492 Hello The Jesus And Mary Chain - Never Understand

Chart entered : 2  March  1985

Chart  peak : 47

Number  of  hits : 20

While  Go  West  were  a  quintessentially  eighties  outfit, these  guys  were  ushering  in  the  following  decade  with  two  of  the  nineties'  big  names  putting  down  their  first  marker  here and  the  band  themselves  broadening  the  sonic  range  of   the  charts.

The  band  were  formed  by  brothers  William  ( born  1959 )  and  Jim  ( born  1962 )  Reid .  Inspired  by  punk  the  brothers  spent  five  years  planning  a band  while  they  were  on  the  dole  in  East  Kilbride. Previous  names  were  The  Poppy Seeds  and  Son  of  Joey  before  settling  on  the  Jesus  and  Mary  Chain  after  a  piece  of  American  religious  tat. In  1983  they  began  sending  demos  out  and  recruited  bass  player  Douglas  Hart  and  drummer   Murray  Dalglish.  Their  main  influences  were  the  The  Velvet  Underground  and The  Stooges  balanced  out  by  the  breezy  melodies  of   The  Beach  Boys  and  Shangri-las. William  became  concerned  that  this  left  them  sounding  too  similar  to  The  Ramones  so  he  started  drenching  the  sound  with  feedback  and  white  noise  to  make  them  more  distinctive.

They  started  gigging  early  in  1984 but  failed  to  generate  much  interest  in  Scotland  and  so  re-located  to  Fulham  in  May  1984 . Douglas  gave  a  tape  to  his  friend  Bobby  Gillespie.  Bobby  was  born  in  1962  and  began  his   music  career   at  16   in  a  punk  band  called  The  Drains  alongside  his  school  friend  Alan  McGee.  He  progressed  to  being  a  roadie  for  Altered  Images. This  led  in  turn to  a  place  in  the  line  up   of  The  Wake, formed  by  former  Altered  Images  guitarist  Gerad  McInulty, as  a  drummer.  Their  first  self-released  single  was  in  1982 . "On  Our  Honeymoon "  sounds  like  B-Movie's  Steve  Hovington  ( on  an  off-day )  singing  Marilyn  Dreams  over   The  Cure's  Jumping  Someone  Else's  Train.  New  Order's  manager  Rob  Gretton  heard  it  and  got  them  a  deal  with  Factory / Benelux  for  whom  they  recorded  the  LP  "Harmony". They  were  on  the  lighter  side  of  post-punk  ( B-Movie, Department  S , Modern  English )  and  the  opening  track  "Judas "  is  a  good  tune  but  thereafter  your  attention  wanders  an  you  wish  someone  had  told  the  singer  where  to  buy  some  Vick's  Sinex. Bobby  was  asked  to  leave  the  group  before  their  next  record.

Bobby   passed  the  tape  to  McGee  who  had  recently  started  his  own  label  Creation  Records  as  a  crusade  to  bring  back  guitar  music  in  reaction  to  the  prevalence  of  synth  pop  and  new  jazz. McGee  loved  it  but  may  also  have  been  influenced  by  the  fact  that  he  too  hailed  from  East  Kilbride.  He  signed  them  up  and  they  also  accepted  his  services  as  manager.  

In  November  1984  they  released  their  first  single  on  Creation,  "Upside  Down". It  was  originally  produced  by  Joe  Foster  but  McGee  didn't  like  his  work   and  re-mixed  it,  giving  himself  the  producer  credit. The  Reid  brothers  were  no  strangers  to  recreational  drug  use  and  the  lyric  veers  between  bliss  and  self-loathing though  that  seems  incidental  to  the  layers  of  feedback  and  fuzztone  which  seem  to  be  trying  to  drone  out  the  Eddie  Cochran rhythm  going  on  underneath  the  wall  of  noise. The  single  also  contained  a  little  coupon  giving  purchasers  the  chance  to  send  off  for  a  T-shirt.

It  was  a  big  hit  in  the  independent  chart. Dalglish  then  quit  the  band  after  an  argument  over  money  and  Bobby  was  invited  in  to  replace  him. The  band  went  out  on  the  road  but  lacking  enough  material, they  quickly  became  notorious  for  playing  very  sort  sets  which  wound  up  the  audience. After  a  gig  during  the  ICA  Rock  Week   in  December  1984  ended  with  bottles  being  thrown  The  Sun  ran  a  report   describing  them  as  "the  New  Sex  Pistols "  , the  sort  of  publicity  you  can't  buy.

They  now  attracted  the  major  labels  and  signed  up  to  WEA's  Blanco  y  Negro  subsidiary  with  McGee's  blessing  since  he  was  still  on  board  as  manager.

"Never  Understand"  came  out  almost  immediately. It  follows  the  same  template  as  "Upside  Down" but  there's  a stronger  tune  underneath  as  Jim  nonchalantly  defends  his  right  to  get  wasted  against  an  uncomprehending  girlfriend  while   Dr  Szell   vies  with  Leatherface  as  to  who  can  turn  it  up  to  11  first  . I  must  admit  I  didn't  get  it  all  at  the  time  ;  it  sounded  like  someone  was  hoovering  with  a  radio  on  in  the  background   but  thirty  years  on  it  doesn't  sound  extreme  at  all.

For  a  long  time  it  puzzled  me  as  to  why  the  record  buying  public  seemed  to  suddenly  became  not  just  tolerant  but  enthusiastic  about  pure   noise  on  records  - the  Velvet Underground  after  all  had  sold  diddly  squat  - and  the  old  rules  about  having  melodic  hooks  no  longer  applied . I  think  now  that  what  I  was  missing   out  on   was  the  gaming  boom  in  the  mid-eighties  ; kids  were   getting  used  to  being  bombarded  by  white  noise  in  amusement  arcades  or  through  their  headphones  at  home  and  if   records  could  recreate  similar  thrills   through  sonic  terrorism  so  much  the  better.