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: