Atratus's picture

Would you believe it's been 30 years?

Submitted by Atratus on

The Scream - Siouxsie and the Banshees

What you see here is my now thirty year old original 1978 Polydor U.K. pressing of Siouxsie and the Banshee's "The Scream," arguably the first "Gothic" album, though the word was yet to be applied. There are apocryphal stories (including the alt.gothic FAQ) that Siouxsie Sioux first used the term herself in describing the direction of the band, but it would be at least another year before the word "Gothic" would be used in print to describe any band, and several more years before the term really started to stick.

At the time, though, this would have been called punk and punk is how I came to it. Already a fan of the Sex Pistols, I'd read that Sid Vicious played once as drummer for band called "Siouxsie and the Banshees" and I was curious to hear them. Of course no one in Duncan knew who the Sex Pistols were, let alone Siouxsie and the Banshees. And there was no public Internet, period. I was still a few years away from trading mixed tapes with pen-pals. "Brave New Waves" on the CBC was also years away. The only recourse was pilgrimage to the "big city" - Victoria.

I purchased this used sometime in late 1979 from "Lyle's Place" (the price tag is still on the front, $5.95) on Yates Street in Victoria, most likely while out with my dad to see some awful movie at the Odeon that would never play in the cinema in Duncan. I would have been 12.

This is it. This is the beginning. This is the undifferentiated stem cell from which all goth music split. And what's most remarkable is even now, thirty years later there is nary a song on this album that wouldn't fly on the dancefloor at Sanctuary right now in 2008.

Comments

Jeez, do I ever miss Brave New Waves! IMHO the best radio show CBC has EVER produced!

In the day, I was working graveyard shift at a gas station, and Brave New Waves with Brent Bambry was always on and my crash course in the alternative music scene. I always had a small notebook on hand writing down all the song titles and artists of the music that picqued my interest (and yes I still have it!). Ahh.. the diversity! One minute you are listening to hardcore punk, the next reggae, the next industrial, etc. I heard alot of cool interviews from bands (I remember a great interview with Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy). I bought alot of music based on the tunes I heard on that show. It also showcased quite a few independant artists who may have never gotten exposure otherwise.

Those who have never heard of Brave New Waves really have missed out on a first rate show that celebrated the diversity in alternative music.