"Playground Twist" is a song by English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

. It was released in 1979 as the sole single from the band's second album, '' Join Hands'' (1979).

Production

The track was produced by the band's manager Nils Stevenson and Mike Stavrou, a recording engineer on T. Rex's final album, ''

Dandy in the Underworld ''Dandy in the Underworld'' is the twelfth and final studio album by English rock band T. Rex. It was released on 11 March 1977 by record label EMI. It reached No. 26 in the UK charts, the band's highest-charting album since 1974's ''Zinc Allo ...

'' (1977)

Critical reception

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the '' New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and '' Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Bla ...

hailed the single and wrote: "If

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

produced records, they might sound like this. The listener is immediately engulfed in a maelstrom of whirling sound punctuated by the ominous tolling of church bells, phased guitars, thundering percussion, a surreal alto sax and the wail of Siouxsie's voice. It demands to be played repeatedly at the threshold-of-pain volume to elicit its full nightmarish quality".

Music video

The music video for "Playground Twist" shows the band performing on an indoor climbing frame with several children running from one end to another, climbing on the surrounding equipment, and even a few of them mimicking the saxophone solo with plastic toy instruments. At the end of the video, the children run toward Siouxsie and playfully pull her to the floor as she lip syncs the final word "drown", and the final shot shows them laughing and carrying on with her.

Release and legacy

Released on 24 June 1979, the single became Siouxsie and the Banshees' third top 40 hit, entering into the UK Singles Chart at No.47 on 1 July 1979, and peaking at No. 28 on 15 July in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The band performed the song live on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. A live-version of the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Pulled to Bits", was included on the 1983 ''

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

'' live album and DVD. "Pulled to Bits" was covered by

the Mars Volta The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms ...

in 2007 for their single "

Wax Simulacra "Wax Simulacra" is a single from the album '' The Bedlam in Goliath'' by The Mars Volta. The single debuted on November 18, 2007, on San Francisco's Live 105 FM. It was previously played live by the band under the name "Idle Tooth". The B-side "Pu ...

References

{{Authority control 1979 singles Siouxsie and the Banshees songs Polydor Records singles Songs written by Siouxsie Sioux Songs written by Kenny Morris (musician) Songs written by Steven Severin Songs written by John McKay (musician)