Being somebody that was totally underwhelmed by This Charming Man and Hand In Glove, I was looking for something that I could relate to as a fifteen year old kid from west central Scotland who had the wants and desires of your average teenager . I started to get really pissed of at these guys in their horrible cheesecloth shirts, carrying copies of the Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde under their boggin' Oxfam overcoats, talking about celibacy when the only thing that I wanted to do was get deep down and dirty with a member of the opposite sex.
Thank fuck for the Mary Chain. When they exploded on the scene there was no need for all of that sensitive shit. Us philistines who could not give a fuck about what happened in Reading Gaol or who was found at Victoria Station could be safe in the knowledge that there was nothing wrong in wearing tight black trousers and Ray-Bans and wishing that we were part of the Factory.
Those were the exact words I uttered on my introduction to Upside Down by the Jesus and Mary Chain.
A lot of people go on about the first time that they heard the Smiths and the effect that ultimate indie band had on them but I didn't really get it. I am not here to slag off the Smiths, I really like some of the band's output, however I never really got into that sensitive, Oscar Wilde quoting, 60's kitchen sink drama side of them that some of the fanboys I knew did and as for the celibacy thing that was incongruous to a hormonally charged 15 year old.
What I'm trying to get at here is that I hadn't had that Damascean moment that a lot of my friends had and I was beginning to wonder why not? I liked a lot of different music from Hendrix to The Clash and SLF but there was nothing that I was fanatical about, nothing that was mine.
Until that dark grey day at the beginning of 1985, a couple of months after the single's release, when a friend gave me a compilation tape that his elder brother had made. I rewound the tape and played Upside Down over and over again which was quite painfully through the earphones of my red Sony Walkman. I just couldn't get enough of the track. I had found my band, I thought. The track had everything, primal drumming, vicious feedback an underlying feeling of malevolence but beneath it all was a really catchy song.
I eagerly awaited the next single Never Understand, which didn't disappoint and the glorious debut that was Psychocandy the merits of which I could bang on about all day.
My love affair with the Mary Chain dissolved with the third album Automatic which to this day I have trouble playing. I did, however continue to buy everything they released and the odd glimmer of genius is apparent on all of their subsequent releases just not in abundance as on the first 2 albums.
From the Jesus and Mary Chain I found the Velvet Underground and Can who, eventually, with the help of a certain Radio 1 DJ led me to The Fall .
Just what is needed on a Sunday morning to blow the cobwebs away.
I remember watching the band's first appearance on the Whistle Test and looking on in awe until my mate, S broke the spell, saying "if that was John Lydon, the mic stand would have went over on the first attempt, they're playing at it" which sparked a highly charged discussion.
Since the acrimonious split which started in 1998 (but had been on the cards since1984) when William Reid walked off during a sold out show at the House Of Blues in Los Angeles and which was made official at the end of 1999, the output of the Reid Brothers has been patchy to say the least.
Both have pursued mediocre solo careers and produced (separately) the Sister Vanilla album Little Pop Rock, Sister Vanilla being another member of the Reid clan, their younger sister Linda.
Jim Reid released his first solo single Song For A Secret backed with Can't Stop The Rock credited to Sister Vanilla and produced by William, in 2005 on the Transistor label .
The sound of the single is nothing radically different from what could be found on later day Jesus and The Mary Chain albums, it would fit nicely on Stoned And Dethroned.
I quite like the track and it is not a bad way to start off a Monday morning.
Why, oh why did they have to invite that stupid bint of an actress to murder one of my all time favourite songs? It was bad enough that they decided to re-form.
