Bobby Gillespie replaced Dalglish on drums, and their debut album Psychocandy was released to critical acclaim in 1985 on the major label WEA.

[12] Originally called The Poppy Seeds,[13] and then Death of Joey,[11] they initially told journalists that they had taken their eventual name from a line in a Bing Crosby film, although six months later they admitted that this was not true.

[14][15] Other accounts suggest that the name derived from an offer on a breakfast cereal packet, where customers could send off for a gold Jesus & Mary chain.

[18] Early demos displayed a similarity to the Ramones, prompting the brothers to add another element to their sound; in William's words: "That's why we started using noise and feedback.

[14] After failing to generate any interest from concert promoters and record labels in Scotland, the band relocated to Fulham, London, in May 1984, and soon afterwards their demo tape was passed to fellow Scot Alan McGee by Bobby Gillespie.

[25] Dalglish left in November 1984 after a dispute over money and was replaced shortly afterwards by Gillespie who had also formed Primal Scream two years earlier in 1982.

[15] The label had initially refused to press the single due to its B-side, "Suck", but went ahead given the alternative put forward by the band, a song called "Jesus Fuck".

[15] The album fused together the Reids' two primary influences: the guitar noise of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground with the pop songwriting and melodies of the Beach Boys, The Shangri-Las and Phil Spector; In fact, the album's opening song, "Just Like Honey," borrows Hal Blaine's famous drum intro from The Ronettes 1963 classic, "Be My Baby", produced and co-written by Spector.

[22][37] On 15 March 1985, the Jesus and Mary Chain played a gig at the North London Polytechnic in front of one of their largest crowds up to that point.

[39] A major factor in the audience reaction was the length of the band's sets at the time, which lasted less than twenty-five minutes, Jim explaining this with "there's never been a group good enough to play any longer".

It reached number thirteen in the UK Singles Chart, but attracted controversy when BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Smith decided that the song was a paean to illegal drugs (denied by the band at the time, but admitted by William a year later) and convinced the station to ban it from being played.

[15][44] In September 1986, the band parted ways with manager Alan McGee, and came close to splitting up later in the year, with Jim Reid suffering from "exhaustion".

[49] "Happy When It Rains" was the second pre-album single, strongly influenced by Smokey Robinson's "My Girl", but it failed to match the success of "April Skies", only reaching number twenty-five.

[51] The band's second album, Darklands, was released during the tour, in September, described by writer Steve Taylor as "the definitive blend of light and shade".

[citation needed] The album's title track was released as a single in October, and the band were thrown off the ITV music show The Roxy when they failed to mime well enough to it.

[53] With the court case hanging over the band, they compiled a collection of B-sides and rarities for release in April 1988 as Barbed Wire Kisses.

The Rollercoaster EP (August 1990) would be their last release for over a year, the band undertaking a tour of the same name with My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and Blur.

[15] Douglas Hart had moonlighted with the Acid Angels in 1988, and left the band in 1991, to have a career in film making, before picking up his bass again in 2006, playing with the Sian Alice Group, Le Volume Courbe, and Cristine.

The fluid nature of the Mary Chain's line up continued throughout their entire career, with a revolving door of drummers, bassists and guitarists being recruited for TV appearances and gigs whenever they were required, the only constants being the Reid brothers.

[15] The Reid brothers recruited former Starlings rhythm section Matthew Parkin and Barry Blackler to replace Hart and Thomas.

[54] The album featured the Reids' sister Linda, who sang on the track "Mo Tucker"[59] as well as vocals from Hope Sandoval on "Perfume".

Though it was not until October 1999 that the split was made official, on 12 September 1998, William had a falling out in the tour bus with Lurie, the guitarist, before they were to play a sold out performance at the famous Los Angeles House of Blues.

Jim promoted his side of the single with a very rare solo gig at London's Sonic Cathedral club on John Peel Day, Thursday 13 October 2005.

Jim also performed new material at low-key gigs with a new band comprising Phil King on guitar, Loz Colbert (Ride) on drums and bassist Mark Crozer (International Jetsetters).

During "Just Like Honey", Scarlett Johansson, who starred in the film Lost in Translation featuring the song, performed with the band on the main stage.

[66] The lineup featured guitarist John Moore and Fountains of Wayne drummer Brian Young replacing Loz Colbert.

[72] On 24 August 2017, Bobby Gillespie joined the band on drums for three Psychocandy songs during their performance at Vilar de Mouros Festival in Portugal.

In the 2000 movie High Fidelity, the album Psychocandy is recommended to a record store customer, with The Jesus and Mary Chain cited as picking up where Echo and the Bunnymen left off.

A poster for the band is seen in the 1995 Bottom episode "Terror" in the scene where Richie (Rik Mayall) and Eddie (Ade Edmondson) fight three boys dressed as devils.

The song "April Skies" was featured in the AMC TV series The Walking Dead in a scene from the episode entitled "Stradivarius".