“Fireworks” by Siouxsie and the Banshees

Between Juju and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, Siouxsie and the Banshees put out "Fireworks" on Polydor on 21 May 1982, a single that belonged to no album and pointed the way forward anyway. Steven Severin wrote the words, and the music is credited to the whole band: Siouxsie Sioux, Severin, John McGeoch and Budgie.

They cut it that spring with Mike Hedges engineering for the first time; he already knew Siouxsie and Budgie from the Creatures' Wild Things EP, and he would go on to co-produce several Banshees records. It was also the first time the group brought in strings, and they give the song a sweeping, lit-up grandeur. It peaked at number 22 in the UK, later opened the singles compilation Twice Upon a Time, and an earlier take produced by Nigel Gray turned up as a bonus track on the remastered Juju.

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