[1] Initially associated with the punk scene, the band including guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation".

Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin met at a Roxy Music concert in September 1975, at a time when glam rock had faded and there was nothing new coming through with which they could identify.

With two borrowed musicians at their side, Marco Pirroni on guitar and Sid Vicious on drums, their set consisted of a 20-minute improvisation based on "The Lord's Prayer".

That month they also recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio in which they premiered a new song "Metal Postcard", introducing a "motorik austerity" in the drums patterns,[11] with "the space in the sound" and "the serrated guitars".

Nick Kent of NME said of the record: "The band sounds like some unique hybrid of the Velvet Underground mated with much of the ingenuity of Tago Mago-era Can, if any parallel can be drawn".

Their third album, Kaleidoscope, released in 1980, saw the Banshees exploring new musical territories with the use of other instruments like synthesizers, sitars and drum machines.

This line-up, featuring McGeoch on guitar, toured the United States for the first time in support of the album, playing their first shows in New York City in November 1980.

[39] During 1983, the band members worked on several side projects; Siouxsie and Budgie composed the first Creatures album, Feast, while Severin and Smith recorded as the Glove.

[42] With ex-Clock DVA guitarist John Valentine Carruthers replacing Smith, the Banshees then reworked four numbers from their repertoire, augmented by a string section, for The Thorn EP.

The group finished the song "Cities in Dust" before the album, so they rushed its release as a single prior to their longest tour of the UK.

Sounds magazine said: "Tinderbox is a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette".

[45] Due to the length of time spent working on Tinderbox, the group desired spontaneity and decided to record an album of cover songs, Through the Looking Glass, in 1987.

Q magazine praised the album in its 5-star review: "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom".

[52] After the tour, the band decided to take a break, with Siouxsie and Budgie recording as the Creatures and releasing their most critically acclaimed album,[53] Boomerang, and Severin and McCarrick working on material together.

The day after their last concert in Tokyo, Japan, Siouxsie and Budgie stayed in town on their own and entered a recording studio as the Creatures.

[35][37] The At the BBC box set, containing a DVD with all of the band's UK live television performances and three CDs with in-concert recordings, was also released in June of the same year.

In late October, their last four studio albums (1987's Through the Looking Glass, 1988's Peepshow, 1991's Superstition and 1995's The Rapture) were reissued on CD in remastered versions with bonus tracks.

[69] In 2015, after releasing another compilation called Spellbound: The Collection, which included singles, album tracks and B-sides, the band reissued 1979's Join Hands on vinyl for Record Store Day, with different cover artwork.

[70] A vinyl reissue series on Polydor of all of the band's albums, remastered from the original ¼" tapes in 2018 by Miles Showell and cut at half speed at Abbey Road Studios, began in August 2018.

[75] In October 2024 Through the Looking Glass including "The Passenger", was reissued on crystal clear vinyl with new artwork featuring a mirror effect sleeve, for National Album Day through several online retailers.

[78] Siouxsie and the Banshees' earliest influences include an interest for a "glamorous art rock" - David Bowie and Roxy Music while also "incorporating a love for Can, Kraftwerk and Neu!".

[88] Siouxsie and the Banshees impacted many genres including post-punk, new wave, synth pop, gothic rock, alternative music, shoegaze and trip hop, influencing a wide range of musicians including Joy Division, the Cure, the Smiths, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Tricky and LCD Soundsystem.

[94] Killing Joke cited the band in their influences: guitarist Geordie Walker praised "the Banshees on The Scream" for bringing "chord structures that I found very refreshing".

[108] Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth cited "Hong Kong Garden" in his top 25 all-time favourite songs,[109] saying "it was a completely new world".

[111] Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction once noted a parallel between his band and the Banshees: "There are so many similar threads: melody, use of sound, attitude, sex-appeal.

[117] Jeff Buckley, who said during a press conference in Lyon, France in March 1995, "Siouxsie, I have much of her influence in my voice",[118] covered "Killing Time" (from the Boomerang album) on various occasions.

[123] Red Hot Chili Peppers performed "Christine" in concert,[124] and their guitarist John Frusciante cited the Banshees in interviews.

[140] TV on the Radio said that they have always tried to make a song that begins like "Kiss Them for Me" where all of a sudden, there's an "element of surprise" with "a giant drum coming in".

[144] British indie band Bloc Party took inspiration from "Peek-a-Boo" and their singer Kele Okereke stated about that Banshees' single: "it sounded like nothing else on this planet.

This is ... a pop song that they put out in the middle of their career ... to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard".