The Scream

Background

In late 1977, Siouxsie and the Banshees received major press coverage but failed to secure a recording deal. In October 1977, Sounds reported that someone had sprayed the walls of 15 record companies with the words "Sign the Banshees: Do it now". The following year (1978) in June, the band signed with Polydor.

John McKay had become the band's guitarist in July 1977; music historian Clinton Heylin argued that the recruitment of McKay (along with the first steps of Magazine in late 1977 and the formation of PiL in mid-1978), marked the "true starting-point for English post-punk". Several songs from The Scream had already been recorded on BBC Radio 1 for two John Peel sessions: "Mirage", "Metal Postcard" and "Suburban Relapse" premiered in November 1977, and "Overground" and "Carcass" were aired three months later in February 1978. When recording their first Peel session, Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin had described their music as "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time". Music journalist Vivien Goldman wrote: "Siouxsie and the Banshees sound like a 21st century industrial plant". Their first Peel session became one of the most requested in the show’s history.

Recording, music and lyrics

The Scream was recorded in one week during August 1978, and mixed in three weeks with Steve Lillywhite co-producing. The group was in the studio while their debut single "Hong Kong Garden" was released. Lillywhite was recruited because he recorded the drums in a different way. He asked drummer Kenny Morris to play the bass drum and the snare drum first. Then he did the cymbals and the tom-toms later. Morris used cymbals sparingly: in the early days of the group, he didn't use cymbals. On "Metal Postcard", there is a "motorik austerity" in the rhythm patterns. Music journalist Kris Needs noted that Lillywhite used "deep echo" on drums. Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris wrote in his autobiography that the Banshees used "the bass-led rhythm" and their drummer "Kenny Morris played mostly toms". Percussion was an important component of the music: future Banshees drummer Budgie remarked that Morris did "a lot of percussion overdubs" and "they are really part of the songs".

Music historian Simon Goddard described the music on The Scream as a "claustrophobic abyss of angst and angularity", saying it was part of a triptych of albums layering the foundations of post-punk. The opening cut, "Pure", had a spacious, atmospheric sound. Journalist Miranda Sawyer noted that Siouxsie's "vocals came from a distance", that "there was a lot of space" and that "the sound was big and slow". Music journalist Ian Birch wrote that "Pure" was an atmosphere piece; "a snarling, predatory bass stalks its ground before it's met by teeth-grinding guitar splinters, and the distant footfall of drums. Siouxsie's voice becomes an instrument." Siouxsie's way of singing was singular: musician Boz Boorer observed that "the whooping vocal wasn't just singing a tune, it would slide around." Kris Needs remarked that at the end of "Pure", it seeps out into "Jigsaw Feeling", a "song of disorientation and bewilderment" with a "huge, sometimes awe-inspiring sound". Another song, "Switch", was divided in three sections, one per character; "for the different people who swap jobs with terrible results - scientists, general practitioner and vicar". The music was "monochrome and minimal".

The "original... idea" was "a pure musical democracy" . The group didn't want any lead instrument, neither the voice nor the guitar "which usually dominated" the music. Every member of the band "occupied their own space, melodically and rhythmically". Severin didn't see "the bass as a supporting instrument": he always thought of it "as a driving instrument".

Title and sleeve

The title of the album was in part inspired by the 1968 film The Swimmer (starring Burt Lancaster), in which main character, Neddy Merrill, intended to swim home, using open-air pools. Climbing over garden fences, from pool to pool, his journey put him into a state of mental and physical exhaustion, and in the end, Goddard said, "all Neddy Merrill could think to do was scream, [...] as a scream of exhausted jubilance after a troubled, arduous journey".

The idea for the cover was Siouxsie's. Photographer Paul Wakefield met with her and the band to discuss the project. Wakefield later said:

The idea was to shoot disquieting and unnerving images underwater in a swimming pool – you can't scream underwater. I wanted to be able to completely control the lighting, and so an indoor pool was the only option. I scouted quite a few pools, but when I saw this pool in the YMCA in Central London, which was dark blue tiled with light blue lane stripes instead of the normal reverse colours, I knew it was the ideal location. I wanted to give it an eerie underwater night-time feel, and this setting was perfect. We used a number of 1000K and 2000K lights around the pool edge. I used schoolkids as models and they pretty well ran riot.

Release

More than one month prior to its release, DJ John Peel broadcast the album on BBC radio 1 from an advance copy on a cassette, from the beginning to end, with no interruptions. When he finished playing it, he said, "that's the one boys and girls, that's the one."

The Scream was released on 13 November 1978. It was an almost instant commercial success, peaking at No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart. No singles were released to promote the album.

The Scream was reissued on CD in the UK on 27 October 2005 as part of Universal's Deluxe Edition series. The new edition featured a remastered version of the album on the first disc, while the second disc contained demo and live tracks together with the singles from that period. A single-disc edition of the album was also released with the two non-album singles "Kong Kong Garden" and "The Staircase (Mystery)" as bonus tracks.

A 180g black vinyl LP reissue of the original edition, mastered from the original ¼ inch tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in September 2018.

Critical reception

The Scream was named "the best debut album of the year" by Sounds. Reviewer Peter Silverton gave the album 5 stars out of 5, and the paper listed it at number 2 in its end-of-year best album list. Record Mirror also published a 5-star review, saying: The Scream "points to the future, real music for the new age. ... It is vital, it's moving. It's a ... landmark." Chris Westwood praised the cohesion between the words and the music: "The album's lyrical frame of mind is perfectly reflected in the work of [guitarist] McKay. [Bassist] Severin and [drummer] Morris; constantly shifting, restless, controlled aggression, they are as essential as Siouxsie." Melody Maker described the sound as "strong, abrasive, visceral and constantly inventive, with a thrust that makes the spaces equal partners to the notes", with the critic comparing the album's textures to that of Wire and Pere Ubu. ZigZag qualified it as a "magnificent record", with reviewer Kris Needs writing: "I can't think of another group who could have made an LP so uncompromising, powerful and disturbing, yet so captivating and enjoyable ... It is certainly a special classic to join milestones like [David Bowie's] Diamond Dogs, Roxy [Music]'s first and [Lou Reed's] Berlin. This is music of such strength and vision that you just can't not be moved by the time they swing into the final climactic passage of 'Switch', the closing track." Needs qualified the sound as "huge, sometimes awe-inspiring" and commented that drummer Morris created "one of the best drum sounds I've ever heard – the deep echo and floor-shuddering mix accentuating his muted Glitter Band stomp". Critic Adam Sweeting began his review by saying, "This is a chilling, intense masterpiece". Sweeting then noted that the musicians "have perfected a group sound which is powerful but streamlined", adding that "the words and music combine to produce coolly dazzling images".

Several journalists from NME also praised the record. Nick Kent first stated that the band sounded "like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can." He then focused his attention on the opening track, saying: "Pure" "takes the sound to its ultimate juncture, leaving spaces that say as much as the notes being played. Certainly, the traditional three-piece sound has never been used in a more unorthodox fashion with such stunning results." In December 1978, another critic from NME, Paul Morley, described the music on The Scream as "unlike anything in rock":

It is not, as some would say, chaotic – it is controlled. Each instrument operates within its own space, its own time, as if mocking the lines of other instruments. Known rock is inverted, leaving just traces of mimicry of rock's cliches – satire that often bursts with glorious justification into shaking celebration (as on "Helter Skelter"). It is easy to gain attention by doing something which is crudely obviously out of the ordinary, but the Banshees have avoided such futile superficialities: it is innovation, not revolution, not a destruction but new building. It has grown out of rock – Velvets, Station to Station, Bolan. And Siouxsie's staggering voice is dropped, clipped, snapped prominently above this audacious musical drama, emphasizing the dark colours and empty, naked moods.

Legacy

Record Mirror's Ronnie Gurr wrote "The Scream, a masterpiece that, for six months, I failed to recognise as such, was a harrowing listening experience."

Since its release, The Scream has received a number of accolades from the music press. NME rated it at No. 58 in their "Writers All Time 100 Albums" list in 1985. Don Watson of the NME in 1986 described the album's music as "something that whipped the past into a great whirlpool of noise, pulling the future down". Uncut magazine placed it at No. 43 in their list of the 100 greatest debut albums. It was featured in the books 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,

and Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2006, music critic Garry Mulholland included it in his book Fear of Music about the 261 greatest albums since punk and disco. In 2007, Record Collector wrote that "it stands as one of the great debut albums from any era". In 2016, Les Inrockuptibles rated it as one of "The 100 Best British Albums" in a special issue. In 2017, Q included it in their list of "the debut albums that changed music" with "revolutionnary sounds".

The Scream placed the group among the pioneers of post-punk, as Robert Smith of the Cure contended:

When The Scream came out, I remember it was much slower than everybody thought. It was like the forerunner of the Joy Division sound. It was just big-sounding.

The Scream has been influential on a large number of genres and artists. Joy Division's Peter Hook, who saw the group in concert in Manchester in 1977, said about The Scream: "Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of our big influences ... The Banshees first LP was one of my favourite ever records, the way the guitarist and the drummer played was a really unusual way of playing." Joy Division's drummer Stephen Morris said: "[their] first drummer Kenny Morris played mostly toms" and "the sound of cymbals was forbidden", "the Banshees had that ... foreboding sound, sketching out the future from the dark of the past". Bono of U2 said: The Scream was "otherworldly", "it resonated with us". Geordie Walker of Killing Joke praised McKay's guitar playing and sound: "on The Scream, ... he came out with these chord structures that I found very refreshing. The guy's been ripped off so much, he started that flanged chord thing". The Cure's frontman said that he "loved" the band's early material, "especially "Metal Postcard", and "Overground".

Track listing

Deluxe Edition bonus disc

track 1 recorded 12 June 1977

tracks 2–5 recorded 29 November 1977

tracks 6–9 recorded 6 February 1978

tracks 10-14 recorded June 1978

Personnel

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Siouxsie Sioux – vocals

John McKay – guitars, saxophone

Steven Severin – bass guitar

Kenny Morris – drums, percussion

Technical

Steve Lillywhite – production, mixing

Siouxsie and the Banshees – production, design concept

Paul Wakefield – photography