The Jesus and Mary Chain
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50 free The Jesus and Mary Chain trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Jesus and Mary Chain turned a wall of guitar feedback into pop songs. Brothers Jim and William Reid wrote sweet 1960s-style melodies, buried them in noise, and built one of the most argued-over catalogues in British rock, complete with short, chaotic early gigs and a fraternal feud that eventually split the band. This quiz covers the songs first: the singles that charted, the ones that got banned, the B-sides and covers, and the tracks that turned up in films and on television. It also asks about the albums, the labels, the guests who sang with the band, and the people who passed through the line-up. It is written for fans who know Just Like Honey by heart and for newer listeners who found the band through a soundtrack. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the stories behind the songs as you play.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Neither Reid brother wanted to sing for The Jesus and Mary Chain, so how was Jim picked as vocalist?
A coin toss
A coin toss settled it, so the reluctant Jim took the microphone while his older brother William became the band's lead guitarist.
Q 02The Jesus and Mary Chain's Just Like Honey plays over the closing scene of which Bill Murray film?
Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola's 2003 film, ends on the 1985 song, which had stalled at number 45 on the UK chart when it first came out.
Q 03The opening beat of The Jesus and Mary Chain's Just Like Honey is borrowed from which 1963 Phil Spector production?
Be My Baby
Be My Baby, a hit for the Ronettes, opens with a beat played by session drummer Hal Blaine, which the Mary Chain's own drummer quotes at the start of their song.
Q 04Which Hollywood actress joined The Jesus and Mary Chain on stage in 2007 to perform Just Like Honey?
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson had starred in the 2003 film that ends on the song, and she performed it with the reunited band on a festival main stage.
Q 05The Jesus and Mary Chain first claimed their name came from a line in a film starring which crooner?
Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby had nothing to do with it: six months later the brothers admitted the story was untrue. Another account traces the name to a mail-in offer on a breakfast cereal packet.
Q 06Which American band covered The Jesus and Mary Chain's Head On for the 1991 album Trompe le Monde?
Pixies
Pixies released their version as a single, and it reached number six on Billboard's Modern Rock chart after the original had peaked at number two.
Q 07After bottles flew at a 1984 show, the press dubbed The Jesus and Mary Chain the new version of which punk band?
Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols comparisons followed exaggerated press reports of a riot, and several local councils responded by banning the band from playing in their areas.
Q 08Which 1985 debut album by The Jesus and Mary Chain buried 1960s-style melodies under squalls of guitar feedback?
Psychocandy
Psychocandy took six weeks and £17,000 to make, and its title song was left off the record, surfacing on a single the following year.
Q 09Which American singer duets with Jim Reid on The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1994 single Sometimes Always?
Hope Sandoval
Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star had been asked to guest years earlier, but no song suited her voice until William Reid wrote this one.
Q 10Which drummer on The Jesus and Mary Chain's debut album left to front his own band, Primal Scream?
Bobby Gillespie
Bobby Gillespie had also passed the band's demo tape to the label boss who signed them, and he printed the sleeves for the first 1,000 copies of their debut single.
Q 11Which 1987 single gave The Jesus and Mary Chain their highest UK chart placing, peaking at number eight?
April Skies
April Skies was the band's first top ten hit, and it also gave them their best chart placings in Ireland and New Zealand.
Q 12Which 1984 debut single by The Jesus and Mary Chain stayed on the UK Indie Chart for 76 weeks?
Upside Down
Upside Down topped that chart in February 1985 and again in March, and it became one of the biggest-selling indie singles of the 1980s.
Q 13Which 1986 single by The Jesus and Mary Chain did a BBC Radio 1 DJ refuse to play, deciding it praised drugs?
Some Candy Talking
Q 21The Jesus and Mary Chain's feedback-soaked debut album is credited with inspiring which later British guitar genre?
Shoegaze
Shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine took up the mix of 1960s melody and noise, and the album is also counted as the earliest template for noise pop.
Q 22Which Britpop band, then promoting its debut album Leisure, joined The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1992 Rollercoaster Tour?
Blur
Blur shared the bill with My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr., each act playing 45 minutes with no encore while the Mary Chain closed every night.
Q 23William Reid called The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1992 slot on which touring festival 'the worst experience of our lives'?
Lollapalooza
Some Candy Talking still climbed to number 13 in the UK despite the fuss, at that point the highest the band had reached.
Q 14Which 1992 single by The Jesus and Mary Chain reached the UK top ten despite a Top of the Pops ban?
Reverence
Reverence was the first release from the brothers' own London studio, and its number ten peak made it their biggest hit in almost five years.
Q 15Which 1989 single by The Jesus and Mary Chain topped Billboard's Modern Rock chart for three weeks?
Blues from a Gun
Blues from a Gun is one of the few singles sung by William Reid instead of Jim, and it was among the band's first American chart entries.
Q 16Which 1987 album, the second by The Jesus and Mary Chain, reached number five on the UK chart?
Darklands
Darklands was recorded almost entirely by the two Reid brothers, and William took the lead vocal on its title track and two other songs.
Q 17Which independent label released The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1984 debut single before the band joined a major?
Creation Records
Creation Records counted the single as its first success, and the band returned to the label 14 years later for their last album before splitting.
Q 18Which manager of The Jesus and Mary Chain called a 1985 gig riot 'art as terrorism'?
Alan McGee
Alan McGee had signed the band on the strength of a soundcheck, and he argued that the crowd was smashing up pop music, not the hall.
Q 19The Jesus and Mary Chain formed in 1983 in which Scottish town, where the Reid brothers grew up?
East Kilbride
East Kilbride is where the brothers spent five years on the dole, writing and recording songs at home while they worked out the band's sound and image.
Q 20The Jesus and Mary Chain ended an eight-year split by reuniting in 2007 at which music festival?
Coachella
Coachella was the comeback, a day after a warm-up gig in Pomona, California, and the band's first UK show came at the Meltdown festival two months later.
Lollapalooza put the band on a bill with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Jim Reid judged the whole experience fairly disastrous.
Q 24The Jesus and Mary Chain's Snakedriver sits beside The Cure and Stone Temple Pilots on which 1994 film soundtrack?
The Crow
The Crow soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 and sold 3.8 million copies in the United States; the song had first led a 1993 EP by the band.
Q 25All Things Must Pass, the first new song by the reunited Jesus and Mary Chain, appeared on which NBC series soundtrack?
Heroes
Heroes carried the track in 2008, the band's first new music in a decade, and a re-recorded version turned up in 2017 on their comeback album.
Q 26The Jesus and Mary Chain supply the shouted backing vocals on Drama!, a 1989 single by which synth-pop duo?
Erasure
Erasure borrowed the band because they happened to be recording in the studio next door, and their voices supply the song's repeated one-word shout.
Q 27The B-side of The Jesus and Mary Chain's debut single covers Vegetable Man, a song by which Pink Floyd founder?
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett wrote it in 1967, but Pink Floyd shelved the recording, so the song circulated only on bootlegs until an official release in 2016.
Q 28The Jesus and Mary Chain covered Who Do You Love? and wrote a tribute B-side to which rock and roll pioneer?
Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley Is Jesus was the title of the tribute, and both tracks came out on different formats of the same 1987 single.
Q 29After their drummer quit, The Jesus and Mary Chain recorded their second album using what to keep the beat?
A drum machine
A drum machine replaced the departed drummer on the 1987 record, and the brothers then toured Britain with it instead of hiring a replacement.
Q 30Which 2024 album gave The Jesus and Mary Chain their first UK top ten album chart placing since 1988?
Glasgow Eyes
Glasgow Eyes had to be recorded twice, William Reid said, because an engineer misplaced every original recording and the band started again from scratch.