Latest Release
- MAR 22, 2024
- 12 Songs
- Automatic · 1989
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
- Psychocandy · 1985
- Glasgow Eyes · 2023
- Stoned & Dethroned · 1994
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
- Glasgow Eyes · 2024
Essential Albums
- 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.
Albums
- 2024
- 1998
- 1994
- 1989
- 1987
Music Videos
- 2024
- 2023
- 2008
- 2008
- 2008
- 2008
Artist Playlists
- The go-to soundtrack for wearing sunglasses indoors.
- Post-post-punk magpies who picked up anything that sounded interesting.
- Indie rock icons bow down to the Reid brothers' Marshall stacks and stompboxes.
- Behind towering walls of sound, their fuzz pop stretches out.
Singles & EPs
- 1988
- 1987
- 1987
- 1985
- 1985
Live Albums
Compilations
- 1988
About The Jesus and Mary Chain
The chart success of the Jesus and Mary Chain was virtually nonexistent, but their artistic impact was incalculable. The Scottish group made the world safe for white noise, orchestrating a sound dense in squalling feedback that served as an inspiration to My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. Though the supporting players drifted in and out, the heart of the Mary Chain remained vocalists and guitarists William and Jim Reid, brothers heavily influenced not only by underground legends like the Velvet Underground and the Stooges but also by the sonic grandeur and pop savvy of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. These two polarized aesthetics converged. Equal parts formless guitar distortion and bubblegum, their sound celebrated pop conventions and thoroughly subverted them. ~ Jason Ankeny
- ORIGIN
- East Kilbride, Scotland
- FORMED
- 1984
- GENRE
- Alternative