Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Siouxsie and the Banshees and "Peek-a-Boo"
Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Siouxsie and the Banshees and "Peek-a-Boo"
Siouxsie and the Banshees channel the future while revisiting the past in the first No. 1 single on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart
Siouxsie and the Banshees - “Peek-a-Boo”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 2 (9/10/88 & 9/24/88)
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine (9/10/88)
Bobby McFerrin - Don’t Worry, Be Happy (9/24/88)
I’m going to be honest: Before I started listening to Billboard chart podcasts and reading reviews of past hits, I did not know Siouxsie and the Banshees existed. And when I discovered that the Modern Rock Tracks chart forever emblazoned this British post-punk alt-rock group as the first band to reach the top spot on the newly christened Modern Rock Tracks (MRT) chart in September 1988, I immediately became obsessed with what it means to be a No. 1 alternative rock act in the late ‘80s. And, by extension, I learned a lot about Siouxsie and the Banshees.
But first, some background: I was born in the late ‘70s but I identify as a “child of the ‘80s.” My musical likes and dislikes, along with so many others in my cohort, were borne out of the birth of the MTV age, where flashy new-wave and synth-rock acts dominated not only the radio airwaves, but also the TV screens of most Americans. I can wax philosophical for hours on the emotional and spiritual connection I have with acts like Daryll Hall & John Oates, Michael Jackson, Eurythmics, Billy Ocean, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Men At Work, Prince, Whitney Houston, etc. The best summation of my musical influences come from two main sources: the Billboard Hot 100 and from the adult contemporary stylings of my parents, who largely strayed away from modern pop music in the late 1980s.
This is to say that, for not-quite-10-year-old Matt in September 1988, Siouxsie and the Banshees were not receiving regular airplay in my house. Or in my friends’ houses. Or, frankly, anywhere in my social sphere. This is not to say they weren’t being played on my local college radio station, but I hadn’t started listening to that channel until much later, not long before I became a college DJ myself. In the pre-internet age, your average adolescent didn’t have many opportunities to discover groundbreaking bands if they weren’t in Casey Kasem’s weekly American Top 40 countdown.
Your experience might be different, but the first time I heard the first No. 1 song in the history of the Billboard chart that most closely matches my musical tastes was early 2022. And it was a shock to the senses, to say the least, and not at all what I was expecting.
I know they’re far more popular than I’m giving them credit for. Siouxsie and the Banshees is considered one of the more influential bands of their era, and were lauded as a solid transformative act in Great Britain in the late ‘70s and throughout the ‘80s. Indeed, their first nine albums all charted in the top 20 of the British album charts. But in North America, hidden deep below the surface of the “mainstream,” Siouxsie and the Banshees were largely a niche product. Maybe they were just too far ahead of their time, because “Peek-a-Boo” feels like the right track to kick off a celebration of alternative music in Billboard’s newest chart, a nice treat for people who want something a little more eclectic than the usual.
It’s hard to define what is so infectious about “Peek-a-Boo” at first listen. Siouxsie Sioux’s vocals are a good starting point, a powerful yet gleeful singing performance juxtaposed against lyrics that present a deeply cynical picture of objectification of women. Instrumentally, the song has an oddly old-timey quality, not just because of the “Jeepers Creepers” word play (though the similarity would ultimately lead the band to give co-writing credits to the writers behind “Jeepers Creepers”), but also from a heavy use of accordion and a rhythmic beat. It sounds like a song you’d hear at the 1930 World’s Fair, but from the booth talking about “music of the future.” In combing the past for an eclectic mix of sounds, the band discovers something oddly prescient. I can’t help but wonder if Gwen Stefani’s “Holla Back Girl,” as a slightly more contemporary example, owes some of its success to the model laid down by Siouxsie and the Banshees with this track.
Paradoxically, even with its callbacks and futuristic vision, “Peek-a-Boo” is quintessential ‘80s. The music video is absolute proof of this, with closeups of red lips, stylized dance numbers, quirky animations and characters poking out through shadows. And the song feels right at home with other ‘80s hits; songs like Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” and Taco’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” feel like spiritual kin to this song, for different reasons.
It’s hard to look at this song now without having the lived experience of knowing about it when it was fresh, but as I look back on these songs, I try to place myself in the moment and better understand the cultural context surrounding it. I can absolutely see how this song gave the band its first major in-road into the mainstream North American music scene, and while it topped the alternative rock charts it also managed to produce a respectable No. 14 peak on the U.S. dance chart (naturally, this would have been a fun song to hear on the dance floor) and even cracked the Hot 100, peaking at No. 53. Even if it didn’t find sustained mainstream success, it proved to be a gateway song for American radio listeners.
And the band is proof that chart success does not necessarily equate to historical impact. The influence of the song and of the band extend far into the ongoing evolution of modern rock and experimental music. Their style influenced early alt-rock bands like The Cure and The Smiths, and even further into the ‘90s with bands like PJ Harvey and Radiohead, among many others.
“Peek-a-Boo” dropped out after one week atop the MRT chart, resurfaced again two weeks later, and then faded. The follow-up “The Killing Jar,” which has a more-streamlined pop-rock structure, fell just short of topping the chart two months later, and the third single from “Peepshow” album, “The Last Beat of My Heart,” missed all the charts entirely. But this won’t be the last we hear from Siouxsie and the Banshees in regard to their chart-topping successes.
Matt’s rating: 8/10
Chart notes:
The Escape Club’s “Wild Wild West” premiered on the MRT chart at No. 7, and would eventually peak at No. 3. The track managed crossover success on mainstream radio and would eventually top the Hot 100 for one week in November 1988.
“Crash” by The Primitives would peak at No. 3 behind “Peek-a-Boo” on the MRT chart. The song later appeared in a remixed form titled “Crash ('95 Mix)” on the soundtrack to “Dumb and Dumber,” which is where most folks in my age group would have been most likely to hear it.