Credit: Far Out / Alterna2
Tue 11 August 2026 6:00, UK
What’s the secret that keeps people coming back to Skunk Anansie time and time again?
Their debut album came out three decades ago, and yet crowds still flock to see them perform, lining up ready to listen to whatever new music they put out, and while there’s no doubt a lot that goes into making one of the most definitive rock bands in recent generations, their versatility as a result of the varying tastes of the members, is surely a big part of it.
This came through when they were once asked to choose their five favourite songs, but struggled to do so in light of how much their music tastes differ from one another’s. “As a band we’re from five culturally very different parts of England, and we’re therefore, culturally, five very different people,” said Skin, “So, to find five tracks that everybody could agree on was quite difficult.”
However, while there are a few differences of opinion between the band members, there are some absolutes when it comes to agreeing on what bands are truly on another level, and one of them is Radiohead, as they said that ‘Karma Police’, and OK Computer at large, was incredibly groundbreaking.
“I think ‘Karma Police’, this whole album OK Computer, was a really important time in music,” said Ace, “It changed the landscape a lot, and I think that the whole of the band love Radiohead in all different forms”.
When Ace was talking about Radiohead’s music, he said that there are a lot of people who are clearly inspired by them, but none of these bands has come close to achieving the same kind of sound that the original have. In acknowledging that the band simply cannot be copied, he threw two other names into the mix who he also felt are individual in their execution of a certain sound and also influence other acts.
He claimed, “Radiohead are one of those bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. There’s only ever been one, and everyone else kind of follows them. They’re a bit like Radiohead, they’re influenced by Radiohead, but there’s only one Radiohead.”
Further reading: From The Vault
He certainly has a point. Each band he named are some of the most influential groups of all time, and when you listen to modern music, you can hear their creative stamp on so much, but they’ve never been topped. Black Sabbath helped create what we now know as heavy metal, a genre which has since expanded beyond all comprehension and is one of the biggest in the world.
Led Zeppelin pushed the boundaries of rock so far that they essentially showed people within different subsections of it that no sound was off limits. Meanwhile, Radiohead are near impossible to categorise, as they’re a rock band, an indie band and an electronic group. Simply put, they’ve never made the same record twice, and while other acts try to exercise a similar versatility, no one comes close.
“I think that they push themselves and experiment, you know, to varying degrees of success, to varying degrees of likability by the audience,” said Skin, “But I think that’s not the point, is it? The point is, as a creative person, you’re going to do what you want to do and expand your own horizons, and I think they do that fantastically.”
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