For the uninitated: The Jesus And Mary Chain
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I'm still trying to get over the concept: The Jesus and Mary Chain, back on stage at Coachella! I'm completely floored; if they actually make it, this will be the highlight of my concert-going experience.But "Why?", you ask. Why such ardor for a band that hasn't been a going concern for almost 10 years? Well, sit yourselves down, and let me tell you a tale.Consider, if you will, the music scene around 1984. The popular music of the time was mostly candy-colored and garish; Culture Club springs to mind, as does Duran Duran and Ultravox (sorry guys, thinking of the bands in Band-Aid). U2 had released The Unforgettable Fire, and established themselves as the great proponent of epic-scale rock. Michael Jackson's Thriller album was racking up huge sales and radio plays. As usual, when the mainstream gets good and bloated, the underground kicks something out to set matters right, and the Jesus and Mary Chain were one of those bands.As all good stories should go, this one begins with a personal setback. In this case, it was the sacking of a Mr. Ried from Scotland, whose two sons, Jim and William, had deep-seated affection for the Velvet Underground and the Beach Boys. Being prescient of their talents, no doubt, dear ol' dad bought his boys a Porta-Studio, and Jim and William started making some noise. And that's not a term of endearment; they dipped their short sweet songs in a huge vat of feedback, and recruited Murray Daiglish, then Bobby Gillespie to add simple, yet crushing, backbeat to the festivties. They then recruited Douglas Hart on bass, and the original line-up was ready to play out.Even their concerts were confrontational affairs. Their sets would consist of as few as three songs, with little to no interaction to the audience. As their star rose, and more people came to their concerts, more and more violence erupted at their shows. There is a fair amount of anecdotal evidence that lays the blame for their concerts at the feet of Alan McGee, who had taken the reins as their manager, and steered them into their recording contract with blanco y negro.Their first single, "Upside Down", is a perfect slice of their early sound. The first thing to bounce out of the speakers is the "bump bump bump bump-bump" of the drumbeat, and then the feedback starts, loud and squealing. It's hard to do, but if you strip all that away, there's a cute little melody therein. Alas, Youtube has no video for the band doing the song, so I hope that "Never Understand", the first single from their debut album Psychocandy, satisfies sufficiently.In my poor 16-year-old brain, all I heard was noise, so I didn't go pick up their album. However, their second album Darklands changed that. The first thing noticeable from singles like "April Skies" and "Happy When It Rains" is that the feedback is dialed way down, so you can hear the sweetness of the songs. "Happy When It Rains" especially captivated me; it's still my favorite JAMC song. Witness:I'll stop here, because, truth be told, if they had never released another album, I'd love these two albums, and treasure them always. Their full discography and more can be found "at allmusic.com":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fyeq97l7krat.So here's one guy that'll keep his fingers and toes crossed that the Reid brothers can put their differences aside long enough to rock Coachella, o make up for me missing them on the second Lollapalooza.
Comments (32)
"...JAMC, Psycho Candy is like listening to scratching metal melodies of the under belly of a jumbo jet"
The "Hardest Walk" is one of their best tunes evers. Dig it.