On this day in 1958, singer/guitarist William Reid was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Reid

and his brother, Jim Reid, founded the Jesus and Mary Chain, the noise-pop band that

was influenced by the Velvet Underground.

The Reids formed the Jesus and Mary Chain near Glasgow in 1984 with bassist Douglas

Hart and drummer Murray Dalglish, who was soon replaced by Bobby Gillespie. The

group immediately attracted attention on the college-music scene with its unlikely mix of

bubblegum pop and guitar noise.

That year, the Jesus and Mary Chain issued their first single, "Upside Down," notable for

its feedback and primitive-sounding drums. The band became very popular in Britain,

where its brief live shows -- during which the Jesus and Mary Chain played with their

backs to the audience -- often ended in riots.

The band encountered trouble in 1985, when the pressing plant that made its records

refused to issue the single "You Trip Me Up" because a proposed B-side was titled

"Jesus Sucks." But the Jesus and Mary Chain's debut LP, Psychocandy, followed

in 1986 and was rapturously received by the British press.

Gillespie left that year to form Primal Scream and was replaced briefly by John Moore.

Darklands (1987) found the group -- which, for that album, consisted only of the

Reid brothers -- making less layered music. The following year saw the release of

Barbed Wire Kisses, a compilation of B-sides, outtakes and unreleased material.

Feedback returned with a vengeance on the Jesus and Mary Chain's 1989 LP,

Automatic. In 1992, the group issued Honey's Dead and joined the

Lollapalooza tour. The album's first single, "Reverence," was banned by the British TV

show "Top of the Pops" because of the lines "I wanna die just like Jesus Christ" and "I

wanna die just like JFK."

The mostly acoustic Stoned and Dethroned, featuring the minor U.S. hit

"Sometimes Always" (a duet with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star), came out in 1994.

The following year, the band issued The Jesus and Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n'

Roll, another rarities compilation, which included the single

href="http://www.addict.com/music/Jesus_And_Mary_Chain/I_Hate_Rock_n_Roll.ram">"I

Hate Rock 'n' Roll" (RealAudio excerpt).

This year, the Jesus and Mary Chain unleashed the psychedelic Munki, of which

Jim Reid said, "Most of our albums are a reaction to what came before them." The album

contained a song called "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and another version of "I Hate Rock 'n'

Roll."

On the tour supporting the LP, William Reid left the band after a fight with his brother.

The pair are still estranged, leaving the future of the Jesus and Mary Chain uncertain.

Jim Reid recently said, "It's still too sensitive and a bit painful to talk about."

Whatever happens, the Jesus and Mary Chain's "white noise" has influenced countless

bands, including Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine.

Other birthdays: Wayne Fontana (Mindbenders), 53, and Stephen Morris (Joy Division,

New Order), 41.