Primal Scream

Although he was already the drummer in the Jesus and Mary Chain, Bobby Gillespie formed Primal Scream in 1984 but left the aforementioned band after Primal Scream's debut single "All Fall Down" was released in 1985. The jangly debut album Sonic Flower Groove (1987) featured the band's longstanding lineup although a revolving door of musicians came on board and left through the group's evolution. Their original sound paid off with second album Primal Scream in 1989, featuring 1990 single "Loaded." With the explosion of acid house, Andrew Weatherall gave some of Primal Scream's songs a remix, stretching the boundaries of dance-rock with "Come Together" and "Higher Than The Sun." 1991's Screamadelica pushed the band firmly into the limelight, winning them the Mercury Music Prize in 1992, although follow-up albums suffered from such a shining star. Amid rumours of drug abuse, the band kept a low profile for the next few years before storming back with 1997's Vanishing Point. The new millennium saw the band back in vogue with Exterminator which was filled with anti-capitalist rage, and again mixed up genres with aplomb. A darker sound followed with 2002's Evil Heat and, in between baiting gatherers at 2005's Glastonbury festival, Primal Scream still managed to draw in its fans thanks to the likes of 2006's Riot City Blues and 2008's Beautiful Future. They returned in 2013 to get things going again with More Light, featuring a cameo from Gun Club singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and followed it up three years later with Chaosmosis. In 2021, Bobby Gillespie teamed up with Jehnny Beth to record the album Utopian Ashes while Primal Scream made another comeback eight years later with the David Holmes-produced Come Ahead, featuring long-running member Andrew Innes on synthesizer and bassist Simone Butler contributing spoken word.

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