Primal Scream

[IdleRich]

Today I read this tragic essay by the son of Martin Duffy who was the keyboard player of Primal Scream until he died in December last year.

The gist of the story is that although he was a founder member with song-writing credits on some of the early albums, at some point Gillespie and Innes pushed him out of the band proper and relegated him to being a session musician and employee with the result that while they were pocketing millions and swanning around with Kate Moss banging on about workers rights, he was scraping by on being paid an amount for each gig. When the lockdown meant they couldn't tour he couldn't meet his mortgage and fell into an alcoholic depression, the rest of the band did absolutely fuck all to help him, even selling the rights to albums he'd part written and giving him nothing - the manager advised him not to sue - disappearing with their millions from the same band that left him broke after thirty years service. They were not to be seen until he died when predictably they gave moving testaments to their beloved soul brother and revered musician.

There was a load more but in short it was a horrible story of greed, bullying, hypocrisy etc etc that confirmed Gillespie is just as much of a wanker as you always thought.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Funny echo around here, Rich.

 

[jenks]

Rick Wright ended up being 'employed' by the Floyd throughout the 90s and 00s- something to do with not being allowed to re-become a member of PF again after he walked out when The Wall was finished. Seems somewhat shabby when seen from the outside

 

[okzharp]

I did shifts in a pub called Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm for a bit ages ago, Primal Scream and all their accolytes would come in and do drugs in the loos and all their kids would be in the room upstairs with a child minder. Bobby Gillespie was the worst kind of slack-jawed moron. He and Kate Moss once asked me for two jack and cokes with two ice cubes. The ice cubes had melted a bit so were small, so I put three in because the three small ice cubes roughly equated to two normal sized ice cubes, but they got all shirty with me and insisted I make new ones with only two ice cubes.

 

[shakahislop]

it's obviously hard to know what's going on from the outside. but the CD era of the industry (ie the pre-streaming era) seems to have been particularly abusive and unfair to the musicians involved. he sounds like a bellend from ozkharp's story and rich's story. at the same time there's another layer to it, which is that the music industry-media-etc assemblage was structured in a way that let him get away with that kind of contractual and distributional arrangement, as well as a broader structure of feeling in the 90s where being a boozy mouthy cokehead was celebrated. that shit in retrospect looks temporary and is comprehensively over. i'm pretty convinced that the media environment created these kinds of personalities, or at least encouraged these tendancies. although at its heart the story you tell rich is about greed, about liking being a millionaire and being willing to do bad shit to stay that way.

 

[martin]

Today I read this tragic essay by the son of Martin Duffy who was the keyboard player of Primal Scream until he died in December last year.

The music biz is a filthy, squalid midden of bloated liggers, vampiric pederasts and decrepit old pissers, and makes your average gang of car ringers look like the Knights of Malta. So I'm not surprised.
That said, why did he stick around to be treated like shit? Especially in Primal Scream, FFS.

 

[IdleRich]

Funny echo around here, Rich.

Did someone else write bring this up?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Did someone else write bring this up?

You had duplicate threads but sufi must have zapped the other one.

 

[thirdform]

kate moss sounds like @malelesbian 's type, perhaps you'd want to go on a balearic or indie forum to attempt to court her? We've got too many high standards over here!

 

[IdleRich]

The music biz is a filthy, squalid midden of bloated liggers, vampiric pederasts and decrepit old pissers, and makes your average gang of car ringers look like the Knights of Malta. So I'm not surprised.
That said, why did he stick around to be treated like shit? Especially in Primal Scream, FFS.

Sounded as though he was just the weakest one and he had noone to back him up when forced out, nowhere else to go. Also was poorly advised cos the people who should have helped him had a stronger allegiance to the other guys in the band. So he just carried on as well as he could.

 

[william_kent]

going to cross post here because I spent LITERALLY minutes transcribing this for the real, original, Primal Scream thread (* timestamp is proof ):

• Today at 8:14 AM

there was an Oasis documentary on BBC2 where Noel had this to say:

When Oasis signed to Creation in '94 they took us to the warehouse where all the...
...
[ long pause punctuated by Noel's laboured breathing while he searches for the words ]
...
their stock is.

And they, err, said "You can go in and choose anything you want".
And we all started laughing, we were just like..."we've already got Screamadelica".
The rest of it's shit, you know...
who wants a BMX Bandits 12 inch?
The first thing Bobby Gillespie said to me, which I'll never forget, which I thought "what a fucking odd thing to say" was,
um...
"This is Noel from Oasis"
"Oh, right, right, right"
And the first thing he said was...
"What's your favourite Bob Marley B-side?"
And I thought, "Really?"
Fuck Off.
You know what I mean?
Fuck. Off.
...
And, err, someone handed me a guitar, like, and he said, [ Noel chuckles], "Play me your favourite song"
and I played him "This Guy's In Love with You" by Burt Bacharach.
He didn't fucking say much after that.
And we were firm friends ever since.


and for posterity, because the original, real, thread will probably get deleted, or wither on the vine ,here is @Dusty's post as well:

Yeah, never liked that weasily little scrote. Just looked like he'd steal your nans purse the moment you turned your back on him. Seems gut instinct was right.

 

[malelesbian]

kate moss sounds like @malelesbian 's type, perhaps you'd want to go on a balearic or indie forum to attempt to court her? We've got too many high standards over here!

You're saying I should pursue a supermodel, and this is an insult how exactly?

 

[version]

Bobby Gillespie was the worst kind of slack-jawed moron.

He's toe curling in interviews. Someone very consciously trying to come across like a rockstar.

 

[version]

I like how Bobby's trying to be all cool and aloof in that interview and Mani's ruining it by actually enjoying himself and shouting about stabbing hippies and Patti Smith having hairy armpits.

 

[william_kent]

alternate timeline

 

[Corpsey]

I just wanna get loaded
And do what I wanna do

 

[william_kent]

alternate timeline

I just wanna get loaded
And do what I wanna do

Weatherall, r.i.p.


primal scream - loaded - WEATHERALL

doesn't count

strictly an Andy WEATHERALL production

do you think Bobby would "check" for congas?

no way

( are congas rock n' roll ? NOT in the Bobbyverse , the scream hated this* )

* until it earned them bags of brown

edit: only decent tune from the big PS lp,**** all the other tunes are shite, trust me....( I'm a conga aficionado)

**** edit: I've never actually heard a primal scream lp, but I can guess, we all know it'll be shite

 

[mind_philip]

Shite band. In the 90s they were dance music for people too apprehensive to dance and rock music for people too fixated on the present to just listen to the Stones.

 

[thirdform]

You're saying I should pursue a supermodel, and this is an insult how exactly?

not an insult, no, not at all. But we are zealots here. the prospect of a celeb fuck is old hat for us. been there, done that. Like I said, you need to speak to @Corpsey

 

[william_kent]

not an insult, no, not at all. But we are zealots here. the prospect of a celeb fuck is old hat for us. been there, done that. Like I said, you need to speak to @Corpsey

so many dudes I can ask about how was "Chole", etc.,

jaded...