“Not much originality”: John Lydon’s big problem with Siouxsie and the Banshees
At the helm of punk outfit the Sex Pistols and post-punk offspring Public Image Ltd, John Lydon is one of the most well-known vocalists within that sphere. After cementing his Johnny Rotten persona with the former, he delved further into angularity and the avant-garde with his second project. Public Image Ltd would become one of the most important names in the post-punk realm, and Lydon had stamped his mark on both it and its predecessor.
While Lydon was bringing his cheeky vocal style to future genre classics like ‘Public Image’, occupying a realm of post-punk that oscillated between harsh and danceable, elsewhere in London, Siouxsie and the Banshees were forging their own take on the genre. Unlike the ever-shifting sound of Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie and her bandmates inhabited the goth realm.
Donning thick, dark eyeliner and even thicker, darker hairstyles, Siouxsie led her banshees into post-punk stardom with a twinkling alternative take on the subculture. Between stunning covers of Iggy Pop and Beatles classics and entrancing originals like ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Cities in Dust’, Siouxsie and the Banshees earned their own place amongst the post-punk greats.
Like Lydon, Siouxsie remains one of the most revered and referenced front-people in the genre, an icon on all accounts who would influence everyone from New Order to Charli XCX. But while Sioux may have attracted the admiration of generations of listeners with her gothic look and post-punk prowess, Lydon was slightly less impressed, finding one aspect of the band’s artistry particularly irksome.
Lydon has never been shy about sharing his opinions on other people’s artistry. In an appearance on QA Live, the Public Image Ltd was prompted to give his thoughts on his gothic peers, to which he took the opportunity to question the Banshees’ creativity. While he deemed Siouxsie a “lovely girl” and accepted that there was some “great new music that came out of that lot”, his words weren’t all positive.
The Sex Pistols singer seemed unimpressed with Siouxsie’s reliance on external material. You might assume that he’s referring to their penchant for covers but, actually, Lydon was criticising the singer’s dependence on literary influences. “It really is all about Stephen King novels and that’s where my problem begins with them,” he commented, “They thrive on other people’s efforts.”
Lydon concluded that there was “not much originality,” deeming it a “shame,” but his opinion seems somewhat reductive. While ‘Christine’ could well be a companion track for King’s novel of the same name, the implication that their music was all about the horror author’s writings is unfair. There may have been a dark, literary quality to their music, but they were far from thriving on King’s words.
Siouxsie and the Banshees’ spellbinding – pardon the pun – sound didn’t depend on literary sources. It didn’t even depend on the original songs the band covered. It depended on Siouxsie’s wavering and weird vocals, their gothic reinvention of post-punk, and the look they tailored to match. Lydon’s assertion that they had “not much originality” seems to diminish their impact.
The idiosyncracy of their sound and style is demonstrated by just how wide-spanning their influence is. Perhaps Lydon just wanted to dish out more criticism to his peers, a habit he seems to have gotten particularly good at.
