‘Spellbound’: The Story Behind Siouxsie & The Banshees’ Enchanting Hit

A heady and thrilling distillation of all that made the group great.By their 1981 album, Juju, Siouxsie & The Banshees were at the peak of their powers. Their classic line-up of Siouxsie Sioux (vocals), Steven Severin (bass), John McGeoch (guitar), and Budgie (drums) had developed a musical language of their own, combining disparate elements of punk, psychedelia, glam, and Krautrock. And, of course, in Siouxsie, they had a charismatic and intense frontwoman writing increasingly daring and uncompromising lyrics. Juju’s opening track, “Spellbound,” was not only a heady and thrilling distillation of all that made them great, it also achieved...