The Vaselines
The Vaselines are an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1986, the band was originally made up of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession.[1] McKee had formerly been a member of a band named The Pretty Flowers with Duglas T. Stewart, Norman Blake and Sean Dickson. Eugene had formerly played in 'The Famous Monsters'. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain once described Kelly and McKee as his "most favorite songwriters in the whole world". The band formed in 1986, and released two short EPs, Son of a Gun, which featured a reworking of Divine's "You Think You're a Man" on its B-side, and Dying for It, which featured the songs 'Molly's Lips' and 'Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam', both of which Nirvana would later cover. In 1989 they released their only album, Dum-Dum, on 53rd and 3rd Records. The band broke up shortly after its release. They briefly reformed in 1990 to open for Nirvana when they played in Edinburgh. Though they were not widely known outside of Scotland during their short career, their association with Nirvana brought exposure to the band. With their songs "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips" covered on Nirvana's album Incesticide and "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" covered on MTV Unplugged in New York, the band gained a new audience. At the 1991 Reading Festival, Kelly joined Nirvana on stage for a performance of "Molly's Lips".[1] In 1992, Sub Pop released The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History, a compilation that contained The Vaselines' entire body of work.
