The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the band since its formation. They are recognized as key figures in the development of the shoegaze and noise pop subgenres. The band have had twelve top 40 entries and two top 10 hits in the Uk Singles Chart in the course of their career.
The Reid brothers recruited Douglas Hart on bass and Murray Dalglish on drums as their initial lineup. After signing to the independent label Creation Records, they released their first single “Upside Down” in 1984. Bobby Gillespie replaced Dalglish on drums, and their debut album Psychocandy was released to critical acclaim in 1985 on the major label WEA. After its release, Gillespie left the band to work on his own band Primal Scream.
The band’s biggest commercial success domestically came with their second album Darklands, which reached No. 5 on the Uk Albums Chart in 1987 and spawned the hit single “April Skies”, peaking at No. 8 in the UK. It was the band’s only top ten album. The band then released their third album Automatic in 1989, which spawned their first charting singles in the US (“Blues from a Gun” and “Head On”). Hart then departed from the band two years later.
The Jesus and Mary Chain then released the albums Honey’s Dead in 1992 and Stoned & Dethroned in 1994, both of which continued their popularity in the US. “Sometimes Always”, taken from Stoned & Dethroned, became the band’s most commercially successful single in the US as it peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard. The band ultimately departed from WEA after ten years, and then signed with Sub Pop Records in the US and re-signed with Creation Records in the UK for the release of the album Munki in 1998.
The band broke up the following year as a result of an onstage altercation the year prior that saw William Reid prematurely depart a tour after fighting with an intoxicated Jim Reid. They eventually reunited in 2007 and released their seventh album Damage and Joy in 2017, their first in 19 years. The following album Glasgow Eyes will be released in March 2024.
