"Kiss Them for Me"
Single by Siouxsie and the Banshees
from the album Superstition
B-side
  • "Staring Back"
  • "Return"
Released13 May 1991
Recorded1991
Genre
Length4:37
Label
Songwriter(s)Susan Ballion, Peter Edward Clarke, Martin McCarrick and Steven Severin
Producer(s)Stephen Hague
Siouxsie and the Banshees singles chronology
"The Last Beat of My Heart"
(1988) 		"Kiss Them for Me"
(1991) 		"Shadowtime"
(1991)
Music video
"Kiss Them for Me" on YouTube
Siouxsie Sioux singles chronology
""Fury Eyes"
The Creatures"
(1990) 		"Kiss Them for Me"
(1991) 		""Shadowtime"
Siouxsie and the banshees"
(1991)

"Kiss Them for Me" is a song written and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was produced by Stephen Hague. It was released in 1991 as the first single from the band's 10th studio album, Superstition.

Upon its release, the single received enthusiastic reviews. "Kiss Them for Me" became their most successful single in the US.

Background and lyrics

The song presented a change in musical direction for Siouxsie and the Banshees, adopting a much more straightforward pop-oriented feel than previous efforts, due in part to Hague's production work. Siouxsie Sioux's cryptic lyrics were an ode to actress and sex symbol Jayne Mansfield.[1] The lyrics use Mansfield's catchword "divoon", referring to her heart-shaped swimming pool and her love of champagne and parties, and to the car crash that killed her in 1967. Kiss Them for Me was also the name of a 20th Century Fox motion picture made in 1957 starring Mansfield and Cary Grant.

Composition

A mid-tempo dance-pop track,[2] it was influenced by Asian music and featured South Asian instrumentation, which had become popular in the UK club scene due to the growth of bhangra. Tabla player Talvin Singh (future percussionist for Björk on her 1993 Debut album) took part in the sessions and also sang during the bridge. The beat was taken from a Roland TR-909 drum machine stock beat that had previously been used on Schoolly D's 1985 single "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?"[3]

Reception

Melody Maker wrote a rave review, calling it "sublime", but noting that some listeners would be "horrified by its baggy backbeat and sheer unashamed danceability. It doesn't just groove, [...] It floats almost imperceptibly to its ecstatic climax, each sweet verse and saccharin chorus a tantalising hint of what's to come. And when it comes, by Christ your knees give way".[4]

PopMatters retrospectively included it in their list of "The 20 Most Memorable Songs of 1991".[5]

Release

"Kiss Them for Me" was released on 13 May 1991, and was Siouxsie and the Banshees' biggest hit in the United States. It became their second and last entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and their first single to hit the top 40, peaking at No. 23 in the week of 19 October.[6] It also became the band's second chart-topper on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart, spending five weeks at No. 1 during the summer of 1991. "Kiss Them for Me" was the first Banshees song to hit the top 10 on the US US Hot Dance/Disco chart, peaking at No. 8. It also spent several months on heavy rotation on MTV. In the UK, "Kiss Them for Me" peaked at No. 32 in the UK Singles Chart, the band's 16th top 40 single.[7]

The "Snapper Mix" includes a spoken sample of Jayne Mansfield from the movie Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, while the "Kathak Mix", remixed by producer Youth, features spoken samples of Robert Anton Wilson in the introduction.

In the UK, two different 12-inch records were released. The first included the "Snapper Mix" of "Kiss Them for Me" with the non-album B-sides "Staring Back" and "Return". The second version contained three different versions of "Kiss Them for Me" by Youth: the "Kathak Mix" on the A-side and the "Loveappella Mix" and "Ambient Mix" on the B-side.

In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Modern Rock Tracks (which by then had been renamed to Alternative Airplay),[8] Billboard published a list of the top 100 most successful songs in the chart's history; "Kiss Them for Me" was ranked at number 54.[9]

Cover versions and legacy

The song was covered by Diane Birch,[10] School of Seven Bells in 2010[11] and Anna Nalick in 2011.[12] It was occasionally used as background music on the CBC Radio One program Q and was used in the Daria episode "Ill". "Kiss Them for Me" was the last song played on the MTV program 120 Minutes.

Track listing

US CD maxi single (GEFDS-21650) on Geffen Records

  1. "Kiss Them for Me (7" Version)" – 4:29
  2. "Staring Back" – 3:16
  3. "Return" – 5:02
  4. "Kiss Them for Me (Kathak Mix)" – 8:56

Tracks 2 and 3 were produced by Siouxsie and the Banshees and engineered by Charles Gray

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Kiss Them for Me"
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[13] 40
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 32
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 23
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[15] 1
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[15] 8
US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[15] 19

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Kiss Them for Me"
Chart (1991) Position
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[16] 2

See also

References

  1. ^ The Stud Brothers. "Kiss Of The Spider Woman". Melody Maker. 11 May 1991
  2. ^ Buckley, Peter; Buckley, Jonathan (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 942. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6.
  3. ^ "The 50 Greatest Hip-hop Songs of all Time". Rolling Stone. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  4. ^ The Stud Brothers. "Single of the week (Kiss them for me by Siouxsie and the Banshees)". Melody Maker (18 May 1991).
  5. ^ Johnson, Paul Anthony (2 October 2011). "The 20 Most Memorable Songs of 1991". PopMatters.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  6. ^ "Hot 100 - week 1991-10-19". Billboard. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  7. ^ "Siouxsie & the Banshees [uk charts]". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  8. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (7 September 2023). "Alternative Airplay Chart's 35th Anniversary: Foo Fighters Remain No. 1 Act, 'Monsters' New Top Song". Billboard. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Greatest of All Time Alternative Songs". Billboard. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  10. ^ Shragge, Ben (8 December 2010). "Review: Diane Birch with The Phenomenal Handclap Band, 'The Velveteen Age'". Cover Me. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  11. ^ "School of Seven Bells // kiss them for me". YouTube. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  12. ^ Anna Nalick web site Broken Doll & Odds & Ends
  13. ^ "Siouxsie & the Banshees – Kiss Them for Me". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Siouxsie and the Banshees: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  15. ^ a b c d "Siouxsie and the Banshees | Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  16. ^ "The Year in Music 1991 – Top Modern Rock Tracks" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 103, no. 51. 21 December 1991. p. YE-41. ISSN 0006-2510 – via World Radio History.
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