Music Milestones, 1985: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy

Brothers Jim and William Reid struck gold when they formed the Jesus and Mary Chain. Combining the irreverent attitude of the Velvet Underground with the pop sensibility of the Beach Boys, and wrapping up their songs in a thick wall of sound akin to Phil Spector’s approach, the Jesus and Mary Chain brought the guitar back to the forefront of alternative music in the 1980s and helped to set the scene for the rise of noise rock and shoegaze. Followers such as Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine profited greatly from the Jesus and Mary Chain’s foray into noise-drenched music, and I doubt that these bands would sound the same without the release of Psychocandy. Indeed, Psychocandy shows the Jesus and Mary Chain at their noisiest, and follow-ups to this debut would see the band toning down their distortion pedals and venturing into more acoustic settings. The record opens with “Just Like Honey”, where the familiar drum line of the Ronettes’ hit single “Be My Baby” bolsters the melancholy guitars of brothers Reid marching through a great love song. Distortion is turned to ten in “The Living End”, a relentless tune that conjures up images of a motorbike rider dangerously speeding on the fast lane toward his fateful end. Despite the considerable amount of feedback in “Cut Dead”, this is perhaps the cleanest song in the record, while “Never Understand” is probably the messiest and bears resemblance to the music of the Ramones. “Just Like Honey” features prominently in the ending scene of Sofia Coppola’s movie Lost in Translation, enjoy:

Music Milestones, 1984: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – From Her to Eternity

Following the demise of the Birthday Party in 1983, former members Nick Cave and Mick Harvey teamed up with Blixa Bargeld, Barry Adamson and Jim Thirlwell to form the Bad Seeds. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds adopted the post-punk aesthetic of the Birthday Party, and further played with elements of blues, garage rock and industrial music throughout their career. The Bad Seeds hinge upon Nick Cave’s theatrical singing and literate lyrics, which are front and center in their approach to music. The debut record From Her to Eternity already showcases a dark and melancholy sound that the Bad Seeds would thereafter develop and refine. The record contains two excellent covers: the opener “Avalanche” features Cave singing Leonard Cohen’s classic in a monstrously subdued manner, and “In the Ghetto” is a somber reproduction of Elvis Presley’s original that calls Scott Walker to mind. Moreover, “From Her to Eternity” is a grim love song infused with a considerable amount of noise and distortion, while Cave’s visceral vocals and twisted lyrics in “Cabin Fever!” render this song a sort of deranged sea shanty. “Saint Huck” departs from the tale of Huckleberry Finn to yield a decadent story accompanied by galloping guitars. I leave you with a live performance of “From Her to Eternity” filmed by Wim Wenders for his movie Wings of Desire: