The Jesus and March Chain for lunch this mid-week – opening for Nine Inch Nails at Calamity Jane’s in Las Vegas on February 6, 1990
The Jesus and Mary Chain formed in East Kilbride, Scotland in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the band since its formation. They are recognized as key figures in the development of the noise pop and shoegaze subgenres. The band have had twelve top 40 entries and two top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart in the course of their career.
The Reid brothers recruited Douglas Hart on bass and Murray Dalglish on drums as their initial lineup. After signing to the independent label Creation Records, they released their first single “Upside Down” in 1984. Bobby Gillespie replaced Dalglish on drums, and their debut album Psychocandy was released to critical acclaim in 1985 on the major label WEA. After its release, Gillespie left the band to work on his own band Primal Scream. The band’s biggest commercial success domestically was their second album Darklands, which reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart in 1987 and spawned the hit single “April Skies“, peaking at No. 8 in the UK. The band released their third album Automatic in 1989, which spawned their first charting singles in the US, “Blues from a Gun” and “Head On“, which were heavily played on alternative rock radio stations. Hart departed from the band two years later.
The Jesus and Mary Chain were referenced in season 24, episode 22 of The Simpsons, “Dangers on a Train“. The men of Springfield are helping Homer restore a train for Homer and Marge’s anniversary. Reverend Lovejoy is reading a book called The Jesus and Mary Train. The song “Ebin” by Sublime references the Jesus and Mary Chain in the lyrics “Ebin was a cooly that I used to know / Now he’s down with the PLO / He’s cold kickin’ it live with the KKK / No JMC, no JFA”.
Their song “Just Like Honey” from Psychocandy was featured in the closing scene of the Sofia Coppola‘s Lost in Translation. In the 2000 movie High Fidelity, the album Psychocandy is recommended to a record store customer, with The Jesus and Mary Chain cited as picking up where Echo and the Bunnymen left off. The acoustic version of their song “Taste of Candy” was featured in the 2009 Greg Mottola film Adventureland. The song “Reverence” from their Honey’s Dead album was featured in the 1992 film Pet Sematary II. “Snakedriver” was featured on The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. “Why’d You Want Me” was featured in the 1992 Pauly Shore film Encino Man. A poster for the band is seen in the 1995 Bottom episode “Terror” in the scene where Richie (Rik Mayall) and Eddie (Ade Edmondson) fight three boys dressed as devils.
They were referenced by their acronym J.A.M.C. by the band Death Cab for Cutie in the song “We Looked Like Giants” from their fourth studio album Transatlanticism. Jimmy Eat World also referred to the band and their third album (“The DJ never has it, J.A.M.C. Automatic”) in the lyrics of “The Authority Song” from their fourth album Bleed American. In addition, Jesus and Mary Chain are referenced in the song “Mildenhall” from The Shins’s fifth full-length studio album, Heartworms. James Mercer mentions them as a band he frequently listened to as child in his time abroad in Suffolk, England. The song “April Skies” was featured in the AMC TV series The Walking Dead in a scene from the episode entitled “Stradivarius”. “Jesus”, a character on the show, is seen listening to the song on a record player. Pixies have covered “Head On”, including the cover on their Trompe Le Monde album. American rock band Nudie Mag covered “About You” as a stand alone single.
In the episode of “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too” from the TV series “Black Mirror“, there is a poster of “Damage and Joy” album coming from Jack’s room. A poster of the artwork of “I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll” appears in the 2008 film Lake Mungo.
The band features in the book Postcards from Scotland detailing the 1980s and 1990s independent music scene in Scotland.
And this is what they were all about in 1990 – Grab some lunch and crank this one up.
