Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - The Jesus and Mary Chain and "Blues from a Gun"
The Jesus and Mary Chain, the progenitor of everything from indie rock to shoegaze, closes out the '80s and welcomes the '90s with the most '90s-adjacent song in the chart's short history.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Blues from a Gun”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 3 (Dec. 30, 1989 to Jan. 13, 1990)
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Phil Collins - “Another Day In Paradise” (12/30/89 - 1/13/90, 4 total weeks)
The Modern Rock Tracks chart came into existence to give the music industry a window into what was happening with underground alternative rock, the type of music lost on pop audiences but still popular with a sizable fanbase eager to prop up an “alternative” to the mainstream. From its inception in September 1988 until the turn of the decade, songs that topped the MRT chart were largely an homage to artists who’d hit their creative peaks in the ‘70s and ‘80s. These acts produced albums and tracks that, with the help of the new Billboard chart, gave them a spotlight many years after their creative peaks.
As the calendar turned from 1989 and the new decade began, MRT followers may have been jarred slightly by the turn away from British legacy acts and the emergence of a new kind of rock sound: one that went heavy on drum machines, synthesized bass and a harder lyrical edge. While these sounds were not new to the moment, they presaged a ‘90s-era MRT chart full of bands who emulated this new form of rock expression. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, Prodigy, Rob Zombie and others would turn this form of synthetic rock into an art form consumed by the masses.
It may not have been their intention, and I might be stretching the pull of their influence a bit too far, but The Jesus and Mary Chain seemed to come around at just the right time to top the charts with a song that strayed from the sound of their earlier albums while also taking their art in a direction that feels so … ‘90s. The first track from the aptly named “Automatic” album, “Blues from a Gun,” was the last MRT chart-topper of the 1980s and the first of the 1990s.
Everything about this song (and its music video) is ‘90s alternative rock in a nutshell. Never mind the drum machine effect; this song has everything alt-rock enthusiasts would eat up throughout the decade, including hard guitar riffs, screeching instrumental bridges, stripped down video production and Gen X indifference in the lyrics.
I don't care about the state of my hair
I got something out of nothing
That just wasn't there
And your kiss kiss kiss
Is never gonna blow me away
Founded by Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid, The Jesus and Mary Chain (hereafter JAMC) kicked off their musical career in late 1985 with the release of “Psychocandy,” widely considered one of the band’s best albums. It’s here that JAMC really codified a sound that would later be defined as “shoegaze,” a genre of music that ultimately takes instrumental feedback and distorted lyrics and turns it into its own art form. Several tracks from this album are among JAMC’s most-streamed songs on Spotify, none moreso than “Just Like Honey,” which peaked at #45 on the U.K. music charts in 1986 and likely would have charted in the U.S. if a MRT chart existed then.
The buzz generated by “Psychocandy” catapulted the band to even bigger success in the U.K. with the release of their sophomore effort “Darklands,” which spawned top-10 U.K. hit “April Skies,” as well as U.K. top-40 hits “Happy When It Rains” and “Darklands.”
It’s interesting that, following this success, JAMC’s biggest U.S. hit also signaled a shift in the band’s direction and critical reception. On AllMusic, reviewer Ned Raggett said, “The Jesus and Mary Chain's third studio album was a mixed bag, a touch rougher and more aggressive-sounding than ‘Darklands,’ but still not the equivalent of ‘Psychocandy’ for sheer kicks.” Julian Marszalek of The Quietus pointed to the poor reviews of “Automatic” at the time of its release but felt like the album deserved a reappraisal 30 years later:
“‘Automatic’ is an album that’s frequently given short shrift by any number of biographers, commentators and scholars who erroneously view the record solely as a streamlined and digital assault on the American market that lacks the bite of its predecessors. Crucially, the mistake is made all too often of presenting The Jesus And Mary Chain as a hermetically sealed unit with one eye looking permanently in the rear view mirror at the debris and detritus strewn across the rock & roll highway. Yet this is to ignore the band’s role in the here and now of the closing chapters of the 1980s with their finely tuned pop antennae picking up what was going on around them. And what was going on around them was a heady and potent cocktail of squelches, beats and noise.”
And this might be the benefit I have of both reviewing these tracks many years after the fact while also considering them in their historical context: I wouldn’t consider “Blues from a Gun” an all-time great track, but it definitely signaled the shift in the alternative music landscape that would eventually capture the zeitgeist in the first half of the 1990s. Marszalek’s quote here from 2019 is right on the money. JAMC wasn’t living in the past with their music; they were evolving, and music evolved along with them. It’s pretty cool to consider in that context.
Though fans were divided on the release of “Automatic,” JAMC never left the forefront of the alternative music scene, even though they have yet (to date) return to the top of the MRT charts. The follow-up single to “Blues from a Gun,” titled “Head On,” is by far the most popular track on the album according to Spotify streams (nearly 14 million, versus a relatively pedestrian 2 million for “Blues from a Gun”). I get strong INXS vibes from that track, and maybe its long-term popularity comes from it sounding less like the ‘90s and more like the band’s earlier efforts. It peaked at #2 on the MRT chart later in 1990.
Outside of the occasional reference to the band in the “Chart Check” feature at the end of my articles, I likely won’t be referencing JAMC much in this column. But their influence, as evidenced by “Blues from a Gun,” cannot be understated, and should serve as a turning point not just in terms of the changing decade, but in the changing landscape of alternative rock going forward.
Rating: 7/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Typically the Billboard charts remain fairly static over the holiday season, so with two of the three weeks represented here coming around Christmas/New Year’s Day, there wasn’t enough movement at the top to highlight tracks that peaked during this time. But I do have a footnote or two from further down the charts.
“Carrot Head” by Young Fresh Fellows: Unless you’re a They Might Be Giants fan, you won’t be truly gobsmacked by the existence of an actual band called Young Fresh Fellows, but it certainly made me smile when I found this song, which peaked at #29 behind JAMC on the MRT chart. In the song “Twisting” by They Might Be Giants, the band refers to a girl who “doesn’t have to have her Young Fresh Fellows tape back,” and up until this very moment, I just assumed TMBG created a band name out of thin air that symbolized all the boy bands who were ruling the pop charts at that time. Nope. They’re an actual band. Amazing.
“Radio Ass Kiss” by The Wonder Stuff: Included only because it’s an odd title, this track by The Wonder Stuff managed to squeak out a #26 peak on the MRT chart behind “Blues from a Gun.” As near as I can tell, this song seems to poke fun at the reasons why music appears on the radio, and you can use your imagination based on the lyrics.
Hearing this, I am struck by how much Jesus Jones owes to the Jesus and Mary Chain (and not just because they both reference the Messiah in their names). "Real Real Real" especially sounds like a smoother version of what's happening on "Blues From a Gun."