Juju by Siouxsie and the Banshees

Juju, the fourth album from Siouxsie and the Banshees, came out on Polydor in 1981, and it's the sound of a band that has stopped apologising for the dark. Cut at Surrey Sound with Nigel Gray sharing the production chair, it catches the lineup that had regrouped around Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin: John McGeoch on guitar and Budgie on drums.

McGeoch is the wild card, twisting his guitar into shapes nobody else in post-punk would dare, all slashing, eerie curls, while Budgie's drums roll and thunder underneath. Siouxsie rides over the top like a high priestess with a grudge. "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights" were the singles. Critics loved it, it sold well enough to crack the UK top 10, and the goth scene gathering in its wake took its cues from it. It's still held up as one of post-punk's landmark records.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.