10 — 12 July 2025
The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Jesus and Mary Chain will perform at Pohoda 2017. While Slowdive are the legend of the shoegaze genre, The Jesus and Mary Chain are its predecessors.  Noisey described them as the hottest band in history, and they are super cool according to Pitchfork, too. Last month they released their first album in nineteen years, and in an interview for Fullmoon, they suggested that fans can look forward to a large portion of their most popular hits, too, during their current tour.

20. April 2017

In their eclectic list of artists that influenced them, Mary Chain mention bands such as The Stooges, the Ramones, Einstürzende Neubauten, and The Shangri-Las; however, the list of bands that they have influenced would be far longer. Pitchfork reminds that while most of the rock bands in the 1980s built their image of a fanciful or eccentric appearance, extremely long solos, and musical virtuosity, Mary Chain would use feedback instead of tapping or legatos and their drummer would stand up behind only two drums—a floor tom and a snare. On the stage, they would stand around looking half dead, depressed, and generally too contemptuous and disgusted to really bother playing—all of which seemed totally super-awesome (which, however, was not true for their imitators, as mentioned later in the article). Noisey even called them the eternal kings of the term “cool”, or the worldʼs coolest band in history. Especially at the beginning, their concerts were accompanied by many controversies. It was nothing special for them to break instruments, music equipment and other objects on stage during their performances. Their concerts often ended after twenty minutes since their beginning. The fame of bad boys was being supported by drug, alcohol, and other scandals. As the number of recorded songs grew, the length of their performances extended as well. At the end of 1985, they released a breakthrough album of alternative rock, Psychocandy, which is also considered the predecessor of the shoegaze genre. AllMusic, Mojo, and Q rated it the best possible, and Pitchfork did 9.6 out of 10. The album is part of many selections of the best songs in history. The following albums Darklands and Automatic revealed a shift from noise music to a more melodic indie expression. Automatic included hits like “Here Comes Alice” and “Head On”. Their fourth album, Honeyʼs Dead, brought them a Mercury Prize nomination. The last album of the band before they split was Munki released in June 1998.

Due to the way the band split (Jim murmured something to William during the concert, and he had it on the stage after three songs), their reunion seemed unbelievable. It took place on the main stage of the Coachella festival. Scarlett Johansson sang with them the song “Just Like Honey” (the song was part of the soundtrack for the film “Lost in translation” where she was one of the main characters). After they reunited, concerts prevailed above writing new stuff. Their songs were released only on re-editions, compilations, and selections. It should be noted, however, that they received excellent response. In March 2014, they became the first name of the reborn publisher Creation Management, with whom they had begun their career. Soon after that they announced a new album. It was released in almost twenty years last month and received positive reviews from DIY, Mojo, and Uncut (“strong on songs, short on fighting”). Damage and Joy was produced by Martin Glover, aka Youth, who plays for example with Paul McCartney. Their concert at Pohoda, however, but not be just about new pieces, as Jim Reid said in an interview for the Czech portal Fullmoon: “Sure, we will play songs from Damage and Joy, and also a lot of older ones... It is necessary to play older songs, those that people know, songs they expect”. Noisey close their article with a statement that even if they are turning sixty, they still sound better than most of your favourite indie bands. You can examine this courageous claim also at Pohoda 2017. 
 

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