Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/27/the-impact-of-siouxsie-and-the-banshees-hong-kong-garden-on-post-punk-music.html
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they used to play at a local public house
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How the hell did that man talk for 13 minutes about this and not actually talk about Siouxsie’s contributions at all. This video is a paean to the idea that women only exist in music to glorify and support men’s achievements. How did this pass your sniff test without comment, BB?
The guy waxes on about the producer and guitarist as thought Siouxsie herself was an inconsequential participant in their efforts, instead of being the effing bandleader. Even the list of artists he names who’ve been influenced by this song are literally only all-male bands. Boyyo: it’s Siouxsie’s bizzaro Coleridge-come-Lou-Reed lyrical genius, uncompromisingly high-tension presence, and vocal virtuosity at the heart of this amazing song. It seems that for your money, the producer and guitarist could have done without SS entirely. What an insulting way to “celebrate” a great song.
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This is not surprising, given how much history of rock is written (especially popular histories of rock), as a primarily white male dominated endeavor where women and people of color are only nominally involved (and then as supporting white men). The academic history is a bit better, but not by much. It’s probably better in punk histories than in rock histories, but then again, the popular rock history only sees punk as an outcropping of rock, not as a fundamental challenge to the industry establishment. This happens when you let industries write their own heroic histories with little to no criticism. 
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Yes! Also,
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That will surprise some on that list.
I remember when Siouxie and the Banshees first appeared, the overall effect of a song like “Spellbound” or “Happy House” was very cinematic…like creepy horror movies.
The guitarist fellow, McKay, was a master at setting the theme with those dark, “painterly” riffs.
That is a very weird tribute. Great to know what the Times deems the greatest post punk singles. And as other posters have mentioned, where the hell is Siouxsie, exactly in all that? I was bouncing between the UK and the West Coast during that time, and in both places the Banshees had a following, but really, nothing like the attributed “revolutionary” aspect this hapless video dude wants us to believe. Everyone had a lot of respect for her and the band, but she could be a bit of a party killer. And I never felt all that comfortable, even at the time with the weird orientalism of the actual tone/tune of the song. There wasn’t a ton of awareness of that in their presentation, and the general fetishism of Asia at that time, (Turning Japanese, China Girl et al) didn’t help. Hip Asians at the time were kinda pissed at it… there’s a bit of context.
Good band, but a bad video.
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used to love mixing this one. the drum programming was same bpm as a lot of hip hop.
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A great song and probably their biggest hit(?).
I always loved her and Budgie’s side project, The Creatures:
Boomerang is really a beat filled album…
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