Sheena Is a Parasite

"Sheena is a Parasite"
Single by The Horrors
from the album Strange House
B-side "Jack the Ripper"
Released April 10, 2006
Format 7" vinyl
Genre Garage punk
Length 1:40
Label Loog
The Horrors singles chronology
"Sheena Is a Parasite"
(2006)
"Death at the Chapel"
(2006)

"Sheena is a Parasite" was the debut single by the UK band The Horrors, released in April, 2006. It did not chart as it contained both stickers and inserts, therefore breaking chart rules.

The title and content were adapted from The Ramones single "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" as well as The Cramps' "Sheena's in a Goth Gang", and chronicles the demise of punk music and its cultural influence. The music video was directed by Chris Cunningham. This ended a seven-year music video hiatus for the much respected Cunningham, who admitted to being "mildly obsessed" with the track, having come across it on MySpace. Following several Aphex Twin videos in Cunningham's filmography, the video was expected to be suitably twisted and quirky. The video starred Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as the song's manic, transmogrifying subject who whipped around like a banshee and spewed her intestines at the camera. Sharply edited and shot on a low budget, the video was instantly banned from MTV UK purely on the basis of the use of strobe lights, not because of the gory subject matter (as was erroneously reported by the [NME]). Cunningham did not want to edit out the strobing as he felt it would compromise his work. The video has aired on MTV2 in America.

The B-side is a Screaming Lord Sutch cover, although this version is more inspired by the previous cover by The Gruesomes.

In October 2011, NME placed it at number 96 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[1]

Track listing

  1. "Sheena Is a Parasite"
  2. "Jack the Ripper"

References

  1. "150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years". Nme.Com. Retrieved 2011-10-15.

External links