Great article on John McGeoch in the Guardian; the Banshees were my favourite band when he was in the group 80-82. I never forgave Robert Smith for replacing him.
My favourite track that highlights his brilliance is ‘Monitor’ from JuJu. Any other fans?
There were four great UK post-punk guitarists: Keith Levene (PiL), Andy Gill (Go4), Bernard Sumner (Joy Division) and John McGeogh (Magazine, Banshees, PiL, Armoury Show) - and McGeogh was the greatest of them all. Nice piece.
Because You’re Frightened – Magazine.
Monitor – Siouxsie & The Banshees.
Shot By Both Sides (original single) – Magazine.
Christine – Siouxsie & The Banshees.
The Light Pours Out Of Me – Magazine.
Loved him in the Banshees and PiL.
A distinctive sound and sorely missed.
PiL had a run of really great albums - Happy?, 9 and That What Is Not. All defined by McGeoch’s guitar.
The McGeoch Banshees era. Top 5. A Kiss in a Dreamhouse has a permanent place if called to do a Top Ten Album list so a bit of bias towards the Banshees.
Monitor is just relentless; the repetition used in that song shows the influence on Johnny Greenwood.
Painted Bird
Israel
Melt - Somewhere in another parallel universe; this went to No.1 instead of No.41 (Chart position is from memory, so it might be wrong.)
They were written by Howard Devoto of course. A lot of the best, or most moving, lyrics are pretty dark. Magazine somehow passed me by, other than The Correct Use of Soap. In fact, until I read this thread I hadn’t realised that John McGeogh was sadly no longer with us. Died in his sleep at 49 from epilepsy in 2004, very sad. We have Kev’s favourer paper here, so I’ll read the article in bed.
It gave me a jolt those lyrics – the song is sounding wonderful - I wonder did I really hear that and then it was repeated. I find the lyric chilling to the core.
Nothing to do with McGeoch I know. I just don’t do dark very well.