Line #35 Music/PrimalScream


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prml.jpg]]
2	->''Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honey,\
3	Shake it now now, get 'em off downtown.\
4	Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honey,\
5	Shake it now now, get 'em off downtown.''
6	-->"Rocks"
7
8	Primal Scream are a [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] AlternativeRock band, known for their eclectic, experimental sound, their status as {{Promoted Fanboy}}s (much like Music/{{Oasis}}, come to think of it), their SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll lifestyle and high turnover rate of members. Oh, and also [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic their really interesting, excellent music.]]
9
10	For the sake of expediency, their core and current lineup is as follows:
11	* Bobby Gillespie - vocals
12	* Robert "Throb" Young - guitar (1982-2006)
13	* Andrew Innes - rhythm guitar (joined 1987)
14	* [[Music/TheStoneRoses Gary "Mani" Mounfield]] - bass (joined 1997)
15	* Martin Duffy - keyboards (1989-2022)
16	* Darin Mooney - drums (joined 1999)
17
18	'''Phase One: What Are We Doing?'''
19
20	Primal Scream's long and slightly complicated history begins in 1982, when frontman, vocalist and chief mastermind Bobby Gillespie joined forces with his guitarist friend Jim Beattie. At first, PS was merely something Gillespie did in his spare time, with his full-time job being drumming for Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain (he's the one who plays drums on ''Psychocandy''). However, the band's lineup quickly expanded to include Robert Young on bass, Stuart May on guitar, drummer Tom [=McGurk=] and tambourine player Martin St. John. PS got a contract with notable alternative label Creator/CreationRecords [[note]]Music/MyBloodyValentine, Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain, Music/SaintEtienne, Music/{{Ride}}, Music/{{Oasis}}[[/note]] and released a single, "All Fall Down". Gillespie was then given an ultimatum to either dissolve Primal Scream and join JAMC full-time or resign, choosing the latter option.
21
22	While Primal Scream did gain some publicity from contributing the song "Velocity Girl" to the ''C86'' compilation, the band suffered from lineup instability, with the lineup eventually paired down to Gillespie, Young, Beattie, Innes and a new drummer. Their debut ''Sonic Flower Groove'' suffered from a torturous birth, being recorded at two separate studios with two separate producers and costing a total of £100,000, having nothing to show for it besides a batch of dull, jangly Music/TheByrds photocopies. The album barely got into the charts and received terrible reviews, prompting more resignations from the band.
23
24	Gillespie, Young and Innes regrouped in Brighton and made some more changes - Young moved to guitar, and a new rhythm section of Henry Olsen (bass) and Toby Tomanov (drums) was brought in. The lads also threw out their bright jangle pop for hard-edged, rock that drew from Music/{{MC5}}, Music/TheStooges and Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}. The resulting album, ''Primal Scream'', was greeted with confusion from their older fans and worse reviews. Shortly after the album's release, Music/{{Felt}} keyboardist Martin Duffy, who has guested on their previous albums, joined the band full-time after his previous band split.
25
26	'''Phase Two: We Figured Out What We're Doing...Kinda'''
27
28	In their spare time after ''Primal Scream'', the band's members developed a taste for the then-thriving English acid house/rave scene. While attending one rave in 1990, they met DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall, who they asked to remix their song "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have". Weatherall completely revamped the song with additional samples and turned it into a groove-focused dance-rock song. Now retitled "Loaded", it became the band's first big hit.
29
30	Primal Scream entered the studio with an army of producers including Weatherall, ambient house duo The Orb, Hugo Nicholson, Hypnotone and Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}} knob-twiddler Jimmy Miller. The result, ''Music/{{Screamadelica}}'', was a massive genre stew, smashing together AlternativeRock, PsychedelicRock, acid house, gospel and dub and including several nods to their influences ("Movin' on Up" borrowed lyrics from [[Music/{{Can}} "Yoo Doo Right"]] from "Monster Movie" (1968) and a cover of "Slip Inside This House" by Music/The13thFloorElevators). With the music's quality strong enough to weather its amateurish-looking cover, ''Music/{{Screamadelica}}'' became the band's first successful album.
31
32	'''Phase Two Point Five: Actually, No, We Still Haven't'''
33
34	The resulting long tour in support of ''Screamadelica'' was mired by drug abuse, and a quick EP named ''Dixie Narco'' started a move away from dance-rock, towards blues-rock and P-Funk instead. Primal Scream next spent circa two years recording new material in London and Alabama, with an even more eclectic cast of collaborators that included Tom Dowd, George Drakoulias and Music/GeorgeClinton behind the mixing desk, keyboardists Jim Dickinson and Benmont Tench, drummer Roger Hawkins and The Memphis Horns. The new material reverted to the band's traditional method of copying its influences - in this case, Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}, TheFaces, and numerous {{Funk}} bands. ''Give Out But Don't Give Up'' accordingly received mixed reviews - for every person who liked it despite its derivative nature there was one who agreed with NME's famous review that called them "dance traitors". Its failure on the charts and a long tour led to severe band tension and a long hiatus.
35
36	'''Phase Three: Okay, Okay, We Finally Got It...Sorta. Maybe.'''
37
38	Primal Scream returned in 1997 with a new lineup, including former Music/TheStoneRoses bassist Mani and drummer Paul Mulraney. Reuniting with former collaborators/producers Brendan Lynch and Andrew Weatherall, ''Music/VanishingPoint'' saw the band return to the electronic-rock fusion they found success with, but this time with a DarkerAndEdgier bent and a bigger influence from {{Krautrock}}, TripHop and dub - quite appropriate for an album inspired by the film ''The Vanishing Point''. With this, Primal Scream [[WinBackTheCrowd Won Back The Crowd]] they lost with ''Give Out''.
39
40	For their follow-up ''XTRMNTR'', their final album with Creation, the band recast themselves as angry-political revolutionaries, matching {{Anvilicious}}, clumsy sociopolitical lyrics with the hardest, harshest songs they ever wrote, drawing inspiration this time from IndustrialMetal. The album featured contributions from [[Music/NewOrder Bernard Sumner]], Brendan Lynch, Adrian Sherwood, The Chemical Brothers and [[Music/MyBloodyValentine Kevin Shields]], the latter of whom continued to work and tour with the band for a while. Shields was never an official member of the band however, since Music/MyBloodyValentine never actually broke up and Primal Scream never actually clarified if he was a member. They continued in this direction with ''Evil Heat'', which boasted a similarly impressive list of contributors - [[Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain Jim Reid]], [[Music/LedZeppelin Robert Plant]], former member Paul Harte and... er, Kate Moss. She was part of the package.
41
42	Soon after ''Heat'', Shields ditched the band to return to doing absolutely nothing and eventually reuniting Music/MyBloodyValentine. The band carried on regardless, doing yet another Stones-Faces-whatever photocopy album called ''Riot City Blues'' (with predictably bad reception) and an electro-{{Krautrock}} album called ''Beautiful Future''. Longtime guitarist Young left sometime after ''Blues''.
43
44	Their tenth album ''More Light'' was released 2013, returning the band to dancey psychedelic rock and consistently positive critical reception. Their 2016 album ''Chaosmosis'' continued in the same vein, and would be the last to feature Martin Duffy after being fatally injured from a downstairs fall on December 18, 2022.
45
46	----
47	!!Discography:
48	* ''Sonic Flower Groove'' (1987)
49	* ''Primal Scream'' (1989)
50	* ''Music/{{Screamadelica}}'' (1991)
51	* ''Give Out But Don't Give Up'' (1994)
52	* ''Music/VanishingPoint'' (1997)
53	* ''XTRMNTR'' (2000)
54	* ''Evil Heat'' (2002)
55	* ''Riot City Blues'' (2006)
56	* ''Beautiful Future'' (2008)
57	* ''More Light'' (2013)
58	* ''Chaosmosis'' (2016)
59
60	----
61	!!Associated Tropes:
62
63	* BeautifulDreamer: "Shine Like Stars".
64	* ClusterFBomb: "Pills".
65	* CoverVersion: "Slip Inside This House" by Music/The13thFloorElevators, "Motörhead" and "Urban Guerilla" by Music/{{Hawkwind}} / Music/{{Motorhead}}, "Some Velvet Morning" by Lee Hazlewood and Music/NancySinatra, "Over & Over" by Music/FleetwoodMac, "I'm Five Years Ahead of My Time" by The Third Bardo.
66	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Music/VanishingPoint'' and ''XTRMNTR''
67	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Sonic Flower Groove'' is a jangly, syrupy, Byrds-inspired Indie Pop record. It's gentle and polite, unlike every album they've done since. ''Primal Scream'', influenced by Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}} and Music/{{MC5}}, is also very unlike the Indie Rock/Psychedelia/Dance hybrid music they became known for, though they've recorded two albums since that try to do the straightforward Rock sound correctly.[[note]]''Give Out But Don't Give Up'' and ''Riot City Blues''[[/note]]
68	* {{Foil}}: Primal Scream were this to Music/DepecheMode on the latter's 1994 when they were a supporting band for DM.
69	* GenreRoulette: ''More Light'' jumps from dance-rock to psychedelic rock, shoegazing, RapRock, and back again.
70	* HouseMusic: Blended house with rock and psychedelia on ''Screamadelica''.
71	* {{Instrumentals}}: "Inner Flight" from ''Screamadelica'', "Struttin'" from ''Give Out'', "Get Duffy", "If They Move Kill 'Em" (though featuring spoken word samples), and "Trainspotting" from ''Vanishing Point'', "Blood Money" and "MBV Arkestra" from ''XTRMNTR'', and "A Scanner Darkly" from ''Evil Heat''. There are also many instrumental non-album/bonus tracks, such as "Screamadelica" and "Time of the Assassins".
72	* NewSoundAlbum: Every one:
73	** ''Primal Scream'' moved from gentle jangle pop to loud garage rock.
74	** ''Screamadelica'' was a full-on rock/house/dub/psychedelia hybrid.
75	** ''Give Out But Don't Give Up'' tried straightforward traditional rock.
76	** ''Music/VanishingPoint'' took trip hop and industrial influences.
77	** ''XTRMNTR'' introduced a hybrid of industrial, dance, and noise rock.
78	** ''Evil Heat'' took more influence from industrial, noise rock, and techno.
79	** ''Riot City Blues'' tried the rock thing again.
80	** ''Beautiful Future'' combined their electronic side with their bubblegum roots and krautrock influences.
81	** ''More Light'' returned to the psychedelic/rock/dance hybrid, with a greater focus on individual songs.
82	* OutOfGenreExperience: "Pills" and "Culturecide" are RapRock songs.
83	* RearrangeTheSong:
84	** They turned "Slip Inside This House" into a pounding, psychedelic dance song and "Motörhead" into a full-on industrial song.
85	** "Loaded" is Andrew Weatherall's remix of their earlier song "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have", turning the original rock ballad into unrecognizable dance-rock.
86	** "MBV Arkestra" is a noisier, industrial rework of "If They Move, Kill Em" produced by Kevin Shields of Music/MyBloodyValentine.
87	* SelfTitledAlbum
88	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: The band gained a reputation as chemical dustbins during the ''Screamadelica'' period. This was not helped by an interview in ''Q'' magazine (a big-selling British monthly) which listed everything consumed at an after-party on the tour. While promoting ''Give Out'', Bobby Gillespie said of this time "Some of us got a wee bit ill."
89	* ShoutOut:
90	** "Movin' on Up" borrows lyrics from "Yoo Doo Right" by Can.
91	** "[[Film/VanishingPoint Kowalski... vanishing point... Kowalski... vanishing point... vanishing poooooooooint...]]"
92	* SiameseTwinSongs: "Higher Than the Sun" and "Higher Than the Sun (A Dub Symphony in Two Parts)" on ''Music/{{Screamadelica}}'', even though the latter is a remix of the former.
93	** This also happens on ''XTRMNTR'' with the Jagz Kooner and Music/TheChemicalBrothers mixes of "Swastika Eyes".
94	* SpokenWordInMusic:
95	** "Loaded" begins with a clip from the film ''Film/TheWildAngels'' in which Creator/PeterFonda declares that all he and his friends want is to "be free to do what we want to do" and "get loaded."
96	** "Come Together" samples Jesse Jackson' speech from ''Film/{{Wattstax}}'' "those are all just labels, we know music is music"
97	** "Kill All Hippies" from ''XTRMNTR'' samples ''Film/OutOfTheBlue'', where the character Gorgeous transmits her thesis
98	-->Punk is not sexual, it's just aggression\
99	[[HollywoodCB 10-4 old buddies]], destroy, Kill All Hippies
100	* TextlessAlbumCover: ''Screamadelica'', ''Give Out'' and ''More Light''.
101	%%* WatchItStoned: The band's viewpoint in the past.

Context Music / PrimalScream