The 1981 Listening Post - Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

#295

By Chris Jackson

June 6 1981

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Juju

Genre: Gothy angsty drama

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Chris’ 3.5 out of 5.0

Highlights:

All of it? None of it?

Boy, this record was not made with me in mind. Certainly not single-digit-aged me upon its release and not late-40s me at the end of 2020.

Is it post-punk? I think so. Is it early goth? I think so. Am I sure that I actually think so? Maybe not.

I certainly know of the band Siouxsie and the Banshees by name, but I never delved into their work. I envision the band forming after a flyer went up on the high school bulletin board with pre-ripped phone number tags at the bottom (the majority of these would be pulled off angrily by the jocks and bullies, but a few would end up in the hands of those that were actually interested): WANT TO JOIN A BAND? COME SEE WHAT WE’RE ABOUT THIS TUESDAY AFTER DRAMA CLUB!

The guitar tones on this are super thin and wirey and, honestly, really not to my liking. The music feels dark in a way that makes me think they said, “Let’s make this one dark!” The vocals are delivered SO seriously and every song feels like “Sioux” is on the verge of a nervous breakdown or she’s about to murder her loser boyfriend or she hates her parents or all of the above. Again, I don’t think I’m really the target audience on this one…

That said, yeah, I stand by my rating of 3.5 out of 5.0 because I certainly see where others might really like and relate to some of this. I’m pretty open-minded when I listen to music that’s outside of my preferred genres and often can discover something I really love when I do, but this one just didn’t resonate with me. I think if you like a little dissonance, a lot of drama and female-fronted rock bands (and, ironically, I have enjoyed all of those things in music at one time or another) and you’re actually not familiar with this band or album, I’d say give it a shot. I must admit, I think they effectively captured what they wanted to capture with this.

If you don’t like those things at all…steer clear.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5OEum65e1HMGX51Ifu51Wb?si=gJgRXTjMQrKyrHIY7lrb7w

The 1980 Listening Post - Krokus - Rendez-Vous

 Krokus - Rendez-vous

#274

by Chris Jackson

June 30 1980 

Krokus 

Metal Rendez-vous 

Genre: Hard Rock? Butt Rock?

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

Chris’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Highlights: 

Heatstrokes 

Tokyo Nights

Lady Double Dealer 

Krokus. Just let that band name soak in for a minute. When I hear it, I immediately think bad 80’s metal. Admittedly, that assessment was never based on ever actually HEARING the band, but I was aware of their existence and just thought they were another in a long line of hair metal acts from my youth. Happy to say, I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong by most of this album. True, this is pretty early on in the development of “metal”, but this album is pretty straight-ahead rock more than anything else. Clearly, they’re fans of AC/DC and Slade (as I am myself), so there’s some pretty listenable stuff to be found on here. Not sure I’ll be going back to it again anytime soon, but it was worth a listen. The opener, “Heatstrokes”, begins with a guitar line that could easily turn into a metal wank-fest, but then the actual song kicks in with a very catchy riff that takes us into a rather good song. Unremarkable? Kinda, but pretty cool. More of that follows with a couple exceptions. One track that stands out is the requisite metal ballad, “Steamer”. Interestingly, it has a long introduction that sounds like it could have been an outtake from Pink Floyd’s The Wall (released about 7 months prior to Metal Rendez-vous, so likely another influence), but once the vocals kick in, we’re back to pretty standard rock/metal territory. Finally, it would be remiss of me to not discuss the track, “Tokyo Nights”. A lot of cringe-worthy boxes are ticked right from the start: 1.     “Asian” gong? Check! 2. “Asian” riff? Check! 3. Offensive lyrics? Check! Allow me to expound on item 3: “Last night when I was laying in my bed, Had a dream of a flag in white & red, Swiss cross turned into the Japan dot, A yellow girl appeared and made me hot She took me to her place - a Geisha house, There was tea rice-booze & ceremony, I got undressed, she had me washed, I felt her body and I was lost” Yeesh. You know what though? This album is 40 years old and the world was considerably less sensitive about things like this then (we could argue long into the night as to whether or not things are better now, but, generally, we don’t see much of this kind of lyrical nonsense anymore). If you can get past that, I have to admit, it’s a standout track on the album. Also, it does something that I’m guessing has to be a first AND a last in metal history: about 3 minutes in, the fairly typical rock/metal music suddenly shifts to a pseudo-Police/reggae rhythm. It’s quite odd and somewhat jarring, but, hey, it’s different.

https://open.spotify.com/album/45tNUIvPmtfo4w44e1Tpgw?si=95CO1Pg9Q7CXtcLSx1fZew