BMG has acquired a 50% stake in the song interests of Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Innes and the late Robert Young of legendary Scottish rock band Primal Scream, together with their neighbouring rights.
It includes the writers’ shares in songs including ‘Movin’ On Up’, ‘Loaded’, ‘Rocks’ and ‘Come Together’ and covers all of their 11 albums from Sonic Flower Groove (1987) through to Chaosmosis (2016).
The acquisition forms part of a program which has seen BMG acquire rights from artists including Mick Fleetwood, Tina Turner, ZZ Top and Mötley Crüe. Primal Scream are the first UK artists of their generation to strike such a rights deal.
Alistair Norbury, BMG President Repertoire & Marketing UK, said, “Primal Scream are one of the most influential bands of the past 30 years with a cultural resonance which continues today. We are delighted to become custodians of their work.”
Primal Scream, formed by then Jesus & Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie in 1985, and signed to Creation Records, went on to become one of the most influential bands of the Nineties, with third album Screamadelica’s unique fusion of acid house, rock, dub and psychedelia not only winning the inaugural Mercury Music Prize in 1992, but also becoming the focus of a worldwide cultural moment, and continuing to inspire new generations of artists with singles including ‘Movin’ On Up’ and ‘Come Together’.
Screamadelica
Its follow-up Give Out But Don’t Give Up (1994) paid homage to classic blues and rock and was recorded by legendary producer Tom Dowd in Memphis and included singles ‘Rocks’ and ‘Jailbird’.
In 1996 they produced the title track to the movie of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting. Their catalogue since then has ranged from the ambient, dub, Krautrock influenced Vanishing Point (1997), to the electro-industrial XTRMNTR (2000), from Evil Heat (2002) to 2006’s Riot City Blues which spawned ‘Country Girl’, their highest Official UK Singles Chart entry. In 2008 came Beautiful Future with standout track ‘Can’t Go Back’, their first without Robert Young who stepped down for personal reasons. Their tenth album, More Light, appeared in 2013 and invited comparisons with Screamadelica with a series of hypnotic anthemic tracks including ‘It’s Alright. It’s OK’.
Primal Scream’s latest new studio album was 2016’s Chaosmosis. They are set to return to the live stage on May 28 at the Wide Awake festival in London’s Brockwell Park where they will play Screamadelica in full for the first time in 10 years.
