Hard to believe it’s been over 25 years since Psycho Candy was released. It was game changing at the time, and so ahead of itself that bands today are still trying to catch up to it. At the risk of sounding like a punk rock Abe Simpson, this writer was in the room for the band’s first North American performance at the Montreal Spectrum back in the mid eighties (I’m gonna say 85, but I could be off by a year).
Some will remember that when they started, the guys were unbelievable brats, refusing to play for longer than fifteen minutes at their UK shows. Much destruction of public property and personal injury ensued when aggressive hypnotized fans, who thought they found the best thing since the Sex Pistols, were left thoroughly unsatisfied and short changed and proceeded to trash the place. So on their first North American tour, they were contractually obliged to play for forty minutes. In Montreal, the promoters took no chances and lined up five opening acts, like Alien Sex Fiend, which just made for the most heightened mayhem and anarchy you can imagine. By the time J&MC hit the stage, people went positively mental.
It’s hard to overstate how truly cool these guys were at the time.
BUT – Fearing their unique, feedback “Wall of Noise” had become a gimmick, they ditched it for the second album and everybody pretty much lost interest. A friend saw them play earlier this year and said they were sloppy, forgetful, and generally mocking of the audience and event so it’s good to see some people never change.
True story! I blasted Never Understand in my college dorm room, and when it was over, I heard a knock on my door. When I answered, a girl I know stood there confused looking at the record in my hand and said: ” Sorry, I was gonna ask to borrow your vaccum.”