Kylie Minogue featured in Saturday's quiz with the obvious selection of Kylie's Got A Crush On Us by BMX Bandits. I've probably confessed before to the fact that I bought Kylie's debut single back in 1988 even though I knew it wasn't very good. I was 16, Neighbours was on the TV every night when I got home from school, and Kylie was cool... even despite the insipid Stock Aitken Waterman production. I still think she's cool now - and should be praised for her longevity (Christmas Number One last year!).
Anyway, BMX Bandits wasn't my only choice for songs honouring Ms. Minogue. I could also have gone with this...
Another female pop diva whose records I obsessed over as a teen was Whitney. I'd still rate her second album as a pure pop classic. Then again, I've always been pretty insecure about voicing such things...
Janet Jackson, meanwhile, may be tainted by her brother's reputation... and that "shocking" incident at the Superbowl which got her cancelled for a time, while Justin Timberlake's reputation only soared. Sexist hypocrisy?
But it's back to the pop stars of our youth to close... and here's another lady who's it always been OK to admit to liking. My cool points remain intact.
Prepare to be chilled to the bone by the screaming wails of a right bunch of Banshees.
I'll be the first to admit that frequently this feature throws up a right load of old cobblers. This week is different though. There are some good ones. Honest!
THE BANSHEES #1
We start with these California high school students who formed a band called The Black Knights in 1962, changing their name to The Banshees two years later when they found a lead singer. They continued playing together, with some membership changes, throughout the 60s under a number of different names, including The Aerial, Kensington Forest and Gypsum Heaps.
From Belfast in 1965 - well, it's good to have some actual Irish Banshees on here, even if they sound more like they come from Nashville. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Male and female vocals provided by Dinkie O'Day and Mel Austin respectively, with Dave "Tiger" Taylor on bass. Grrr!
Released in June 1966, the only single from these Chicago-born Banshees sounds like it belongs ten years later. The term "proto-punk" is used in a couple of the texts I read, and it's clear this is considered quite an influential tune, even if it is their only surviving recording (except the b-side, which was a more typical 60s ballad). They broke up the following year.
Banshees traditionally herald the death of a loved one, so that could explain why Scottish folk singer Matt McGinn chose this particular backing band for his 1971 charity single, from which all proceeds were donated to the Lord Provost of Glasgow's Ibrox Disaster Fund.
The Banshees most people know come with the addition of one Susan Janet Ballion, aka Siouxsie Sioux... and in fact, she was the only constant member from their formation as a scrappy post-punk band in 1976 through their epic world-conquering goth-pop high in the late 80s / early 90s, to their eventual dissolution in 1996. To quote Paul Morley...
They sneaked hell into the pop charts, as well as a brittle, opulent heaven and a jarring lewdness. Considering their song topics included mental illness, medical terrors, surreal diseases, depraved urges, sinister intensity, unearthly energy, sexual abuse, childhood disturbances, sordid mysteries, unbearable nervous anxiety, fairytale fears, urban discontent and the bleak dignity of solitude, it was astonishing that they ended up as much as anything else a sublime singles band.
Whether they get your vote or not, I think we can all agree that they epitomise the Banshee ideal better than any other band here today.
Philadelphia Banshees who got together while at Uni back in 1992, then reunited 25 years later to have another go at it. I picked the track below because I figured it might resonate with some of you...
Liverpudlian Banshees formed in 2018, featuring singer/songwriter Vinny Pereira and guitarist Paul Anthony Holligan (not pictured).
"Harking back to the club scenes of the 90s - panic, punk and angst all mixed up into a journey of the mind." They sound a bit like Reverend & The Makers to me.
You can buy their full digital discography for just six quid on the Camp of Bands.
Inevitably, this week's Snapshots threw up a plethora of possibilities. Here's a few I couldn't find room for, starting with one about the lady above...
Those of you who are paying attention will realise that I also featured that song on Friday. It merits the double-exposure.
While we're with the girl groups, here's an important question to live your life by...
And I've got enough of these for another post, so that's Wednesday covered. Let's finish today with old Blog favourites Bowling For Soup, and a song about the biggest female pop star in the world right now...
Welcome, all you Divas, Single Ladies, Naughty Girls and... erm, Baby Boys. Whatever you class yourself as, you're welcome to another edition of Snapshots.
Take a look at the pictures below... say their names... then work out the connection between their songs.
15. Christ's sons' lay a band... that would cause a kerfuffle.
14. Poster boys.
13. Originally called Landscape: Noon.
12. Be happy in Italian, with Nina.
11. They gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.
10. Part lion, part eagle - all Vicious.
9. Calendar Girls.
8. Often thought of as a Nancy boy.
7. Sand aggregates water.
6. They're not interested in your Bomber, your Burner, or your Chopper.
5. Go Wild, Hey-Billy-Poppa and Derek Dick.
4. What you talking about, Willis (junior)?
3. Sounds like a coal train for John and Andy in Tennessee.
