"Just Like Honey"
Single by The Jesus and Mary Chain
from the album Psychocandy
B-side"Head"
ReleasedSeptember 1985
GenreNoise pop[1][2]
Length3:03
LabelBlanco y Negro
Songwriter(s)William Reid, Jim Reid
Producer(s)The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain singles chronology
"You Trip Me Up"
(1985) 		"Just Like Honey"
(1985) 		"April Skies"
(1987)

"Just Like Honey" is a song by the Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain from their 1985 debut album Psychocandy. The track was released as the third and final single from the album through Blanco y Negro Records in September 1985. An important milestone in the development of the alternative rock subgenre of noise pop,[3][4][5] the song was written by band members William Reid and Jim Reid. Drummer Bobby Gillespie quotes Hal Blaine's opening drum riff from The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" in the song's intro.[6]

The song has appeared in several films, most notably in the closing scene of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), as well as The Man Who Loved Yngve and a 2011 Volkswagen advertisement. The track is also featured in "Mommy", the third episode of American Horror Story: Hotel.[6]

Chart performance

The single reached number 45 on the UK Singles Chart.[7]

Critical reception

"Just Like Honey" was ranked at number two on the NME "Tracks of the Year" list for 1985, behind only Psychocandy's lead single "Never Understand".[8] In 2015, Pitchfork placed it at number 46 on their list of the 200 best songs of the 1980s, with T. Cole Rachel calling it "a classic bad boy love song—a reverby [sic] dose of Phil Spector grandiosity that sounds as if it might have been recorded in a smoky cave."[3] In a retrospective review of Psychocandy, Ned Raggett of AllMusic praised "Just Like Honey" as "weirdly beautiful" and "anti-pop yet pure pop at the same time".[9]

In 2021, Time Out named it the seventh-best song about oral sex.[10]

Track listing

All tracks written by Jim Reid and William Reid.

7" (NEG 17)

  1. "Just Like Honey" – 3:00
  2. "Head" – 3:48

2×7" Gatefold (NEG 17F)

  1. "Just Like Honey" – 3:00
  2. "Head" – 3:48
  3. "Inside Me"– 3:08
  4. "Just Like Honey" (Demo) – 2:54
12" (NEG 17T)
  1. "Just Like Honey" – 3:00
  2. "Head" – 3:48
  3. "Cracked" – 3:43
  4. "Just Like Honey" (Demo) – 2:54

Personnel

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Additional personnel

Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 45

References

  1. ^ "Download This". Best Life. Vol. 4, no. 6. Rodale, Inc. July–August 2007. p. 50. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  2. ^ Sullivan, Denice, Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain - Track Info | AllMusic, retrieved 11 October 2023
  3. ^ a b "The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s - Page 8". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Download This". Best Life. Vol. 4, no. 6. Rodale, Inc. July–August 2007. p. 50. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Denice, Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain - Track Info | AllMusic, retrieved 11 October 2023
  6. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (6 March 2021). "The 30 Greatest Rock & Roll Movie Moments". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Just Like Honey – Jesus and Mary Chain". Official Charts. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME. 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  9. ^ Raggett, Ned, The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 11 October 2023
  10. ^ "Top 25 oral sex songs". Time Out Worldwide. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  11. ^ "The Jesus and Mary Chain: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
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