Uncategorised

Classic Tuesday: The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Brian Jonestown Massacre

The Brian Jonestown Massacre often end up a band which received a lot less attention than they truly deserve outside of their dedicated fanbase for a band which is so influential to many other artists and their genre.

Forming in 1990 in San Fransisco the band started in the origins of the shoegaze movement eventually expanding into psychedelic rock as a wider genre and incorporating lots of experimentation into their sound. They were led by frontman Anton Newcombe who still leads them to this day and most recently released their album Don’t Get Lost.

The band themselves made a reputation for themselves across America during the mid-90s as a band where audience members would often turn up just to watch Anton fight other members of the band or the audience half way through their set. Anton was at that time the classic narcissistic drug addicted rock star which some have blamed the band’s shortcomings on and yet he created some of the best music of the era and continues to create some of the greatest music to date despite being clean now. The rough and rowdy classic rock performance style along with the casual psych rock was a blend that worked like no other. 

The band gained a lot of attention from 2004 documentary Dig! directed by Ondi Timoner which was where the personal life of Anton was really shown, his addiction to drugs, his process of becoming the band, and recording music constantly for seven years until that point. It also focused on friends come rivals The Dandy Warhols and the relationship they had with Anton and the BJM. If you’re a fan or even just starting with either band I would whole heartedly recommend this documentary as not only my favourite music documentary but one of my top documentaries of all time. From this, I personally fell in love with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and found the band was so much more than heroin addicts in a psych band.

Their first official album was Spacegirl and Other Favourites, followed in the same year by Methodrone, two fantastic albums which absolutely nail the origins of the genre and band. They went on to then release three albums in one year, which I’m sure King Gizzard took influence from, with the albums Thank God for Mental Illness, Their Satanic Majesties Second Request, and Take it from the Man. In total BJM have a discography consisting of TWENTY albums with various compilations, EPs, and singles so they can be a daunting band to get into, take it slow, and appreciate the development each album had to the next.

Anton Newcombe currently resides in Berlin still self-releasing albums under BJM with what could be debated as his best work. They even released an unofficial first album predating their debut for Record Store Day 2017 named Pol Pot’s Pleasure Penthouse. I consider the man legendary, an absolute icon of the time, and musically someone to always look up to with what he has achieved and created, his genius is unrivaled. The Brian Jonestown Massacre were and indeed still are on another level of music and represent so much of not only psych and shoegaze but rock and roll and music as a whole. Here are a top 10 of tracks to get you started, then watch the documentary and then learn about Anton nowadays. I hope you all dig. 

The Brian Jonestown Massacre ten songs to get you started:

  1. Wisdom – Methodrone
  2. Anemone – Their Satanic Majesties Second Request (watch below)
  3. (David Bowie I Love You) Since I was Six – Take it from the Man
  4. Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth – Give it Back!
  5. Servo – Give it Back!
  6. Devil May Care (Mom and Dad Don’t) – Give it Back!
  7. Open Heart Surgery – Bravery Repetition & Noise
  8. Van Hände Med Dem – Revelations
  9. What You Isn’t – Revelations
  10. Pish – Mini Album Thingy Wingy

Tobias Henley
21 year old filmmaker, photographer, musician, writer, actor, and journalist. I do too many things. Based just outside of London.

You may also like

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.