Tenement Kid

by Bobby Gillespie

Fizzing with an infectious passion for the magic of rock music, Gillespie’s vivid and evocative memoir traces the Primal Scream frontman’s path from Glasgow tenement to the release of Screamadelica, the psychedelic masterpiece that ushered in the 90s.

Tenement Kid is Bobby Gillespie's story up to the recording and release of the album that has been credited with 'starting the 90's', Screamadelica.

Born into a working class Glaswegian family in the summer of 1961, Bobby's memoirs begin in the district of Springburn, soon to be evacuated in Edward Heath's brutal slum clearances.

Leaving school at 16 and going to work as a printers' apprentice, Bobby's rock n roll epiphany arrives like a bolt of lightning shining from Phil Lynott's mirrored pickguard at his first gig at the Apollo in Glasgow. Filled with 'the holy spirit of rock n roll' his destiny is sealed with the arrival of the Sex Pistols and punk rock which to Bobby, represents an iconoclastic vision of class rebellion and would ultimately lead to him becoming an artist initially in the Jesus and Mary Chain then in Primal Scream.

Structured in four parts, Tenement Kid builds like a breakbeat crescendo to the final quarter of the book, the Summer of Love, Boys Own parties, and the fateful meeting with Andrew Weatherall in an East Sussex field. As the '80s bleed into the '90s and a new kind of electronic soul music starts to pulse through the nation's consciousness, Primal Scream become the most innovative British band of the new decade, representing a new psychedelic vanguard taking shape at Creation Records.

Ending with the release of Screamadelica and the tour that followed in the autumn, Tenement Kid is a book filled with the joy and wonder of a rock n roll apostle who would radically reshape the future sounds of fin de siecle British pop. Published thirty years after the release of their masterpiece, Bobby Gillespie's memoir cuts a righteous path through a decade lost to Thatcherism and saved by acid house.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Memoir, Scotland, Pop Culture

412 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2021

Reviews

[Dave Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get your rocks off!

This is simply the best rock biography I've read in a long time.
Learned a lot. I wished I'd spoken to Bobby about music at school, I thought the only thing we had in common was a love of Glasgow Celtic.
Initially the book describes the Glasgow of my youth, a beautifully detailed trip. Part two is a musical journey and provides a guide to the 80s music scene. Nice mention for my old DJ mate Tam Coyle.
A cracking read strap on the acid goggles enjoy. I look forward to the sequel.

[Jim Mcmanus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine Rik from the Young Ones was in a band. And he hated "straights" and then he wrote a book. and took drugs and drugs and drugs.

The early part around Glasgow was interesting as I knew some of the people mentioned from when I worked in a record shop also mentioned in the book.

Did nobody fact check this book. Page 1 Bobby is ripping into the fact that his local area is being torn down due to Edward Heath's policies in the late 60's.

Heath was elected in 1970.

oh and Bobby took drugs as well.

[Stephen Crichton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a touch laboured in points with politics. We get it, you’re a socialist! Despite this, an interesting read for those interested in Scottish culture and British music- everything from working class life in 70’s Glasgow, to the Stones, Beatles, Pistols, Roses, Mondays, the Chain, McGee and Noel Gallagher.

[Michael Legge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shame he dies in the end.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent read. Bobby Gillespie has a career in the music biz stretching back 40 years and explains his influences and experiences with an infectious enthusiasm. His memories of his days as a music fan from the mid-70s onwards are fascinating and his description of the magnanimous support offered by people such as Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin and Peter Hook are heart-warming. And if you ever needed a reminder of the inate decency of Joe Strummer towards his fan base, Gillespie offers an excellent example.
As someone who has been a member of several iconic bands (JAMC, Primal Scream, Altered Images...who knew!?), Gillespie generously gives credit to pivotal personalities such as Alan McGee, the Reid brothers, Andrew Weatherall etc.
One of my favourite aspects of the book is the detailed description of his early years in the Glasgow tenements and how that shaped his strong socialist belief. His obvious pride in his father's role as a union organiser is fascinating and helps to make this a valuable social history of Scotland in the post-war era.
Overall, a really engrossing book and well recommended.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bobby Gillespie has some great stories to tell about his life and his artistic journey up to the release of Primal Scream's album "Screamadelica." He comes off as a decent bloke, fun to be around but a bit impulsive. It was quite amazing how often his musical tastes matched mine and how we discovered certain genres around the same time in our lives. It is also the story of Western rock/pop and the roads leading to the explosions of grunge in America and BritPop in Europe. Bobby was there as a fan and as a performer and his take on the whole scene is a joy to read. It is only a wonder how much he remembers, considering his drug intake. I hope there is a sequel in the works.

[Lauren Gilmour · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a somewhat disappointing year of reads in 2022, 2023 has started with something I literally never wanted to end.

I'm not a big Primal Scream fan, I like a few of their tracks and I think they've done well for themselves but I wanted to read this because I admire Bobby Gillespie.

This is, by far, one of the best autobiographies I've read. Most follow a standard formula that gets boring after a while. But Gillespie's isn't just an autobiography. It follows his early life in Glasgow and where his political beliefs come from (his parents and his upbringing) which resonated with me a lot.

Then, not only does it follow Gillespie's journey to commercial success with Primal Scream, it's also a very accessible history of the UK's post punk scene which I found really interesting.

The thing that heartened me is that throughout the book, Gillespie's political outlook and beliefs never changed. He stays true to the principles he was brought up by in 1960s Glasgow.

A previous reviewer says Gillespie laboured too much on the politics - they miss the point of what he's about and why he ultimately pursued music.

This is an essential read both for the essential history of British music it provides and a scathing take down of the neoliberal political consensus.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of both the Jesus & Mary Chain and Primal Scream, so I had high hopes for this one.

It’s a great story but there are a few niggles with it:
• It’s way too long, so long that it ends at the release of “Screamadelica” in 1991. Primal Scream made a lot of records since then (some good ones, and some terrible ones) - I guess there’ll be a second volume, but for now the story is incomplete
• A decent edit wouldn’t go amiss - there are WAY too many descriptions of Bobby’s fashion sense; knowing what he wore to every single gig is not crucial to the narrative, and far too much time spent detailing various political events. Politics obviously played a big part in Gillespie’s life (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that) but a good editor would’ve trimmed about a third of this book and kept focus on the core story

All told, this is an enlightening source of information on BG himself, the JAMC, and Primal Scream, but feels like a missed opportunity to create something truly amazing. Shame.

[Brett Oaten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good in parts. Ultimately the drug taking - while not unexpected - gets pretty tedious. Overall a good read, but I would have been fine with 100 less pages

[Garth Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bobby's politics are right on, but jesus, his prose is turgid.

A+ content, C- execution.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bobby Gillespie sure seems like someone I want to to hang out with. Amazing how, despite living in Glasgow, he was into all the same stuff we were, ie. same garage compilations and bands like the 13th Floor Elevators (The first Primal Scream song I ever heard was their cover of "Slip Inside this House" on the Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye compilation album). He even made a pilgrimage to Midnight Records when he was in New York with the Jesus and Mary Chain. I could have run into him then.

Anyway, this popped up on my feed after the slightly disappointing bio of Jesus and Mary Chain (which was written by someone a lot younger who was not there). I thought Gillespie's recollections would be more humorous and detailed. I was not wrong. And he comes off as very well informed about politics -- probably from his dad who was a leader in the printer's union. He considered Margaret Thatcher to be almost as bad as Hitler.

Though at times, the band started to believe that they would never break through; they and their sound got a re-boot thanks to the Acid House movement which completely changed their direction. It sure makes me want to re-listen Screamadelica in its entirety which I will probably do at some point this weekend.

[Cee Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was so much of Bobby's young life resonated with me. I'm older by a few years and we grew up in different parts of the city (Glasgow) but the interests we had, the music we loved and just the places / events we'd go to were pretty similar.

The difference came when he became a music superstar and I ended up working in a bank.

Anyway - I really enjoy biographies / autobiographies, as I suspect many do, because we are inherently nosey. Added to that, I loved Jesus & Mary Chain music and Primal Scream, so it was interesting to read how the two bands dovetailed into the one story, which I found fascinating.

There was maybe a little too much made of how good the drugs were, and not enough of the long term effects on Bobby, but hey, that's rock 'n'roll and it was an integral part of the story so couldn't be ignored.

Altogether, a great read. And a great band. Two bands. Three if you count Altered Images.

Loved it.

[Tom Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glasgow, Music, Politics, Football/ Celtic - what’s not to like! Primal Scream are brilliant and this book captures Gillespie’s adventures in the music scene of the late 80s / early 90s!
A great social history, would have been 5* but the drug chat dragged a bit & bored me - wasn’t enough to spoil it though. A great read!

[Ilya Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take it from the man. Bobby G is at his best when writing about his musical and chemical influences. Kudos to him to make out alive out of Glasgow in 70’s - it was pretty grim up there it seems.

[Gary Fowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this at first. Bobby Gillespie tends to write from the perspective that the reader has zero knowledge of British society during the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90’s and as such presents already well accepted ideas as if they have just formed in his mind; Thatcher was bad, acid house is similar to punk etc.
However, once you grow used to both that and Gillespie’s tendency to smack the reader repeatedly over the head with his political views, (we get it; socialism - good, Tories - bad), the book really comes alive. Gillespie gives an honest insight into the world of the Scream. There’s enough detail to enthral, without becoming boring. He is pleasingly honest about his own failings too.
By the end of Tenement Kid I was ready for its follow up.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in 1994, when I was 15 years old, my only way of listening to new music was to listen to the radio on Sunday evening. There was a programme that would feature new and upcoming hits. As this was the Britpop era there was an emphasis on alternative/indie. One night in late February the DJ played a song called Rocks by a group called Primal Scream. I loved it and taped it as well when the show played it again the following week.

Later when I could finally afford music magazines, I started to learn more about Primal Scream’s importance to music, especially with their Screamadelica album. Slowly I went through their discography, although I stopped at Beautiful Future due to the fact that I saw them live and I was disappointed – lead singer Bobby Gillespie kept falling on the ground and the band were out of synch.

Anyway the reason behind this long-winded memory is because that Tenement Kid is Gillespie’s memoir and it documents his childhood, his stint in Altered Images and The Wake, the formation of Primal Scream , his drumming days with The Jesus and Mary Chain. The book ends on a cliff hanger with the band just finishing Screamadelica and waiting for the world’s reaction to the record.

Like all great autobiographies, it’s funny in places, honest and documents how rock became pushed aside to make room for Acid House. It’s also a depiction of working class Scotland ( I know all reading is political but politics does play a big role in Tenement Kid) and how one has to work hard in order to succeed. Gillespie takes us through all the highs and lows of his career and he provides a good laugh along the way.

The eternal question with rock bios is whther you need to know Primal Scream’s or JAMC’s first album Psychocandy in order to appreciate this autobiography – the answer is no. Gillespie takes the reader on a step by step process of everything and explains the roles all the characters have and what they are doing now. yet there’s a lot of interesting trivia for the Primal Scream fan – I never knew that Fugazi’s Ian Mackaye was part of Psychocandy’s recording process!

As this is a pretty debauched – well a lot of drug use – I can’t wait to see what the follow up will be like.

[Silvia Rojas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Menudo viaje me he pegado estos días leyendo a Gillepsie

Glasgow, el rock, la clase obrera, el punk, los Clash, la lucha, Jesus and Mary Chain, los tripis, discos, guitarras, noches de fiesta, la moda, McGee, speed, Creation, Primal Scream, el acid house, el éxtasis, las raves, más moda, Screamadelica, música

Un homenaje al underground musical desde el rock hasta el acid house pasando por el punk, el soul, el blues, rap...

Bobby Gillespie ha vivido por y para la música y eso se nota cuando lo lees, amor verdadero de principio a fin, haciendo referencia a miles de bandas, cantantes, discos y hablando de todos ellos desde la generosidad y la admiración absoluta

Un chaval de barrio que grabó dos de mis discos favoritos de Primal Scream y tocó la batería en Jesus and Mary Chain, hay que ser FAN

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently read Spaceships over Glasgow by Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, it's hard not to draw some comparisons. Where Stuart has a sometimes overly simplistic and humble style, Bobby has a tendency to grandiose statements about the nature of music, politics and society, interspersed with lists of records he liked and clothes he wore. Still, I enjoyed most of this book. As a Glaswegian it's always amusing to read about local places, bands and venues from someone else's perspective, and in this case from someone who was around for a while before my time. It's also interesting to trace the wide range of musical influences that went into Primal Scream. I even listened to a few of the songs referenced, including older Primal Scream tracks and various remixes.

[Álex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque la biografía de Bobby Gillespie durante la formación de The Jesus and Mary Chain y la carrera de Primal Scream hasta Screamadelica es fascinante (y prolija, muy prolija), es más valiosa aún la perspectiva de clase con que lo narra, desde su infancia y juventud en un barrio proletario de Glasgow, la extracción activista de su familia y sus reflexiones afiladas sobre el entorno social durante los años de la Dama de Hierro, entre la explosión del punk y el verano del amor del acid house, dos revoluciones proletarias desde abajo, desde la juventud y el hartazgo. Ojalá hubiese otra en estos tiempos de regresión.

La traducción está demasiado apegada al inglés, ojo.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Bobby talks it like he walks it. He's in it for life. The minutiae of the early Creation years is especially fascinating to me but his descriptions of the ecstatic nights that led to their embrace of house music brings it all back in full color. Structurally, it's a good place to end but I'd love to know about the George Clinton/Memphis/bad drugs era and up through Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR. I'm also totally okay with our man Bobby's socialist diatribes. Somebody needs to say it.

[Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crecí con la música de las bandas de Gillespie: The Jesus and Mary Chain y Primal Scream. Me siento muy identificado con la transición de los que amamos el rock and roll y mandamos al carajo sus principios cuando descubrimos (en mi caso a mediados de los 90) la música de baile electrónica añadiéndola a nuestros gustos musicales. Mola mucho además su conciencia de clase y sus ideas políticas.

[Adam Parrilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating is really a 3.5, but I'm staying generous. I don't know if there is a part two still in the offing, but this book only goes through the success of Screamadelica. A ton of space is given to the early days and Gillespie's run as JAMC drummer. He is a fine writer, but the specificity and details almost get in the way. Some of it was a slog to get through.

[Elisabeth De Sola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I miss the 90s!

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gillespie describes his background growing up in the driech, crowded tenements of a post-industrial Glasgow with wonderful accuracy, really bringing the casual violence alive with the same conviction as he does the enduring beauty, illustrating the complexity, showing that there was light and hope seeping through the cracks of the crime and deprivation that could often plague these areas.

I had no idea that Gillespie was at school with Creation Records founder, Alan McGee (McGee was in the year above him) and the origin story of that relationship made for interesting reading. I enjoyed the story about Joe Strummer being in a record shop in Glasgow, on the day The Clash were scheduled to play a gig there. Strummer was accosted by some punks and one drove him up in a motorbike to Strathclyde uni, where he went up to the desk to buy a ticket for his own gig and they asked to see his matriculation card, when he said he didn’t have one they told him he couldn’t buy a ticket. He cancelled the gig there on the spot.

The editing could have been a little sharper, as this suffers from unhelpful repetition of phrases and description, there are also a few full page photos with zero descriptions?...and some of the finer details to do with bands and music are inaccurate too, which feels a tad lazy. I did have a good laugh when he was given an ultimatum to stay on at The Jesus & Mary Chain or continue with Primal Scream and then when he is replaced by a drum machine he concludes that, “I was irreplaceable.” Er ego/reality check son…I think it was more the case that your drumming was so forgettable that you were so easily replaced by a drum machine.

Gillespie certainly has a high enough opinion of his music, but of course excess and indulgence are good ways of disguising or distracting from largely mediocre music. I’d say that “Screamadelica” has to be one of the most over rated albums of the 90s. Primal Scream were many things, but so much of their music is derivative to the point of pastiche, their debut, although it has some lovely songs on it like “Gentle Tuesday” and “Silent Spring”, it still sounds like a group of young boys trying to sound like their heroes from the 60s West Coast. Then there’s the likes of 1994’s “Give Out…” a bloated mess, which was like listening to a pub band doing half-hearted Stones covers.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well this reads and how sharp a writer the frontman can be when he is in the mood, having bought some of their albums over the years, I would say I was a fan of Primal Scream, but I’ve always thought Gillespie was a bit of a knob. This account proves that his talents clearly extend to writing in the longer form and this was an interesting enough read.

There is a lot of good stuff in here, particularly about the burgeoning Indie music scene taking shape in Scotland in the late 70s and early 80s, with the likes of Altered Images, Strawberry Switchblade and the JAMC. His recollections of rummaging through Glasgow’s old record shops were nicely told, recalling a time that will never exist again thanks to the internet. Though we could have done without the many drug related stories, which for want of a better expression, are just not very interesting and just come across as cringe worthy.

This runs to over 400 pages and yet even then it only gets as far as the anticipated release of “Screamadelica” in 1991, which almost certainly means that we are in danger of getting a follow up, in keeping with the recent, cynical trend of publishers where they realise that they can squeeze out two or three books, from the one life story, as seen with the likes of Moby, Flea and Jimmy Barnes et al. I still think he’s a bit of a knob.

[Cudipeich Grijander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I liked the book because it tells the ins and outs of rock bands in the first person. It also holds great weight in the narrative with two works that, for me, are fundamental in contemporary music: "Psychocandy" and "Screamadelica." The way the events are described with direct language infused with political undertones is also to my liking, although sometimes, some comments border on naivety. The story of the band's transition from rock to dance music, to endless ecstasy-soaked raves, is descriptive of an era. However, the biggest surprise of this book, for me, is that it ends when the author is only 31 years old, with the release of "Screamadelica," the perfect fusion of rock and house. But what about the rest of Bobby and his band Primal Scream's lives? I understand that ending with the pinnacle of their career is an impactful way to conclude, but there is still a longing for an overview of their journey up to the present day. It's as if everything Primal Scream did after "Screamadelica" is of no importance. Will there be a second part of Bobby and his band's memoirs?

[Bones · Rating 4 out of 5]

takes me back :)

[Bernard Laugen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out with a wee bit of repetition of phrases and ideas (plus some and odd stylings) but soon found a speedy and excitable pace. Much like the Brett Anderson split autobiographies, this ends where things are about to really take off but it doesn't feel anticlimactic. Gillespie feels like an honest narrator, plainly describing the lows and highs without dishing dirt. Really looking forward to the next one but am PRAYING that this doesn't wrap up the later period of his life after the mainstream success in a handful of pages like so many other artist's life stories.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mask rarely slips over 400 pages, telling of Bobby Gillespie's life from childhood in Springburn until the release of Screamadelica. As a Glaswegian myself so much of this is familiar to me, from school aggro, to city centre clubs, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. The childhood tales and early political thoughts are the most interesting part. The early Jesus and Mary Chain gigs also sound mental. Funnily enough its the Primal Scream rock and roll stuff near the end that fades away, but a fascinating read from one of Glasgow's most archetypally dour exports.

[Luis C. González · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso. Independientemente de que seas seguidor de su música, su forma de pensar y de expresarlo es exquisita. Mucho más fan de Bobby desde ya. Libro que supera al sobrevaloradísimo de Mark Oliver Everett y que debería tener una continuación como lo hizo Brett Anderson.