Peepshow by Siouxsie and the Banshees

Peepshow, the ninth album from Siouxsie and the Banshees, came out on Polydor in Britain on 5 September 1988, and it's the sound of a band that refused to sit still. It was their first record as a five-piece, with multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick and guitarist Jon Klein joining Siouxsie Sioux, bassist Steven Severin and drummer Budgie, and Mike Hedges produced. The new blood opened the doors wide, and the album pulls in influences from all over.

"Peek-a-Boo" is the wildest thing here, a woozy, clanking carnival-mirror of a song that sounded like nothing else on the radio that year. "The Killing Jar" is taut and glittering, "The Last Beat of My Heart" is a slow, heart-swelling ballad, and "Scarecrow", "Ornaments of Gold" and "Turn to Stone" wander into stranger, darker corners. Critics raved about how unpredictable the orchestrations were and heard new shades in Siouxsie's voice, which moves from icy command to a hushed, almost tender croon.

It sold well, too, reaching number 20 in the UK and number 68 on the Billboard 200 at the start of December 1988, and it stayed on that chart for 20 weeks. "Peek-a-Boo" became the band's first American hit, getting to number 53 on the Hot 100 and topping the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, with "The Killing Jar" right behind it at number two. In 2018 the album got a book of its own, written by Samantha Bennett for the 33⅓ series.

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