Shakespear’s Sister – Stay (1992)

It’s the summer of 1992, and we’re in her living room. Like most days, she’s got MTV on in the background. I forget what I’m saying, but she cuts me off: “Hey, check it out. I like this song.”

I turn to the television. A woman, pale as my ass, is hovering over a guy who appears to be dying. They’re in space or something.

I raise one eyebrow.

Then — ahhh! — a freaky chick appears. She looks like she belongs in one of Siouxsie Sioux’s nightmares. I recoil, Beavis-style.

“What the hell is this?”

“Shut up. It’s beautiful.”

“Are you kidding? This is terrifying.”

She purses her lips, turns toward the television, raises the volume.

In retrospect, she may have had a point — Shakespear’s Sister’s “Stay” (download) is sort of beautiful, in an early ’90s oh-look-how-goth-we-are way. Still, I wish I’d known that afternoon that I was watching Siobahn Fahey’s post-Bananarama incarnation, so I could have said, “Ha! This chick co-wrote ‘I Heard a Rumour’ and ‘Cruel Summer’!”

Of course, she probably would have pointed out that “Cruel Summer” is a pretty righteous pop song, and I wouldn’t have had any response. But whatever. I’m pretty sure neither of us would have liked this cassingle’s B-side, “The Trouble With Andre” (download), so I maintain that I was partially right about Shakespear’s Sister. And for the record, the video still freaks me out a little: