Never Understood – The Jesus and Mary Chain – William and Jim Reid with Ben Thompson – Book Review
by Killian Laher

This is the ‘official’ account of the Jesus and Mary Chain, in the words of the Reid brothers.  You could be forgiven for asking yourself: what do I need a book about those eejits for?  Also, Zoe Howe’s book seemed to cover them adequately, but this feels like a very different book.  The two brothers write in their own words, each one denoted by a different font.  It’s a very entertaining work that gets to the heart of the band.

There is plenty of information that will be new to the casual fan: older brother William grew up as a big Rangers fan living (initially) in the shadow of Parkhead. Jim hated football growing up, though later dabbled with following Chelsea along with Alan McGee in his London days.  One thing that comes out of the book is how much they really, really HATE music journalists.  Their relationship with Alan McGee is a recurring theme in the book.

There are hilariously terrible encounters with some of their heroes – the Ramones, Iggy Pop and David Bowie.  In addition, Paul Weller and Dave Gilmour were just two of the prominent musicians they managed to piss off.  There’s lots of detail from Jim and a limited amount from William on the early days of the band, and once we get to the nineties there is an inevitable drop off in detail.

It feels like one brother (usually William) covers a particular event and then the other brother (usually Jim) pitches in contradicting him!  It’s all good fun, and, as we know, there’s a happy ending to the book.

If you have even a passing interest in The Jesus and Mary Chain, this is worth picking up.