SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES Hyaena (Geffen)

Roy Trakin

Once upon a time, they might’ve burned Siouxsie Sioux at the stake or thrown her in a lake to see if she’d float with rocks tied to her ankles. Today, she’s signed to a recording contract with the hope that she’ll be the most famous witch since mother-in-law Agnes Moorehead made Elizabeth Montgomery’s husband Dick York so miserable in Bewitched.

What started as a joke back in the halcyon Britpunk daze of ’76 has turned into a career, of sorts, with the band going on its seventh album and third U.S. record company. Of course, any group whose first drummer was Sid Vicious and debuted with a 20-minute version of the “Lord’s Prayer” which even their own bio describes as “godawful” is alreety with this biased noise advocate, music unheard.