Bobby Gilliespie autobiography review in Guardian

[maett]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/15/tenement-kid-by-bobby-gillespie-piquantly-preposterous

Found this amusing as I'm not a fan of the man.  I love Screamadelica and find anything else Primal Scream did to be embarrassing. Gillespie's constant harping on about being working class is pretty tedious, too. If not for Andrew Weatherall the chancer would have a public profile no higher than that of David Gedge.

[Better Midlands]

I love Screamadelica and find anything else Primal Scream did to be embarrassing uninteresting. If not for Andrew Weatherall the chancer would have a public profile no higher than that of David Gedge.

Pretty much how I feel too.

[Custard]

I do find Gillespie cringeworthy and embarrassing, but I think Vanishing Point and XTMNR are absolutely fantastic records. Will never read this though, as he's a bit of a welly top.

They can use this in depth review on the book jacket if they want

[gilbertharding]

Nothing much to add - except that the review is fantastically, hilariously withering. I'd like to see Taylor Parkes' write it up.

I quite liked the Primal Scream when they decided they were going to be the MC5 for a few months... 

[jamiefairlie]

I want at least three chapters about his time in The Wake, care fuck all about the rest.

[Kankurette]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/15/tenement-kid-by-bobby-gillespie-piquantly-preposterous

Found this amusing as I'm not a fan of the man.  I love Screamadelica and find anything else Primal Scream did to be embarrassing. Gillespie's constant harping on about being working class is pretty tedious, too. If not for Andrew Weatherall the chancer would have a public profile no higher than that of David Gedge.

His wedding was in Cheshire Life, he's a fine one to talk about class traitors.

I did like Xtrmntr but looking back, Primal Scream being touted as the new fucking Rage Against the Machine was a bit cringey. I remember a Select feature (they had their tongues permanently rammed up his hole) where he rated musicians on how 'white' (ie crap) or 'black (ie good) they were. Despite being white himself.

[holyzombiejesus]

His wedding was in Cheshire Life, he's a fine one to talk about class traitors.

He sent his kid to boarding school too.

[SweetPomPom]

Always baffled me how he's part of that schmoozy Cocker, Cave social circle when he's always struck me as an absolute personality  vacuum who fluked and faked it all the way.

3 or 4 decent ones on Screamadelica but that's all. Dull live band too.

[Seedsy]

As already stated, Vanishing Point and XTRMTR are fantastic, and better records than screamadelica in my humble

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Never really noticed whether he's a total wanksnap. XTRMNTR is fucking mint though.

[turnstyle]

As already stated, Vanishing Point and XTRMTR are fantastic, and better records than screamadelica in my humble

Agreed.

I had a very long hiatus from Primal Scream after Evil Heat (which felt like an attempt to replicate XTRMNTR but without the charm). I dipped into some recent stuff out of interest, and to me it sounded like Jeremy and Super Hans' band. Embarrassing. I don't know if Primal Scream have got shitter or I've got older - I suspect both in equal measure.

[Johnboy]

He's on 6music right now filling in for iggy pop

Playing some good stuff

[maett]

He's on 6music right now filling in for iggy pop

Playing some good stuff

I'll say that for him he did have a good record collection. I remember either Vox or Select gave a away a cassette mix he'd made back in early 90s and also before that so much had been made about his record collection that Mikii Berenyi joked about taking it on tour as it would guarantee bums on seats.

[gilbertharding]

Thanks to Daf's Toppermost thread, I caught PRMLSCRM playing Brown Sugar on the Zoe Balls Buckfast Show.

Fucking hell.

[Kankurette]

"Bom the Pentagon is a song about my friend Bom who is a fluffy pentagon."

[holdover]

I love me some Screamadelica, Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR. But he's a real embarrassment to himself. There's a hilarious bit in the documentary about the creation of Give Out... where he says it got terrible reviews from the British press because "they hate black music"

[jobotic]

I'm sure he has the coolest records and is eager to tell everyone that, but Primal Scream's version of Some Velvet Morning indicates that he should have it taken away from him immediately.

[phantom_power]

It is funny that nowadays their biggest song, apart from Loaded possibly, is Country Girl, which is the laziest Stones rip-off shite you could ever hear.

His record collection may be cool but it is a bit too cool isn't it? Anyone who doesn't have the odd Dollar or Kooks album or whatever in their collection just looks like a poser

[Pauline Walnuts]

He's a bit of Julian Cope, someone I'd rather hear their record collection than their records.

[Das Reboot]

Nothing much to add - except that the review is fantastically, hilariously withering. I'd like to see Taylor Parkes' write it up.

I'm hoping that Primal Scream will eventually be covered by Chart Music someday. Kulkarni has mentioned his derision in passing before and I'd wager that Price isn't a fan either.

Boringly, I'm another Vanishing Point / XTRMNTR fanboy. At the time I tried to convince myself that Evil Heat was a worthy successor, but no. The penny finally dropped with Country Girl.

To my eternal shame, I also bought this:



Fucking dreadful book, I gave up about a third of the way in.

[phes]

A friend messaged to ask if I wanted to go see PS playing Screamadelica. It's already hard enough getting into the mindspace to immerse myself in screamadelica the way I did in the 90s. That would permanently end it for me.

[Kankurette]

I love me some Screamadelica, Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR. But he's a real embarrassment to himself. There's a hilarious bit in the documentary about the creation of Give Out... where he says it got terrible reviews from the British press because "they hate black music"

Bobby Gillespie is white though.

Speaking of Kulkarni:

Gillespie is a good magpie which is a skill in itself. I mean I kind of want to tip my hat to him simply for sustaining his bullshit for so long. But he shouldn't kid himself he's an important artist or a musician. He's an aggregator unable to inject any persona/anything unique into these endless displays of his immaculate taste because he genuinely only exists in the spaces between the things he owns.

[dissolute ocelot]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/15/tenement-kid-by-bobby-gillespie-piquantly-preposterous

Found this amusing as I'm not a fan of the man.  I love Screamadelica and find anything else Primal Scream did to be embarrassing. Gillespie's constant harping on about being working class is pretty tedious, too. If not for Andrew Weatherall the chancer would have a public profile no higher than that of David Gedge.

I was amused when this was advertised in the Guardian with the screaming headline "I grew up in a tenement!" as though it's some kind of Angela's Ashes living in a skip and eating garbage. Living in a tenement is completely unexceptional even for middle-class Scottish people, particularly (as with Gillespie) for your early childhood when your parents have less money before they move to East Kilbride, and I'll wager there are even more mildly bohemian hipsters like Bobby's parents in tenements now than in his day. Some tenement flats are fucking expensive too.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Even his face is annoying.

[Cuntbeaks]

Even his face is annoying.

Face like a slapped arse, the whining chancer.

[Pauline Walnuts]

I was amused when this was advertised in the Guardian with the screaming headline "I grew up in a tenement!" as though it's some kind of Angela's Ashes living in a skip and eating garbage. Living in a tenement is completely unexceptional even for middle-class Scottish people.

Speaking as someone who once lived in a Tenement, for about 3 months, it's the like saying you were working class because you once lived in a terraced house.

[PaulTMA]

Loaded is such a boring song

Preordered the audiobook the other day

[kngen]

I was amused when this was advertised in the Guardian with the screaming headline "I grew up in a tenement!" as though it's some kind of Angela's Ashes living in a skip and eating garbage. Living in a tenement is completely unexceptional even for middle-class Scottish people, particularly (as with Gillespie) for your early childhood when your parents have less money before they move to East Kilbride, and I'll wager there are even more mildly bohemian hipsters like Bobby's parents in tenements now than in his day. Some tenement flats are fucking expensive too.

It was in Springburn though, so it wasn't like he was poncing it up in Hyndland or Park Circus. Then again, I grew up in a tenement in Maryhill (for a bit), so ...eh ... Fleeto ya bass!

[imitationleather]

Speaking as someone who once lived in a Tenement, for about 3 months, it's the like saying you were working class because you once lived in a terraced house.

The singer from forgotten 2004 indie landfill band The Others claimed exactly this. (He was in an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks once.)

As I was living in a tower block on the worst estate in Tower Hamlets, where I'd lived all my life up to that point, it made me think his overall credentials may leave a bit to be desired.

[Kankurette]

My dad lived in a tenement too, big fucking deal, he doesn't bang on about it. Admittedly, it's because he's dead, but still.