The Jesus and Mary Chain

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  • Psychocandy
    Psychocandy
    Psychocandy

    Despite going to great lengths to alienate audiences, the members of the Sex Pistols never inspired a full-on concert riot. Yet somehow The Jesus and Mary Chain managed to incite three before the release of the group’s 1985 debut, Psychocandy. The violence was motivated, in part, by the group's unwillingness to strike the expected antagonistic pose. In fact, the Scottish foursome—led by brothers Jim and William Reid—strived to be non-confrontational. Onstage, the members stood stock still, riffing through short and catchy tunes that recalled the pop of bubblegum groups like The Shangri-Las, as well as the sound of such Brill Building teen idols as Neil Sedaka. The primary difference was that the Reid brothers played their tunes through a skin-crawling wall of distortion full of screeching feedback and white-noise harmonics. It all made for a wild racket, and when The Jesus and Mary Chain was performing, the sonic dissonance was enough to make even the most well-adjusted soccer hooligan throw a bottle at the stage. The unrest over the band was further incited by breathless hype from the UK’s weekly music papers, NME and Melody Maker. Both rags were staffed largely by veterans of the 1970s now-revered punk scene, as well as younger writers determined to recreate the excitement they had missed (at one point, three articles about the band appeared in a single week). The Jesus and Mary Chain had caught the hearts and ears of the press thanks to the savage fuzz of the group’s first 7-inch, led by the ultra-hooky “Upside Down.” And the noise would only grow louder with the release of Psychocandy. Songs like “In a Hole” and “Inside Me” sizzled with saturated and sustained high-end tones. But what wounded like a nails-on-a-chalkboard scree back in 1985 feels almost comforting now—like dozing off to the static of an old television set. And while Psychocandy would influence the next several decades’ worth of noise rock and shoegaze, the album's biggest song, “Just Like Honey,” has become the sort of indie-rock standard that gets played at hip weddings and inspires mainstage sing-alongs at music festivals. No one has tossed a glass at the band in years.

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About The Jesus and Mary Chain

Like their heroes, The Velvet Underground, before them, the feedback-soaked songs of The Jesus and Mary Chain inspired generations of bands. Formed in Scotland in 1983 by brothers Jim and William Reid, they released their debut LP, Psychocandy, a collection of ‘60s-inspired melodies hidden under layers of noisy guitar fuzz, in 1985. Riotous fans, 15-minute gigs, and famously surly interviews helped fuel their aura of disaffected cool. Their follow-up, 1987’s Darklands, chiseled away some of the beautiful noise, and the single “April Skies” became the band's biggest hit. Subsequent releases saw them embrace synths (1989’s Automatic) and largely acoustic serenades (1994’s Stoned & Dethroned). The fractious relationship between the brothers blew up while touring in support of 1998’s Munki and the group disbanded the following year. It took nearly a decade for them to reunite and another 10 years to release another LP, 2017’s Damage and Joy.

FROM
East Kilbride, Scotland
FORMED
1984
GENRE
Alternative

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