As early as 1983, Jim and William Reid were recording demo tapes at their home in East Kilbride Scotland and submitting them to London record companies under the name "The Poppy Seeds". The poor response prompted the Reids to move to London where they could make a name for themselves on the concert circuit. They changed their name to The Jesus & Mary Chain and recruited Murray Dalglish for drums and Douglas Hart to play bass and would show up unannounced at London gigs as the "opening act". Assaulting the audience with feedback their show was often controversial once reportedly being thrown offstage after only 4 minutes by the manager of the venue.
By mid-1984 they were headlining concerts which lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Things turned around when a demo tape was sent to Alan McGee, the owner of Creation Records, and manager of a small venue called The Living Room. McGee was impressed enough to put the group on in The Living Room in front of a dozen or so onlookers, paid for studio time and became their manager. The result was a seven inch single called Upside Down in October 1984 which cost about 172 pounds to make. Murray was replaced by Bobby Gillespie, vocalist from Primal Scream. The band signed a 2 single deal with Blanco Y Negro and released Never Understand and You Trip Me Up. A long term contract was then signed .
One more single, Just Like Honey, was released prior to the release of their first album, Psychocandy. (November 1984) The album received critical acclaim and was listed in Sounds magazine's 100 best albums of all time. It was also listed in NME as the number two album ever released. In April 1987, after some line-up changes, including Bobby Gillespie returning to Primal Scream, and replacement John Moore, who filled the role as drummer and guitarist, the band emerged with the single April Skies. In September 1987, Darklands was released to mixed reviews. It was recorded exclusively by the Reid brothers. The lack of feedback left critics and fans scratching their heads, but also proved that the Reids' songwriting was strong enough to stand on its own merits. By this time, the group had enough singles and E.P.s, that it released "Barbed Wire Kisses", a B-sides LP with several newly recorded tracks. No tour for the LP followed. The band went through more line up changes, but in 1989 the Reids relied , once agai n, on themselves for the recording of Automatic. The more rock driven album was the band's most accessible album yet. The single Head On was getting air play on album rock radio stations in the US and had the most commercial success to date.
The tour to promote Automatic included Ben Lurie, a former employee of Rough Trade records, on rhythm guitar. Lurie appears to be a permanent 3rd member of the Jesus & Mary Chain to this day.
1992 saw the release of Honeys Dead, the first album to be recorded at the studio in London that Jim and William had acquired called "The Drug Store". A tour to support the LP started off in the UK with the Rollercoaster tour. Also on the bill was Blur, My Bloody Valentine, and Dinosaur Jr. The US leg of the tour in the summer of '92 was part of the Lollapalooza package. Reports started to surface that the band was not happy with the tour and they made it known in interviews, calling it a mistake after the third show.
The group embarked on a Rollercoaster tour of the US later that year with Curve, Spiritualized, and Medicine (LA only)
After a long hiatus, the band returned with a softer, acoustic based album called Stoned and Dethroned. It marks the emergence of William as an equal vocalist and also had separate song writing credits. The album included a duet with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, reputedly William's girlfriend. So it was no surprise to see the two groups tour the U.S. together.
I Hate Rock 'N' Roll was the sentiment of 1995 . Sick of the music business, the Reids sing about being wronged by the industry on the UK 4 song EP of the same name. In the US a full length LP was released containing the 4 new tracks and B-sides dating back to 1992's Honeys Dead.
In the 12 official years that the JAMC has been around, many singles, albums, and promotional materials have been released. In the interest of brevity, several of these have been omitted. Please refer to the discography for a complete listing of releases.
