Webber’s CATS or something by Vaughn Williams. You can get impressed, wrapped up and lost in this.”

The U.K. 12″ of “Dazzle,” featuring the beautiful 7-minute Glamour Mix.

From a review of the 25th anniversary reissue of the album, “[HYÆNA] was [Siouxsie And The Banshees’] most experimental work, [Robert] Smith’s presence is keenly felt on the disciplined execution of the grandiose ‘Dazzle’” (which Robert Smith co-wrote with the band). “Dazzle” became the band’s 11th Top 40 U.K. hit (out of 18 total, between 1978 and 1994).

Eve since I’ve known the dazzling Maryhope, “Dazzle” has always been a huge part of playlists for any of her incredible radio shows on WMPG, and was on her playlist for the first time she filled in for me on STUCK IN THE 80s in late July 2006, not long after I had met her.

The July 30, 2006 playlist from the first time Maryhope filled on STUCK IN THE 80s. As you can see, it kicked much ass.

And because of Maryhope, I latched onto a song I had known for years but didn’t latch on to initially for whatever reason. “Dazzle” may not be as well known as “Cities In Dust” or “Peek-A-Boo” or “Kiss Them For Me,” but it’s one of my favorite Siouxsie And The Banshees songs, and will dazzle for years to come. You should revisit it if you haven’t heard it in awhile. You’ll be dazzled too…