The Jesus And Mary Chain Wanna Riot (But May Be Too Full Of Ennui To Start One)

Jess Harvell | January 29, 2008 5:00 am
The shrill signature of the Jesus And Mary Chain is once again ringing in the air thanks to the recent reunion and Stephin Merritt’s album-length mash-note to the band’s classic early records, kicking off my yearly JAMC binge a little earlier than usual. (Maybe its the surf residue around their guitars, but I tend to think of the pallid Reid brothers as purveyors of summertime sounds.) The announcer at the beginning of this 1985 U.K. TV appearance mentions the infamous, press-aggrandized “riots” that greeted their earliest gigs, but the dutiful kids in the audience merely bop their ’80s ponytails in place, perhaps because the astounding torpor radiating off the stage has paralyzed them. Seriously, some bands rev up their stage show by having their frontman leap into the audience; the JAMC has Jim Reid grab the mic and list back and forth a little bit, the perfect visual embodiment of their too-something-to-give-a-fuck vibe. [YouTube]