Honey's not dead

Munki probably won't make people who hear it immediately go out and start a band, the way that the Sex Pistols and the Clash made the Reids form the Jesus and Mary Chain, or the way that Psychocandy and Darklands inspired many to do the same, but it offers proof the band never lost its brilliance; perhaps it just forgot it somewhere along the way. Jim and William Reid may never be stars again, but they don't care about that anymore, and they probably never really did. The band's importance lies in the way that it showed young musicians everywhere a new way to do things.

"I think that there are lessons to be learned if you listen to the Mary Chain," Reid concludes. "We're not about spending 10 years learning how to play an instrument. We're about buying it, getting onstage, and seeing what noises you can make it do. Our music, I guess, in the years has changed, inasmuch as we can play better now than we could in 1984 when we started. But you know, we've still kept that kind of basic, punk-rock element in our music. No bullshit. That's what it's all about."

The Jesus and Mary Chain perform September 20 at Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth.