Entranced: The Siouxsie & The Banshees Story

by Brian Johns, Chris Charlesworth (Editor)

Once described as 'the most elitist band in the world,' Siouxsie and The Banshees burst onto the music scene in 1976 with a stance that took the punk ideal to its extreme. They had no songs, couldn't play, and paraded an image which no record company would touch.

Shunning the swastika armbands and fetish clothing, singer Siouxsie Sioux quickly developed a style which has been copied the world over - dark, heavy make-up, a black shock of gravity-defying hair and shimmering jewelry. She will always be known as punk's very own Princess of Darkness.

This critical biography follows the band from their early days as part of The Sex Pistols' entourage through to the present time, when their massive cult following threatens to break into the elusive U.S. market.

Fully illustrated, with comprehensive discography and lists of concern dates, TV and radio appearances.

Genres: Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[William Strasse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good mostly for references to rare singles, TV appearances (which are mostly onDiscogs and YouTube now), etc... The writing is typical self-important British music "journalism" (not limited to Brits obviously, but it has that very 80s British music press feel) that doesn't really make a lot of sense - I think Kaleidoscope and Tinderbox got panned, while A Kiss In The Dreamhouse was hailed as a virtual masterpiece in comparison? The funny thing is that whenever this was published, it was pretty much the only bio of the Banshees that I saw listed anywhere and I kept looking for a copy. Glad I didn't waste a bunch of money on it then. In fact, now that I think of it, this is probably best as a reminder of a time when you had to search out stuff like this and how much better we really have it now.

[Meg Powers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book supposedly focuses on the Siouxsie and the Banshees story, but mostly seems to be a platform for the writer to list record sales numbers and lamentations that the band didn't keep within the sound of The Scream. I wonder if this came out today if he would have shit on Hyaena (one of my favorite albums of theirs) and Robert Smith and Steve Severin's project, The Glove, so much.

Anyway, I get that this is probably a crappy thing that was churned out quickly, but if that's the case, I wish there were more pictures.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this the week of publication, Omnibus books were known for quick turnaround publications with lots of photos and little insight, but anything was welcome in those days and I still have this book today .