"Fear" is a song written and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and produced by Stephen Hague

Stephen Hague

Stephen Hague is an American music producer most active with various British acts in the 1980s. He was an influential figure in the synthpop movement.-Early career:...

. It was released in late 1991 as the third U.S. single from the band's tenth studio album Superstition

Superstition (album)

Superstition is the tenth studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991. The first single, "Kiss Them for Me" gave the band its first top-forty Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at number 23...

. It was not released in the UK and is the only Siouxsie and the Banshees single not to be issued in that country.

The track, in its original form, is an uptempo dance

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

-oriented number with heavy percussion work by Banshees drummer Budgie

Budgie (drummer)

-External links:*...

. For its release as a single, "Fear (of the Unknown)" was drastically remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

ed by Junior Vasquez

Junior Vasquez

Junior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...

 to accentuate its 4/4 rhythm and give it a house music

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 feel. When included on the 1992 compilation album Twice Upon a Time: The Singles

Twice Upon a Time: The Singles

Twice Upon a Time: The Singles is the second singles compilation released by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It follows the same format as Once Upon a Time: The Singles, presenting the songs in chronological order. Twice picks up where Once left off , and it includes several hits not included on...

, the track was presented in still another version, which was neither the version that is the first track on the single pictured here (which is the same as the version on Superstition

Superstition

Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....

) nor the Junior Vasquez "Vertigo Mix," which is the fourth track on the single pictured here. No details are provided on Twice Upon a Time: The Singles

Twice Upon a Time: The Singles

Twice Upon a Time: The Singles is the second singles compilation released by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It follows the same format as Once Upon a Time: The Singles, presenting the songs in chronological order. Twice picks up where Once left off , and it includes several hits not included on...

about that mix.

"Fear (of the Unknown)" received moderate airplay on American alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 radio, peaking at number twelve on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine's Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 chart. The song became the Banshees' biggest hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play

Hot Dance Club Play

The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

 chart, climbing to number six.

The cover art is an homage to James Stewart

James Stewart (actor)

James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...

's dream sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo

Vertigo (film)

Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...

.

Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position
U.S. Modern Rock Tracks	12
U.S. Hot Dance Club Play	6