Song · The Jesus and Mary Chain
“Blues from a Gun” by The Jesus and Mary Chain
From the album Automatic (1989)
“Blues from a Gun” by The Jesus and Mary Chain appears on 6 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1989 and 2021. It was first released in 1989 on the album Automatic. Its best result is #13 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1989. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #30 alternative song of 1989 and #241 of the '80s.
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"Blues from a Gun" kicked off Automatic, the Jesus and Mary Chain's fourth album, in 1989, and it comes with a twist: William Reid sings lead instead of Jim Reid, something the band rarely did on a single. The Reids wrote and produced it themselves, with Alan Moulder engineering and mixing, and put it out in four formats, among them a tiny three-inch CD tucked into a paper gatefold sleeve.
It stalled at number 32 in Britain, but American alternative radio couldn't get enough, keeping it atop the Modern Rock chart for three weeks. AllMusic's Denise Sullivan heard the band's whole playbook in one song: drugs, self-destruction and mouthing off, packed into a verse-chorus-verse with a coda.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 63 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1989 | 107 |
| 1989 | 65 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1989 | 90 |
| 1989 | 82 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1989 | 105 |
| 1989 | 13 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1989 | 50 |
| 1989 | 29 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1989 | 30 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 735 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
Also listed as: Blues From A Gun; Blues From a Gun.
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