Taste The Floor (1985) – The Jesus & Mary Chain

Amidst an unprecedented wall of solid-state distortion, Jim Reid’s vocals rose above the gimmick of multi-layered direct-injection overdrive to emerge utterly indifferent. That juxtaposition of bedlam and boredom was seminal to what eventually became the shoegazer movement, but none of its practitioners ever recreated such an obnoxious and overbearing din. During the instrumental “breaks,” guitarist William Reid adds additional layers of overwhelming white noise and feedback—boosted in the frequencies that are most irritating to human hearing—akin to a circular saw slicing through lumber. This is a good thing. One can only sadistically imagine the scores of innocent bystanders who have shielded their ears against this sonic assault blaring from the pop-disk before the droogies ookadeet for a bit of ultraviolence.

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