Suburban Relapse

Siouxsie & Banshees liked to keep a cool distance from the conforming masses. Frontwoman Siouxsie Sioux speaks of suburbia in terms of being "stranded"- left alone to "create your own environment and use your imagination." "We were all marooned on the outside," she told Mojo November 2014. "That's probably why we felt so independent, Us and Them, and being a band fronted by a female ostracized us further. People like to say. 'Oh, it was punk, it was all equality.' I can safely say that misogyny and sexism was rife - and still is." Bassist Steve Severin added: "That's why J.G. Ballard resonated so much with us, because all his near-future tales were set in this bizarre suburban wasteland. Suburbia is a place where you can imagine any kind of possibility, because there's space, not urban clutter. That was important, certainly in the beginning, driving both the sound and the imagery."

Siouxsie wanted the Banshees' music on The Scream to be "cinematic." This song was inspired by Bernard Herrmann's score to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho where the guitars echo the knife-screeching violins of the famous shower scene.