MARY CHAIN SINGLES POLL

I wanna die on a bed of spikes...

Fixed! Thx.

this prompted by me getting out my CD single of "I Hate Rock & Roll", which may be the BEST RECORD EVER MADE and finding that the bastard thing had delaminated! Bastards. Anyone have a spare?

Everything they did was a pale shadow of their first 45, sooo....

(er...except for that first 45...)

"Never Understand"

I had heard it once on KROQ and still remember the sheer joy of finding the 12" at Tempo Records and taking it home to play again and again - that's why I'm voting for "April Skies".

Yeh, "Upside Down" gets my vote-eh. (Tho I'm quite a bit partial to "Sidewalking" too)

All four of the Honey's Dead singles are outstanding.

"Never Understand."

I'D LIKE TO TRIP YOU UP

JLH (followed by far gone and out)

"upside down". hearing it for the first time bursting out of the airwaves on the john peel show was a revelation. a genuine wtf, in shock moment. that it took three weeks to locate a copy to hear it again was akin to water torture which is also pretty much how my dad described being forced to listen to it on rotation for the next few weeks.

the psychocandy singles are really definitive, but "april skies" was such an unexpected thing.

Upside Down handily for me.

Much as I love their early stuff, 'Cracking Up' is the best thing they've ever done.

UD passed me by completely at the time, only heard it years later (my copy has a glued colour cover, not the usual pink / yellow / whatever wraparound thing in a plastic bag). NU had me hooked from the first listen though.

all of those first 9 or so singles are fantastic. dropped off after that, i think.

'Never Understand'

I listened to 21 Singles only the other day. I think I'll refuse to choose from this shortlist:

"Upside Down" (1984)
"Never Understand" (1985)
"You Trip Me Up" (1985)
"Just Like Honey" (1985)
"Some Candy Talking" (1986)
"Sidewalking" (1988)
"Reverence" (1992)
"Almost Gold" (1992)
"Snakedriver"/"Sound of Speed" EP (1993)

Sugar Ray was a single? Overseas maybe?

"Reverence" and "Far Gone And Out" come close, but really it has to be "Upside Down".

I was never all that fussed about "Never Understand", though. It didn't seem to me to do anything which "Upside Down" had already done, and better.

I am sure Sugar Ray was a single here because my mate had it and I was disappointed by it. Could have been an import I guess.

Too hard for me to decide - Upside Down vs Never Understand vs Sidewalking.

Upside Down

Can't find Sugar Ray on any discographies, maybe it was a promo thing or something. Apparently it was used on Budweiser ad in the US, perhaps it was released for that.

"Almost Gold" because it's so not like the Mary Chain, yet so good it could only be the Mary Chain.

"Almost Gold" is the Mary Chain trying Madchester/shoegaze and doing a damn fine job of it.

I voted for "Happy When It Rains" cuz I love the fadeout.

You Trip Me Up, solely because it was the first one I actually heard - living in NZ existing on 3 month old NMEs for music news (no air freighted copies in those days), I'd read about them but never heard them. Finally one day I saw the 12" of YTMU in the record stiore, grabbed it, took it home & was blown away - it was quite unlike anything I'd heard.

"Reverence" was the point where JAMC really clicked for me; I didn't like any of their stuff until this song came out, at which point I started liking all of it.

Stirmonster ^^^^ absolutely otfm

At the time , on a big backtracking Ramones trip and just getting into shit like the Du, this baby hit me out of the blue.Thanks John. At the time it was a TUNE but with that lovely feedback dripping all over

You had to be there.

I like all these songs, and love most of them, but I went with "April Skies" today. Too bad "Between Planets" wasn't a single: it still sounds like a pop smash to me, and is my favorite JAMC song.

upside down uh huh huh

tho i love about 75% of these

Never Understand, prob for being the first one I heard.

oh, "Sidewalking" in a walk, guys

"Never Understand" is a better single than "Upside Down", and was the first JAMC track I remember hearing regularly on KUSF. It got a big audience response, with lots of requests.

Torn between "Never Understand" and "Happy When It Rains," but NU seems to be getting wotsa wub here so I'll go with "Happy," which was the thing that first brought me to JAMC. "Things vaporize and rise to the sky" = the moment at which I understood internal rhyme for the first time.

"Never Understand" was the great one, but for reasons sentimental I'm voting for "Upside Down."

I would probably have liked "Sidewalking" better if it hadn't taken its tune from naff daytime ITV eighties Jeremy Beadle gameshow Chain Letters.

Upside Down >>>>>>>>>> Never Understand!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had the 12" version you know.

I got the 12" of Never Understand for the Subway Sect cover. I only have the 7" of Upside Down. But it is still best.

Every single goddamn one of them.

Hi kate! hray!

given a list of pure gold.....i have agree on "upside down" for the sheer elation its shock provoked in a wee me so long ago.

that said, someone has to hype the stoned and dethroned era...easily lost in the shuffle, but still damned fine

"Come On" is a really great one, it's just saddled with a nothing title.

i've never heard the subway sect cover, do they do ambition?

Probably 'Far Gone and Out' and if I could give a special jury award, it'd go to 'Sometimes Always', cuz it seems no-one else will mention it

They do do Ambition. xpost

i can't believe i've never heard that.

a b sides poll would be easier and consequently much more fun, i love the way mary chain b sides are either brilliant or total shit.

i bet sometimes always gets a load of votes.

I felt like they were basically done after Automatic, "Far Gone and Out" was ok, but they'd lost the magic (and "Reverence" almost seemed like self parody). "Sometimes Always" though proved they still it (though I haven't really loved anything since).

Glad to see the love for 'Sidewalking' - I always thought band was great from the get-go - but dang did I perk up when that was released.

I think we've had this conversation before, Spencer, but I think you are so so so so so so so so very wrong.

Dan, we've had this conversation *in general* before about how we love the same bands but different tracks! I know that many people love "Reverence" but there's just no tune there. I loved them from very early on and that track sounds like a weaker version of some of their other apocalyptic tracks with a groove thrown in (it is a great groove).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

more votes for Almost Gold plz

But they DID care about the state of their hair!

if you could distinguish William from Bill Reid,

Uh... .?