Jesus and Mary Chain Reject Shoegaze Label
The Jesus and Mary Chain have sparked fresh debate about genre labels and guitar hero worship after brothers Jim and William Reid shared blunt views during a festival interview in New York. Speaking ahead of their set at the Total Bummer festival, the Scottish alternative rock pioneers pushed back on the idea that “shoegaze” is a real musical movement and also took aim at the long-running influence of late Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
During their chat with Stereogum, Jim Reid said he has “a problem” with the term shoegaze and argued it “doesn’t actually exist,” claiming the label was coined by “some clown at the NME.” He added that some bands associated with the tag could appear “awkward” onstage, acknowledging the reputation that followed certain UK acts in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Jim also reflected on his own approach to playing, saying limited equipment can force musicians to be inventive and describing his style as deliberately basic—“I can play guitar, but only just,” he said, framing instinct as more important than technical knowledge. The conversation then turned sharply toward guitar virtuosity when William Reid argued that guitarists “should never learn scales” and singled out Eddie Van Halen as an example of what he dislikes in rock playing.
William Reid said he “can’t stand” Eddie Van Halen’s guitar work and claimed it “ruined rock guitar all through the ’80s and ’90s” because so many players copied the high-speed, note-dense style. He contrasted that approach with the melodic impact of bassist Peter Hook, saying Hook’s riffs were “a thousand times better” than anything Van Halen could “conjure up.”
The remarks land as younger bands continue to cite The Jesus and Mary Chain’s feedback-heavy guitar sound as a key influence, even as the group rejects the shoegaze umbrella often placed over that legacy. For fans, the exchange underscores how strongly artists can differ over genre history—and how debates about technique versus feel still define rock guitar’s cultural fault lines.
