CULTURE BOX - ICON

To whet your appetite for the first ever solo Siouxsie single "Into A Swan" (out in August) and album (out in September), here's the article from Time Out about her as seen through the eyes of Mark Moore. Big thanks to Claire Hojem, John O'Connell and Bernie Menezes at Time Out for sorting out the permissions for us to use this here.

My Favourite Londoner - Mark Moore on Siouxsie Sioux;

Mark Moore was born on January 12, 1965 in London. One of the youngest punks on the scene, he later transferred his allegiance to dance music and became one of the first superstar DJs in 1988 when his band S'Express had a Number One with 'Theme from S'Express'. Moore runs a record label, Umami, and the club night Electrogogo


The first time I saw Siouxsie was on a Janet Street-Porter documentary for London Weekend Television, and I just remember being besotted by her - the way she looked, spoke and did her make-up in the mirror. She had this silent-movie star presence about her. This would have been around the tail end of 1977: I was one of the youngest kids on the punk scene.

In those days the scene was very identikit, yet she seemed to stand outside all of that, and as the music progressed Siouxsie & The Banshees became very much their own people. The fact that they were there from the start - they were part of the Bromley contingent - mattered too: it wasn't like they'd seen the Pistols on Bill Grundy's show and thought: Oh, let's get into this. So obviously they set the pace. You had a hundred girls who copied the Siouxsie look, which progressed into the gothic look, and I'm sure she hates to be connected to that - but what she was doing was her own thing. She didn't want to follow the rules, the band didn't want to follow the rules. And that was very refreshing.

There are many sides to Siouxsie. She has a 'big sister' element to her personality. There's the other side, too - the ice maiden side, which kind-of terrifies you. When she was on stage and people were trying to touch her legs, she would stand on their hands with her stilettoes. The whole thing about Siouxsie was that everyone was in love with her, everyone fancied her - even the girls. But it wasn't so much a 'get your kit off' attitude, it was more about reverence and power. Very few punks actually thought: I'd like to f*** Siouxsie. It was just too damn rude!

I was desperate to go and see a Siouxsie show. Once I had become a punk I would tag along with my brother and half the time I would get turned away from the gigs. But I found that because I had long hair I could make myself look as girly as possible and they'd think I was an older girl and let me in. The first time I saw her was at The Nashville, then there was a long gap and the next time was at The Rainbow. There was such a sense of excitement that by the time she came on everyone had ripped up the seats and tossed them in the air. The sense of danger just added to the whole experience. Even now when I go to a gig, like a Marilyn Manson show where all these guys are jumping around, I still get a sense of disappointment that all the 16-year-olds in the audience aren't smashing the place to bits.

What was great about Siouxsie & The Banshees was that you felt they were your band because they formed in public, they grew up in public and made mistakes in public. It made you feel closer to them. At the same time, they had an element of elitism and snobbery about them.

I didn't get to meet her until we were both at the same Kraftwerk gig in 1979 or 1980. She was suddenly just there and I was like: Oh my God, the ice maiden! Maybe I should just go and say hello or something? So I went up to her to say hello and she was the sweetest, nicest person you could ever hope to meet. She had no idea that I was a fan. I think she thought I was some ex-soul boy or something. She was like, 'You must come and see us play live some time', presuming I had never seen them.

Over the years I've got to know her quite well, and I dread to think of her reading this as she hates people gushing over her. She gets it all the time, but she's not someone who gets off on it.

Whenever Siouxsie gets mentioned, the Nazi armband she once wore always comes up; but no one talks about what the climate was like at the time.

Everyone had parents or grandparents who would always harp on about the war and how they'd fought in it for us. But the war had happened 30 years ago, which when you're 15 is centuries ago. You were brought up with this Boy's Own outlook of, 'This is what the Nazis did to us ...', with films like 'The Battle of Britain' and 'The Longest Day' always on TV. If you were a bit older and had managed to get in to see 'Cabaret' then Nazism was depicted as all high-camp and Marlene Dietrich, so we never appreciated it for the true horror that it actually was. I used to live in Golders Green and I knew Jewish girls who would parade up the high street with Nazi armbands on, thinking: This will upset our parents. They didn't actually think about what it meant. At first their parents were horrified. But then, six months down the line, they became unshockable. It was like, 'I've put your Nazi armband with your Vivienne Westwood "f*** Your Mother" T-shirt, but I'm not washing them.'

What I did find great about the whole swastika stupidity was that it took the power away from it. My grandparents were Jewish and I always felt worried about wearing a Nazi armband so I never did. But what I did do was go to the local Indian shop and buy the peace swastikas in Day-Glo pink and bright orange and purple, trying to be clever and postmodern, waiting for someone to have a go at me, which they always did. It's annoying that such a beautiful symbol can be hijacked and made into such an evil symbol.

I love the whole iconic thing about Siouxsie. When I was a kid, the female icons were people like Dusty Springfield, and that's what she's the equivalent of now. It might be a different voice and a different style, but it's still that same degree of reverence. And she deserves her own prime-time variety show - every week!

Mark's club, Electrogogo, is at Madame JoJo's on Brewer Street on the first Thursday of every month. The latest release on Mark's Umami label is the Ping Pong Bitches' new album 'Alphadog'.

Author: Al de Perez. Time Out, issue 1913, April 18-25 2007

A righteous, glowing tribute to one of our most wonderful, individualistic and creative musical talents.... He's got a point about the whole Nazi armband thing though, when the Punks wore it in the 70s it was a vastly different message given out to when that stupid little tw@t who's third in line to the ruddy throne did "as a bit of a larfff".. Very different indeed... When the Punks did it, they were taking power away from it because the Punk movement was 100% ANTI-Establishment, and it has the same effect as someone like Mel Brooks or Kenny Everett dressing up as Hitler and totally taking the p***.... But when a person who embodies the establishment dons a Swastika, it doesn't have the effect of removing its power, quite the opposite in fact....

 

He's also right about Punks or Goths not really sexually objectifing Siouxsie.... Stunningly attractive though she is, it aint about wanting to shag her, it's more about wanting to be her, respecting her so completely... She aint a Sex Object, she is an Icon and a role model for everyone.... Young kids out there should be in awe of her and learn a lesson or two about what real individuality is....

A righteous, glowing tribute to one of our most wonderful, individualistic and creative musical talents.... He's got a point about the whole Nazi armband thing though, when the Punks wore it in the 70s it was a vastly different message given out to when that stupid little tw@t who's third in line to the ruddy throne did "as a bit of a larfff".. Very different indeed... When the Punks did it, they were taking power away from it because the Punk movement was 100% ANTI-Establishment, and it has the same effect as someone like Mel Brooks or Kenny Everett dressing up as Hitler and totally taking the p***.... But when a person who embodies the establishment dons a Swastika, it doesn't have the effect of removing its power, quite the opposite in fact....

 

btw did you watch Hitler: The Comedy Years the other night? this touched briefly on this aspect as well along with On The Buses, Spike Milligan and erotic artist Tom of Finland (so called, as the programme mentioned deadpanly, as he was from Finland and his name was Tom :lol: !?!?!?! )

 

learn a lesson or two about what real individuality is....

 

and also a note to Gary Lightbody and "Canuck Nickelback uglyman" :

 

this is how to do a great comic book movie theme tune!!!!

 

 

this is cool