After a brief diversion, we’re back with the sixth installment in our ongoing artist poll series, this time asking you, the readers of Slicing Up Eyeballs, to help us rank every song released by legendary post-punks Siouxsie and the Banshees over the band’s 20-year career.
By our count, the Banshees released 176 studio-recorded songs between 1978 and 2002, and we’re asking you to select your favorites from that list so that we may assemble a definitive ranking, like we’ve done already with the oeuvres of The Cure, The Smiths, R.E.M., Depeche Mode and New Order.
VOTING: Below you’ll find a ballot listing all 176 studio-recorded songs released by Siouxsie and the Banshees. What’s not included are live tracks, radio-session recordings, demos and remixes.
You’re welcome to vote for as many as 25 of your favorite songs released by the Banshees.
A few notes on all this:
- We’re fairly confident that our list of 175 songs is comprehensive, but if there are any missing, there is a write-in option at the bottom of the poll. You can also email info@slicingupeyeballs.com to alert us to any omissions, or if you’ve got any questions about song eligibility beyond the rules described above.
- Though we generally shy away from listing different versions of the same song, we included a few in this poll because of the way they were prominently released, from the re-recorded songs that made up 1984’s The Thorn EP to “Mittageisen,” the German-language version of “Metal Postcard” that was released as a single.
- The songs are listed in strict alphabetical order, meaning “The Killing Jar” will be in the T’s, not K’s.
- While you can vote for up to 25 songs, they all will be weighed equally when the results are tallied. But if you’d like to share your ranked Top 25 lists with the rest of the Slicing Up Eyeballs readers, feel free to drop them in the comments below, and make your case.
- And if you’re wondering about the Best of the ’80s Redux poll for 1982, we’re still tabulating the results (those fill-in-your-own-choices polls take longer than polls with choices like this one).
DEADLINE: Voting ends 5 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 23, and results will be posted in a week or so.
Sound good? Then vote away.
(If you have any difficulty using the webform below, go directly to Polldaddy to vote: poll.fm/5ww1u)
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Vintage Video: Leg in a cast, Siouxsie takes a seat to lead the Banshees through 1985 set
- Vintage Video: Watch a 40-minute ‘Juju’-era Siouxsie and the Banshees set from 1981
- Banshees’ Steven Severin releases new ambient album, gives away 23-minute track
- Siouxsie and the Banshees to reissue ‘Join Hands’ on vinyl with original artwork, tracklist
- Siouxsie and the Banshees to release new ‘Spellbound’ 18-track best-of in January
awesome band, brilliant music, miss them greatly
Excellent!
Love it!
Too many to choose from
How frustrating picking 25 songs!
Right??? I had 54 faves on my first pass!
Best Banshees song ever… Nightshift.
So many choices and interesting to see the final list
Hear, hear!
Yes. If I had to pick one, Nightshift would be the one.
Nightshift is just a terrible self-parody from an otherwise excellent album. I don’t know why so many people think this song is tops. I truly hate it. Into The Light is just so much better.
Totally agreed… I don’t find Night Shift so compelling as to be the “best” Banshees song ever, or even the best on that album. Into The Light most definitely!
Greatest band ever. Hard to choose. Even their bad stuff is better than most everything else.
Need some obscure ones to add like Bad Shape.
Soooo many songs, its hard to try
25 is just the beginning…
So many that had to be left out. My life was made richer for having had this band in it.
Awesome band! So underrated
We are entranced.
That was quite difficult!
Tough call doing 25 only
Still an all time classic.
God that was hard. Had to be selective.
That was tough!
Can I vote for every single song from Join Hands through Tinderbox?
Damn, tougher choices than I thought.
Thanks! That was a lot of fun!
F.A.B!
So tough. Such brilliant throughout their career.
yay!
What a fantastic back catalogue. The best of any one.
That was hard work, too many brilliant songs
We Fail = We Fall! Typo on your part!
Always time for a wee bit Siouxsie.
So much fun!
Best
Good one, Matt. Voted mostly McGeoch. What talent he had. So awful we lost him so young.
I’m a casual fan.
They were very consistent between 78-86. Difficult to pick the very best.
25 is not enough!
This is the first one of these polls that I’ve been able to answer easily, in one go. I’m a massive Siouxsie fan, and my top 25 just fell into place. Thanks for doing this.
Tinderbox was easily one of the best produced albums of the 80’s.
Totally agree. It amazes me that “Tinderbox” is so often overlooked when the Banshees legacy is discussed. It’s a brilliant album. 92 Degrees is one of my favourite Banshees songs…now for the other 24…so tough!
So true! 92º sends shivers up my spine every time I hear it.
Amazing band. Totally informed my musical development
Even for 25, that was hard to choose.
Hi.
Only 25?!
This was not easy at all….needed a top 40!
Saw them in ’94 for The Rapture
Wonderful Poll
Cutting it off at 25 is so difficult for me. Oove so many of their songs.
Well, that was difficult!
Hard to pick just 25!
Is there anyone as crazy about Staring Back/Return as me?? If so contact me ASAP I’ll be your soulmate for eternity
Due to popular demand (and my own belated realization that it’s a studio recording), I’ve added “Make Up to Break Up,” off ‘The Scream’ reissue, to the poll. If you’ve already voted and would have voted for that (and didn’t include it as a write-in), and still want to vote for it, email me at info@slicingupeyeballs.com and tell me which song you want to swap out for “Make Up to Break Up.”
Hate to say I told ya so, but… :-)
I can’t think of another band that was quite as good at re-interpreting songs. A lot of songs on Through the Looking Glass rival the originals (or are even better.)
I think it’s the greatest covers album of all time and shove it at anyone that might give it a chance :)
The Nocturne version of Paradise Place would have been one my first choices…..
Far too hard
I picked my favorites as I went down the list and ended up with exactly 25. What a fantastic list of tracks, from start to finish!
I love Juju in its entirety. It was tough not to vote for all songs on that.
Always has been, always will be my absolute favorite band!
Siouxsie and the Banshees were the greatest. Their music has shaped my life as no other. Their catalog is the backdrop of my life. They have better bsides than most bands have A sides for fucks sake!!! i love you Siouxsie!!!
This was incredibly hard as i am a die hard fan and 50 would have been a challenge. I found it easy to vote for 3 tracks from their final album The Rapture……that’s hardcore…….i am very eager to see fhe final results and unfortunately i know too well that peek a boo and kiss them for me will likely be in the top 10…..not bad songs at all….just not nearly as great…does anyone agree that this band was simply original…so colourful…never boring…and listening to them is really and truly like going on an adventure ….of course they weren’t all over radio…they were simply too good for that shit!!
I was pretty much a lone wolf in being a Siouxsie and the Banshees fan back in the early 80’s. The small midwest town I grew up in wasn’t exactly chock full of their fans. Was always fun to make a trip up to the “big city” of Ann Arbor, MI and find one of their early albums at Schoolkids Records there. Still have those old LP’s.
That was damn hard! Had to be bloody ruthless!!! Some of my faves hit the cutting room floor! Oh and Juju to Tinderbox oh wow!!!!
Only twenty five? Preposterous!
More of a casual fan myself so I did not find it all that hard. But the songs of their’s I love I REALLY love!
Touch choices…really!
Love the Banshees!!!!
Nocturne
Great band with lots of fabulous songs
Been a fan for 35 years still listen with the same enthusiasm-they were so ahead of their time true masterpieces they left us with!
Have the results been posted yet? I can’t find them anywhere on the site.
What a great band. Any sign of the results from the poll?