尖叫 (1978)

The Scream is the debut studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on November 13, 1978, by Polydor Records. Prior to recording of the album, the band recorded two sessions for BBC radio, during which they had premiered the tracks "Metal Postcard" and "Overground". After taping their debut single, "Hong Kong Garden", the band returned to the studio with the same co-producer, Steve Lillywhite. The Scream was recorded in one week and mixed in three weeks at RAK.

The record was hailed as a landmark by reviewers and it is considered a pioneering work of post-punk. The music combines an angular and jagged guitar, a bass-led rhythm, with machine-like drums heavy on tom-toms. The sound has been described as claustrophobic, big with a lot of space. In the UK, The Scream reached number twelve on the Albums chart.

Besides post-punk, it profoundly impacted noise rock and alternative rock genres and rock guitar playing in general. Bands and musicians including Joy Division, U2, Killing Joke, Steve Albini of Big Black and the Jesus and Mary Chain have cited it as an influence.

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 off The Scream had already been recorded and broadcast 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 incorporate any in his playing. 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".