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Spellbound (Siouxsie and the Banshees song)

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"Spellbound"
Single by Siouxsie and the Banshees
from the album Juju
B-side"Follow the Sun", "Slap Dash Snap"
Released22 May 1981
Recorded1981
Genre
Length3:18
LabelPolydor
Songwriter(s)Susan Ballion, Peter Edward Clarke, John McGeoch and Steven Severin
Producer(s)
Siouxsie and the Banshees singles chronology
"Israel"
(1980) 		"Spellbound"
(1981) 		"Arabian Knights"
(1981)
Music video
"Spellbound" on YouTube

"Spellbound" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The group wrote it and co-produced it with Nigel Gray. It was released in 1981 by record label Polydor as the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Juju.

Prior to recording the song, the band toured the UK in February of 1981 to premiere new material composed with guitarist John McGeoch. When reviewing this era, Barney Hoskyns of NME described "Spellbound" as a "glorious electric storm," further adding, "Siouxsie and the Banshees are one of the great British bands of all time".[4]

Release

[edit]

"Spellbound" was released by Polydor on 22 May 1981. The single peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart in 1981.[5][6] It also reached 64 on the U.S. National Disco Action Top 80 chart.[7]

The 12" extended version of the song appeared on the 2006 remastered version of Juju.

Reception and legacy

[edit]

In their contemporary review, Melody Maker praised the single, calling it "exhilarating".[8] The Guardian retrospectively hailed it as a "pop marvel".[9]

In 2006, Mojo honoured McGeoch by rating him in their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" for his work on "Spellbound".[10] Johnny Marr of the Smiths stated on BBC Radio 2 in February 2008 that he rated guitarist John McGeoch highly for his work on "Spellbound": "It's so clever. He's got this really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll, and this actual tune he's playing is really quite mysterious".[11]

The song featured in the end credits of the finale of the 4th season of Stranger Things, "The Piggyback,"[12] and the end credits of the season 4 episode of True Blood, "Spellbound". It is also played on the radio in the background in the 2022 film Empire of Light.[citation needed] English pop group Duran Duran covered the song on their 2023 album Danse Macabre.[13]

Personnel

[edit]

Track listing

[edit]
7"
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Spellbound"3:19
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Follow the Sun"2:49
12"
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Spellbound (Extended)"4:40
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Follow the Sun"2:49
2."Slap Dash Snap"3:42

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1981) Peak
position
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 47
UK Single Chart 22
US National Disco Action Top 80 64

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bassett, Jordan (20 February 2019). "Turns out Karl Lagerfeld was an indie kid all along". NME. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  2. ^ "The 50 Best Goth Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 31 October 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  3. ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1981". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. p. 399. ISBN 9781493064601.
  4. ^ Hoskyns, Barney (28 February 1981). Siouxsie and the banshees Hammersmith. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ "Siouxsie & the Banshees [uk charts]". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Siouxsie and the Banshees - UK Singles Chart". OfficialCharts. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Billboard singles - Siouxsie and the Banshees". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ Hewitt, Paulo (23 May 1981). ""Spellbound" review". Melody Maker.
  9. ^ Petridis, Alex (21 November 2007). "Artists Beginning with S | Music | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2015. Pop marvels such as Spellbound and Arabian Knights were poised, peerless exercises in magic realism that you could dance to.
  10. ^ "John McGeogh – Spellbound – (Siouxsie & the Banshees, Juju) – 1981 – Yamaha". Mojo (89). June 1996. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  11. ^ Mitchell, Pete. "Spellbound : The Story Of John McGeoch" on YouTube BBC Radio 2's Pete Mitchell talks to Howard Devoto, Siouxsie Sioux and Johnny Marr among others, as he shines a light on the life of this unsung guitar hero. February 2008.
  12. ^ "'Stranger Things 4': the complete official soundtrack". Nme. 1 July 2022. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ Harrison, Emma (25 October 2023). "Duran Duran – Danse Macabre". Clash. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Siouxsie & The Banshees – Spellbound". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
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