Siouxsie And The Banshees — The Passenger

JUL 01 1987 · 12:00

Siouxsie And The Banshees — The Passenger (1987) Director: Clive Richardson Era: Post-Punk / Gothic Rock Ascendancy (1987) - Height of UK alternative crossover, Siouxsie and the Banshees at commercial and artistic peak releasing covers album Through the Looking Glass on Polydor High curatorial value as a confirmed 1987 artefact from one of post-punk's most iconic acts, directed by a key figure in 1980s British music video production. Documents the visual grammar of gothic rock at its commercial peak and preserves performance iconography of Siouxsie Sioux at a pivotal point in the band's career. The video's measurable qualities — extreme dark luminance, warm thermal bias, fast cutting — are analytically consistent with the theatrical production norms of its era, making it a strong quantitative and qualitative reference document. Context: Released in March 1987 during the height of UK post-punk's commercial mainstreaming, 'The Passenger' video arrives at a pivotal moment: Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of the most critically respected acts in British alternative music, and Through the Looking Glass represented an artistic detour into cover versions that demonstrated the band's broad cultural literacy. The choice to cover Iggy Pop — whose 1977 Lust for Life track was itself a product of the Berlin scene co-produced with David Bowie — signals a lineage of artistic outsiderdom that Siouxsie and the Banshees actively claimed as heritage. The video's theatrical, studio-bound darkness is consistent with the gothic visual language that defined the band's identity and influenced an entire subculture across the UK and beyond. Director notes: Directed as part of a three-video campaign for Siouxsie and the Banshees' 1987 all-covers album Through the Looking Glass on Polydor. 'The Passenger' was released as a single on 16 March 1987 and peaked at number 41 in the UK singles charts. The song is a cover of Iggy Pop's track from his 1977 Lust for Life album. Viewer commentary on IMDB references visual elements including a glass box staging element and rapid cut-aways, consistent with the fast editing pace (avg shot length 3.70s) and 68 scene changes measured in the quantitative metadata. The video was later edited into the 1992 Siouxsie and the Banshees compilation Twice Upon a Time.