"Ah, to be a punk legend is very sweet."
Today you’re 52 and you’re still rockin’, which you’ve been doing since around 1976. That’s roughly 33 years of rockin’ — over half of your lifetime. Born Susan Ballion, you got your start as part of the Bromley Contingent, the famous Sex Pistols fan group. You snarled at icky Bill Grundy on the day the air turned blue.
Siouxsie during her days as part of the Bromley Contingent
You created a distinct look for yourself — militaristic, caustic, cold, tough, unimpressed, aggressively sexual, fetishistic. There was nothing light or cute about you. You also created a space for British women in punk — not the only one, as folks like The Slits, The Raincoats, Delta 5, and Poly Styrene and Lora Logic of X-Ray Spex were also forging their own creative territories — but a distinct space. A space made of steel and barbed wire that cautioned anyone who dare fuck with you.
Her actual nipples were probably covered with bondage tape
You also played with the boys, which is important. Of course, it’s not necessary to play with the boys, but you spent the majority of your career (including your formative years) with The Banshees, a coterie of goth-punk boys, including long-time friend (and fellow member of the Bromley Contingent) Steve Severin and ex-husband Budgie. Yet, you always seem capable to work with them and not be directed by them. You’ve also worked with guys as disparate as Morrissey, Basement Jaxx, John Cale, and film composer Angelo Badalamenti on interesting projects. In short, you’ve proven yourself a vital collaborative partner.
Oh, and you can totally pulverize a song. Let’s listen to your rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Now, there are things that are troublesome about your career. While I like the song “Hong Kong Garden,” I do in spite of how racially problematic it is. While I love “Cities in Dust,” I still feel weird about the pseudo-Eastern instrumentation. In fact, you have a thorny relationship with race, consistently toying with Orientalism.
Plus, you know, your original look was pretty fascistic. You certainly weren’t alone among your colleagues to play with Nazi references and imagery. But yeah, it’s problematic.
And some people may have a problem with how you glammed up when you got older in an attempt to make your image and music more accessible. I personally don’t have much of a problem with it, because I still think your songs were beautiful and atmospheric and you were always kind of a pop star (you know, like The Cure). Plus you always wore theatrical make-up — you just broadened your color palette. And it may be easy to say that your look became more normative, but I also think there’s room to consider you as a female drag queen.
And, of course, you’re still with us. After a decade or so making albums with other people, you released your first solo album MantaRay in 2007. I hope you have some more music in you.
Oh, and also, you’re the person who wrote “Suburban Relapse.” So, I’ll always love you for that.
So, in honor of you still being alive and still touring and recording, I refuse to the dishes or the laundry tonight, as I know you’d ask “what for?”
