The band released eleven studio albums so far: the indie pop Sonic Flower Groove (1987), the indie rock Primal Scream (1989), the alternative rock/acid house Screamadelica (1991), the classic rock Give Out But Don't Give Up (1994), the alternative rock/electronic Vanishing Point (1997), the alternative rock/industrial rock XTRMNTR (2000) and Evil Heat (2002), the classic rock Riot City Blues (2006), the alternative rock Beautiful Future (2008), the experimental/psychedelic rock More Light (2013), and the synthpop/dance Chaosmosis (2016).
They also released the compilation albums Echo Dek (1997), Dirty Hits (2003) and Shoot Speed (More Dirty Hits) (2004), Give Out But Don’t Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings (2018), Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Singles (2019), The Screamadelica 12” Singles (2021), Reverberations: Travelling in Time (2023), the live albums Live in Japan (2003) , Screamadelica - Live (2011) and Live at Levitation (2021).
History:
While attending Kings Park Secondary School in Glasgow, Bobby Gillespie met Robert 'Throb' Young and Alan McGee. Gillespie and McGee were heavily influenced by punk rock. In 1978, they joined a local punk band, The Drains, where Andrew Innes was the guitarist. After The Drains disbanded, McGee and Innes relocated to London, while Gillespie chose to remain in Glasgow.
In 1982, Bobby Gillespie and another school friend Jim Beattie recorded "elemental noise tapes", in which Gillespie would bang two dustbin lids together and Beattie played fuzz-guitar. They soon moved on to Velvet Underground and The Byrds cover songs before starting to write their own songs, based on Jah Wobble and Peter Hook basslines. They named themselves Primal Scream, a term used to describe a cry heard in primal therapy. Their first recording session, for McGee's independent label Essential Records, was a single track entitled "The Orchard". Beattie later claimed that they burned the master tape.
After the aborted recording, Gillespie joined The Jesus and Mary Chain as their drummer, and alternated between both bands. Soon Gillespie and Beattie expanded Primal Scream's lineup to include Robert Young on bass, rhythm guitarist Stuart May, drummer Tom McGurk, and tambourine player Martin St. John. This lineup was signed to Creation Records, an independent record label founded by Alan McGee, and recorded the group's debut single, "All Fall Down".
After the release of the single, Gillespie was told by The Jesus and the Mary Chain leaders William and Jim Reid that he was to either dissolve Primal Scream to join the Mary Chain full-time or resign and Gillespie chose to remain with Primal Scream. The B-side "Velocity Girl" of the single "Crystal Crescent", was released on the C86 compilation. The band switched to Alan McGee's Elevation Records.
After some lineup changes, Primal Scream's debut album Sonic Flower Groove was released in September 1987. The album reached number 62 on the British charts and received poor reviews. The backlash from the album caused internal strife within the band and another change in lineup.
The band's re-signed to Creation Records and released their first single in two years, "Ivy, Ivy, Ivy", followed in 4 September 1989 by their sophomore album, Primal Scream. The band's new indie rock sound was met with poor reviews. The album featured Felt keyboardist Martin Duffy guesting.
The band were first introduced to the acid house scene by McGee in 1988. The band met up with DJ Andrew Weatherall at a rave, and he was given a copy of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have", a track from Primal Scream album, to remix for one of his shows. Weatherall added a drum loop from an Italian bootleg mix of Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians's "What I Am", a sample of Gillespie singing a line from Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" and the central introductory sample from the Peter Fonda B-movie The Wild Angels. The resulting track, "Loaded", became the band's first major hit, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. This was followed by another single, "Come Together", which reached number 19.
The band entered the studio with Weatherall, Hugo Nicholson, The Orb, and Jimmy Miller producing, and Martin Duffy now full time on keyboards. They released two more singles, "Higher Than the Sun" and "Don't Fight It, Feel It", both of which were successful. Their third album, Screamadelica, was released in the October 1991 to ecstatic reviews. The album was also a massive commercial success, reaching number 8 on the UK charts. The album won the first Mercury Music Prize, beating Gillespie's former band, The Jesus and Mary Chain.
In March 1994, Primal Scream released their fourth album, Give Out But Don't Give Up to mixed reviews. Whereas some praised the band's new The Rolling Stones-influenced sound, some dismissed the album as tired and drawing too heavily on their influences. The album was preceded by the successful single "Rocks". It was the band's highest charting single to date, reaching number 7 on the UK charts. "Rocks" was followed by the singles "Jailbird" and "(I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind".
Primal Scream also supported Depeche Mode on their American tour. After a short hiatus, the band returned with a new lineup. The bassist Gary 'Mani' Mounfield joined Primal Scream after break-up of his previous band, The Stone Roses and Paul Mulreany was added as their new drummer.
In July 1997, Primal Scream released their fifth album, Vanishing Point. It received almost unanimously positive reviews upon release and revitalized the band's commercial viability. The music on the album had a complex shoegazing dance/dub rhythm, harking back to the crossover success of Screamadelica, but sounding significantly darker. Some songs on the album were inspired by 1971 cult film Vanishing Point; Gillespie said that they wanted to create an alternative soundtrack for the film. Three singles supported the album: "Kowalski", "Star" and "Burning Wheel".
Before a short supporting tour scheduled to begin in July, Mulraney left the band and they were forced to use a drum machine. In October 1997, Primal Scream released Echo Dek, a collection of alternative mixes/remixes from Vanishing Point with the bulk of mixes done by Adrian Sherwood. Later that year Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) joined the band on tour, and would have a major influence over their sound in the next few years.
In 31 January 2000, Primal Scream released their sixth studio album, XTRMNTR. The album featured mulitiple guest appearances, including The Chemical Brothers, New Order's Bernard Sumner, and former My Bloody Valentine guitarist Kevin Shields, who had become a semi-permanent member. Three singles supported the album: "Swastika Eyes" (#22 UK), "Kill All Hippies" (#24 UK) and "Accelerator" (#34 UK). The XTRMNTR's political content was well received, with Allmusic calling it a "nasty, fierce realization of an entire world that has... lost the plot". In 2009 NME charted XTRMNTR at #3 in The Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade.
XTRMNTR was followed by Evil Heat, released in 5 August 2002. Kevin Shields produced several tracks and Andrew Weatherall produced three tracks, his first work with the band since Vanishing Point. Kate Moss sang professionally for the first time with single "Some Velvet Morning", a version of the Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song. The album also featured another guest appearance, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. In November 2003, they issued the compilation album Dirty Hits.
Primal Scream returned in 5 June 2006 with their seventh studio album, Riot City Blues. On this album, the band leaves its electronic element behind and returns to more traditional rock. The album features Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) on "When the Bomb Drops", Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three) on "Hell's Coming Down" and Alison Mosshart (The Kills) performing backing vocals on "Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)". The first single, "Country Girl", became the band's highest charting in their career (#5 in the UK Charts). In 2007 they signed B-Unique Records.
In 21 July 2008, the band released Beautiful Future, their ninth studio album. The album featured a return to alternative rock and it was promoted by the single "Can't Go Back", produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John) and Paul Epworth. The album features guest appearances from Lovefoxxx (of Cansei de Ser Sexy), Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age) and folk singer Linda Thompson.
After touring seminal album Screamadelica for most of 2011, on 18 October 2011 Mani revealed he had left the band due to the reformation of his original band The Stone Roses. In April 2012 it was announced that Debbie Googe of (My Bloody Valentine) replaced Mani as the bass player of the band. Later in 2012, Simone Butler became the band’s bassist.
The band's tenth album, More Light, was released in May 2013 on the band's own label, First International, via Ignition Records. The new album was produced by David Holmes, who confirmed the release on his Facebook page on 11 January 2013. The first track taken from the album is "2013" with a music video directed by Rei Nadal. The first single proper is "It's Alright, It's OK", which was played in the UK by both BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music, as well as supported by leading alternative music stations XFM and Absolute Radio.
The album features guest appearances from The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart, My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant.
The band’s eleventh album Chaosmosis was released on 18 March 2016. The album features guest appearances from young singers Sky Ferreira and HAIM.
The band has released several compilation albums since 2018: Give Out But Don’t Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings (2018), Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Singles (2019), The Screamadelica 12” Singles (2021), and Reverberations: Travelling in Time (2023).
In 2021, Bobby Gillespie released his memoir, Tenement Kid. The book intimately describes Gillespie’s life and musical career from his birth up to the release of the classic album Screamadelica in 1991.
On 18 December 2022, Primal Scream annnounced on their official Instagram account that the band’s longtime keyboardist Martin Duffy tragically died at the age of 55. The cause of death was given as a brain injury suffered after a fall at home in Brighton.
Band members:
Bobby Gillespie (vocals)
Andrew Innes (guitars)
Simone Butler (bass)
Darrin Mooney (drums)
Former band members:
Jim Beattie (guitars)
Robert "Throb" Young (guitars, bass)
Gary "Mani" Mounfield (bass)
Denise Johnson (vocals)
Paul Mulraney (drums)
Paul Harte (rhythm guitar)
Stuart May (rhythm guitar)
Gavin Skinner (drums)
Tom McGurk (drums)
Martin St. John (tambourine)
Henry Olsen (bass)
Phillip 'Toby' Tomanov (drums)
Jim Hunt
Duncan Mackay
Steve Sidelnyk
Martin Duffy (keyboards)
Debbie Googe (bass)
Barrie Cadogan (guitars)
Official site: www.primalscream.net
Silent Spring
Primal Scream Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A flaming fortress, hunting prey
A feathered bird...flower dies
The flowers die
My knife has turned on life itself
My skin is bathed in poison rain
A room right on an empty shelf
[Chorus]
All the time in the world
And you never changed a thing
All the time in the world
And you stood back and watched
The silent spring, silent spring
The hovering of every breath
A legacy of decay infests ...
Mother earth, Mother earth
[Chorus x 2]
Silent spring
Primal Scream's "Silent Spring" is a mournful, yet powerful, commentary on human beings' destruction of the natural world. The song touches on themes of environmentalism, and the consequences of neglecting our planet's health. The first verse of the song is focused on the state of birds, who cannot live or function in a world that has been destroyed by the very humans that occupy it. The birds are cursed, and their natural habitats are replaced with flaming fortresses that hunt and consume those who cannot protect themselves. The metaphorical comparison to a feathered bird is the flower dying, a reflection of how the natural world is being destroyed bit by bit.
The second verse of the song builds on this idea, as the singer reflects on how their own actions have contributed to the destruction. The knife that was once used to sustain life, has now turned against life itself, and the skin is now being bathed in poison rain due to man-made pollutants that have been released into the atmosphere. The emptiness of the room, and the shelf, reflect the emptiness and loss that fills the natural world as more and more living organisms are depleted due to human actions.
The chorus of the song reflects on the fact that there is "all the time in the world", yet people still do not choose to change their ways, and therefore continue to destroy the planet they live on. The silent spring is a symbol of the absence of life and the devastation that is still yet to come if actions aren't taken soon. The song concludes with a powerful final phrase, "Mother earth, mother earth" as a reminder to those who listen that the planet is a living organism, and not just a place where we live.
Line by Line Meaning
If all the birds have cursed the sky
The birds have stopped singing and essentially given up on life due to the corrupted sky caused by human activity.
A flaming fortress, hunting prey
The world has become overrun with destruction and violence, symbolized by a fortress on fire and hunting down innocent victims.
A feathered bird...flower dies
Even the small and seemingly insignificant things such as flowers and birds are affected and dying due to the destruction of their environment.
The flowers die
The beauty and life of nature is disappearing before our eyes.
My knife has turned on life itself
Human actions are ultimately causing harm and destruction to not only nature but to ourselves as well.
My skin is bathed in poison rain
The consequences of our actions are affecting us directly and causing harm to our own bodies and health.
A room right on an empty shelf
The world may seem full of material possessions and superficial pleasures, but in reality, it is empty and lacking in true substance and purpose.
Empty shelf
The emptiness and lack of fulfillment present in society and our own lives.
[Chorus]
The repetition of the same phrase emphasizes the idea that despite having all the time in the world to change our ways and improve the environment, we have done nothing and simply watched as it all falls apart.
The hovering of every breath
Our actions have caused a sense of uncertainty and fear for the future of our planet and ourselves.
A legacy of decay infests...
A lasting impact of destruction and decay has taken hold of the world and will continue to cause harm for generations to come.
Mother earth, Mother earth
Nature is personified as a motherly figure, reminding us of our duty to protect and care for her as we would our own mothers.
[Chorus x 2]
The repetition of the chorus further emphasizes the message that despite having the power to make a difference, we have chosen to do nothing and simply let the world fall apart around us.
Silent spring
The title and repetition of this phrase refers to the book by Rachel Carson that helped inspire the environmental movement and highlights the idea that without action, the natural world will be destroyed and become silent, devoid of life.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ALLAN PAUL SHATKIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Dawnnem
Sat at Bobby’s feet at Glasgow rooftop, best gig ever. ❤
@scottmcneil1150
Thanks for the link guys, great sounds, I grew up in Glasgow around that scene. Copy of reverberations purchased. All the best
@AntonioNova-hd7ub
A rough diamond that after some polishing became a beautiful jewel of pop music.
@arkngt
Actually, I much prefer this version.
@MannyMarr
This is better than the first album version
@jayTheMightyRoadflower
... wit a TUNE- Big Jim’s guitarin’ was great in that era- great alternative version! sending gidvibes to all...
@PrimitiveInTheExtreme
🎧▶🎶🌈
@thevoid99
how come this isn't on apple music? where's "evil heat"? the entirety of "riot city blues", and "echo dek"?
@primalscreamofficial
It will be released digitally towards the end of the summer.
@honourthefire9182
Still keeping quiet about your cruel treatment of Duff.
Your weak people Primal Scream with no values, apart from greed.