Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Never to be photographed in daylight
© Derek Ridgers
• A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Has there ever been a band in history quite as reviled as Sigue Sigue Sputnik? Back in 1986, it was almost impossible not to hold an opinion about this gaggle of fishnet-masked, fetish-clad, firework-haired outlaws. Described by their quote-machine bassist Tony James as “hi-tech sex, designer violence and the fifth generation of rock and roll” and with a tabloid-baiting motto of “fleece the world”, Sigue Sigue Sputnik always felt like a band that had slipped through some wormhole from the future, and for most people in ‘86, that future looked frankly horrifying. “I still think our records sound ahead of their time,” says Tony James now. “I don’t think anyone else had conceptualised the idea of a futuristic rock and roll band.”