The Brian Jonestown Massacre

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The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American psychedelic rock band formed in San Francisco in 1988. The band's musical output has spanned psychedelia, folk rock, blues rock, electronica, and experimental rock. They attained recognition in the second decade of the 21st century when their song "Straight Up and Down" was used as the opening theme to the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire.^[1]

The Brian Jonestown Massacre began as a shoegaze group in San Francisco in the late 1980s. After their debut and sophomore albums, the group quickly turned to a broader style of psychedelic rock incorporating folk, blues, raga, and later, electronica influences. The name "Brian Jonestown Massacre" is a portmanteau of The Rolling Stones' founder and guitarist Brian Jones and the infamous mass cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.^[2][3] They have gained media notoriety for their tumultuous working relationships and the drug addiction of their leader, Anton Newcombe.

1995 & 1996

The 1995 album, Methodrone, approximates the United Kingdom "shoegazing" sound that had gained prominence several years prior to its release. Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request, one of three new albums released by the group in 1996, reflects a pastiche of 1960s psychedelia that continues to characterize the BJM sound to the present day. Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request is an homage to the Rolling Stones' 1967 album, Their Satanic Majesties Request.^[4] The second album they released in 1996, Take It from the Man!, was recorded in the Rolling Stones' mid-1960s style of rock rooted in rhythm and blues.^[5]

Thank God for Mental Illness, BJM's third record, released in 1996, represents a country and rhythm and blues aspect to the band's oeuvre, with vocals and acoustic guitar dominating the overall sound. This is a format that Newcombe occasionally adopts when presenting live material during times of transition in the band.^{[citation needed]} A further example of this country/folk influence was applied to the Bringing It All Back Home - Again album; the title is an homage to Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home.^{[citation needed]}

And This Is Our Music (2003)

Electronic music appears in 2003's And This Is Our Music, evidencing more contemporary influences. The album's title is an obvious reference to the identically-titled, but distinct, albums, This Is Our Music, by the artists, Galaxie 500 and Ornette Coleman. In 2005, the band released the EP, We Are the Radio, on Newcombe's own label, The Committee to Keep Music Evil, which featured a close collaboration with indie singer-songwriter, Sara Beth Tuceck.

My Bloody Underground (2008)

My Bloody Underground was released on Cargo Records in 2008, but demos were available on the band's website from September 2007.^[6] The title has been interpreted^{[by whom?]} to be a name-check to the bands My Bloody Valentine, and The Velvet Underground, as well as a reference to BJM's endless procession of bandmates and the "scene" they collectively created.^{[original research?]} Newcombe has down-played such interpretations, however.^[7]

2009 releases

The Brian Jonestown Massacre recorded both One EP and Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?, in Iceland and Berlin, in 2009. The One EP was released in November 2009 and features the songs, "One", "This Is the First of Your Last Warning" (which would also appear on Who Killed Sgt. Pepper), an English version of "This Is The First Of Your Last Warning", and an exclusive track, "Bruttermania". Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? was released in February 2010 and features musicians such as Unnur Andrea Einarsdottir (who recorded vocals on the previous BJM album) and Felix Bondareff, from the Russian band, Amazing Electronic Talking Cave; Will Carruthers. Soon after the album's release, it was confirmed that Hollywood had returned to the band after an eleven-year absence. According to Anton Newcombe, he would feature on the band's next album and toured with the band.

Aufheben (2012)

The most recent Brian Jonestown Massacre album release is titled "Aufheben" and was released on May 1, 2012. Newcombe stated in an interview with GoingThruVinyl that the album title relates to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's use of the term, whereby something is destroyed in order to preserve it.^[8]

In the music press Anton Newcombe, the leader of BJM, has a reputation for being narcissistic, stubborn and difficult to work with. In 2008, he was accused of stabbing Frank Emerson, guitarist, backstage at a gig after Emerson drank too much and broke a microphone.^[9] Similarly, he punched Matt Hollywood in the head at a record label showcase as documented in the film Dig!. He is known for a jaded and abrasive view of rock music and its stars, “People talk about Eric Clapton. What has he ever done except throw his baby off a fuckin’ ledge and write a song about it?”^[10]

Along with The Dandy Warhols, BJM were the subjects of the 2004 documentary film, Dig!. The film captured a love-hate relationship between both bands, highlighting the interaction of BJM frontman Anton Newcombe with his counterpart in the Warhols, Courtney Taylor-Taylor. The film was recorded over the course of seven years by Ondi Timoner and won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival for its unflinching portrait of a narcissist rock star descending into madness and drug abuse.^[11] Newcombe distanced himself from the film, stating that its portrayal of him was unfair. In the film he is shown yelling at band members in an abusive fashion, using drugs and alcohol extensively and pawning a guitar for heroin money. Taylor-Taylor also distanced himself from the documentary, explaining that he felt pressured during the filming process; the Dandy Warhols' frontman also added, "It's a movie, not a documentary [...] She (Timoner) worked her ass off and forged a plot when there was no plot. She crafted the thing to swell and ebb by taking eight years of us and a year and a half of the Brian Jonestown Massacre".^[12] The Dandy Warhols' drummer, Brent DeBoer, supported Taylor-Taylor and revealed to the Spinner website:

Ondi has 1,998 hours of footage that nobody saw and she could have taken it and made a really respectful show about two really talented bands working very hard and making great records. It could be a feel-good story, like here's where they're born, here's where they recorded, here's how they've grown together, and here's where they are now. But she just snagged a couple hours of just the worst behavior.

^[13]

The BJM has undergone many personnel changes. (see comprehensive list of Brian Jonestown Massacre members).

The band has influenced many other indie bands, noted in the Brian Jonestown Massacre Covers Project.^{[14][dead link]}

• The BJM and The Dandy Warhols were the subject of the documentary, DiG!.^[15][16]
• "Open Heart Surgery" appeared on the soundtrack of the television series, Rescue Me.
• A number of BJM songs were used in the improvisational film by Zak Penn, entitled The Grand.
• "Servo", from Give It Back!, was used in the 2007 film, Spin.
• All but one song in the 2007 film, Broken,^[17] was by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
• "Straight Up and Down" is used as the opening theme song for the HBO show, Boardwalk Empire.
• "Vacuum Boots" appears in the first season episode of My Life as Liz.
• The track, "You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up", appears at the end of the fifth episode of the first series of teen drama, Skins; the track, "Ballad of Jim Jones", also appeared in the tenth episode of the third series.
• "The Way It Was" featured in the 2011 video game, Need for Speed: The Run.

• Official Website
• MySpace page
• BJM Archives
• Straight Up And Down - BJM Book Project