FEATURE:
The Peerless Skin at Fifty-Five
Her Best Skunk Anansie and Solo Cuts
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WITHOUT doubt…
one of the most powerful and commanding group leaders there has ever been in music, the incredible Skin celebrates her birthday on 3rd August. As she will be turning fifty-five, I wanted to use the occasion to collate the best of her Skunk Anansie and solo tracks. A pioneering and remarkable songwriter and performer, I discovered Skunk Anansie when they released their 1995 debut, Paranoid & Sunburnt. It featured Charity and Weak. I was instantly hooked. I also bought 1996’s Stoosh which has, arguably, the band’s best song on it. The incredible Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good) was a high school anthem for me. I also love 1999’a Post Orgasmic Chill. The band’s latest album, Anarchytecture, was released in 2016. I hope that we hear more from them. The band actually played this year’s Glastonbury, so that shows that they are still incredibly popular and relevant. They have also released two singles in 2022: Piggy and Can’t Take You Anywhere. If you have not bought the 2020 book, It Takes Blood and Guts, that Skin co-wrote with Lucy O’Brien, then it is well worth getting. Here are some details about it:
“Charting the Skunk Anansie singer’s fascinating musical journey as well as her role as a trail-blazing social and cultural activist and a champion of LGBTQ+ rights, It Takes Blood and Guts is an extraordinary read from a unique talent.
'It's been a very difficult thing being a lead singer of a rock band looking like me and it still is. I have to say it's been a fight and it will always be a fight. That fight drives you and makes you want to work harder . . . It's not supposed to be easy, particularly if you're a woman, you're black or you are gay like me. You've got to keep moving forward, keep striving for everything you want to be. It's been a fight, and there has been a personal cost, but I wouldn't have done it any other way.'
Skin, the trail-blazing lead singer of multi-million-selling rock band Skunk Anansie, is a global female icon. As an incendiary live performer, she shatters preconceptions about race and gender. As an activist and inspirational role model she has been smashing through stereotypes for over twenty-five years. With her striking visual image and savagely poetic songs, Skin has been a groundbreaking influence both with Skunk Anansie and as a solo artist.
From her difficult childhood growing up in Brixton to forming Skunk Anansie in the sweat-drenched backrooms of London's pubs in the '90s, from the highs of headlining Glastonbury to the toll her solo career took on her personal life, Skin's life has been extraordinary. She also talks powerfully about her work as social and cultural activist, championing LGBTQ+ rights at a time when few artists were out and gay. Told with honesty and passion, this is the story of how a black, working-class girl with a vision fought poverty and prejudice to write songs, produce and front her own band, and become one of the most influential women in British rock”.
Such a remarkable songwriter and voice, I know that a lot of artists are inspired by Skin. Having been responsible for some huge anthems and incredible songs, it is only right that I salute Skin on her birthday. From the big hits with Skunk Anansie to some deeper cuts, these are songs either written by or performed (as lead vocalist) her. As you can tell below, whether she is solo or with Skunk Anansie, Skin has created such…
AN amazing catalogue.