The Vaselines

The Vaselines, Scotland's ramshackle brilliant noisy love-pop minimalists had a brief recording career in the late '80s. The two founding members Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly received a helpful thumbs-up from Nirvana, who were fans enough to cover "Molly's Lips", "Son of a Gun" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". (Although the song turned up on MTV Unplugged in New York as "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam")

The Vaselines' music was sometimes described as amateurish, almost completely unserious, occasionally quite perverted, and always about sex. The music had the simplicity and ear-grabbing melodies of the best bubblegum, the loud and semi-competent guitars of punk, and some of the attitude and lo-fi sound of the noise rock scenesters like the Jesus & Mary Chain. Throw in a bunch of religion and add simplistic choruses that will have you singing along the first time you hear the songs (as well as the thousandth) and you've got just about all the bases covered.

It is near impossible to pick any songs as standouts since they are all so first-rate. A few moments that stand out are Frances McKee's sweet schoolgirl vocal on "Molly's Lips" (she and co-leader Eugene Kelly both have great voices with a fleeting acquaintance to pitch but filled with humor, attitude, and style). The amazing lyrics to "Sex Sux (Amen)", including the immortal line, "Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost/I'm the Sacred Host with the most,". The rare serious beauty of "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam". The meows on "Monsterpussy". The very rude bicycle horn on "Molly's Lips," and the very loose vocal harmonies on "Lovecraft."

After the Vaselines, Kelly formed Captain America, which, following two ace singles, abandoned its moniker under threat of legal action from Marvel Comics and adopted his nickname, Eugenius, instead. The band went on to record two albums before calling it a day.

Eugene has now completed a solo album tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2003, and Frances is a primary school teacher in Scotland.
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