RIFF SUMMER CHALLENGE
Kill Surf City
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Surf music’s influence around the world was not exclusive to straightforward rock in the first years. The subtle inflections of surf sound in alternative music is like an emotional cord through a song. And so surf influences sweetened the distorted shoegaze noise of Scotland’s The Jesus and Mary Chain’s sound in songs like “Kill Surf City” and “Just Like Honey.”
Like any other badass pop gem, “Just Like Honey” from their legendary 1985 debut Psychocandy appears to be a ballad about a breakup but rather grapples with drug addiction that glints with sublime yearning. Even when they perform it today, “Just Like Honey” drips with sonorous noise seeking its own inherent beauty — like longing in life — without being able to actually touch it into a tangible melody. As Pitchfork puts it:
like with most heroin rock’n’roll bands, there’s an earnest, romantic belief in something beautiful and unattainable in the midst of it, which might be drug-related for them but doesn’t have to be for you. The many fun and…
