There’s A First Time For Everything: David Bowie, Stryper, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Robyn Hitchcock

Siouxsie & The Banshees, Hyæna

I didn’t end up owning this album officially until much later, but in 1986 I had just started college, and had very little in the way of a music collection, so a new friend made some tapes of what she considered to be “essential” albums. Included was Siouxsie’s Hyæna, which at the time was their most current album. It’s a frosty, beautiful collection of songs that for me defined a new world of melancholy and fashion. It’s full of real piano, more so than on any other Siouxsie release, and also features The Cure’s Robert Smith as guitarist and co-writer. The sheer beauty of the opening track “Dazzle” almost overwhelms the rest of the album, but strong songs like “Take Me Back” and “Belladonna” hold their own.

This was a very wintry and rainy day album, good for walking across campus in eyeliner and pancake makeup as I lamented our sorry fate on this cold cold planet. Or for smoking cloves in my dorm room, whichever was most convenient. The only other Siouxsie album that came close to touching me like this one was 1991’s Superstition, although in college I also loved the singles collection Once Upon A Time. Hyæna isn’t what I would consider to be a typical Siouxsie album, nor would I necessarily recommend it as an introduction to the band’s music, but for me it was the right sound at the right time.

Click to read about. . .

David Bowie, Soundtrack from Christiane F.
Stryper, The Yellow and Black Attack
Siouxsie & The Banshees, Hyæna
Robyn Hitchcock, Fegmania!

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