Primal Scream - Damaged

You were my addiction I got strung out and crazy. Hit me like a fever when you left me baby.

Album: Screamadelica [3rd album]
Recorded: London, England
Genre: Blues, Rock
Album Release: September 23rd 1991
Single Release: August 1992 [6th single]
Length: 5.37
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Vocalist: Bobby Gillespie [age 30]
Label: Creation Records

Music Video


Live from 1992


Live from 1994

Charts, Streams & Sales

UK (albums): #8
UK (albums): x2 Platinum
Spotify: 2,600,000 +
YouTube Music: 1,000,000 +
Mercury Prize Winner 1992
Melody Maker Albums of the Year 1991: #1
Q Magazine Best British Albums of All Time: #18
Select Magazine Best Albums of the 90's: #1
The Scotsman Newspaper 100 Best Scottish Albums: #1

Credits

Acoustic guitar, drums, electric guitar, piano, stand up bass

Details

• Frontman Bobby Gillespie started off as the drummer for Jesus and Mary Chain. He couldn't play very well so instead of a full kit he just had two drums.
• Primal Scream took their sound into acid house for this record.
  
  
• 'Damaged' is about a guy who's loved and lost. Even though he's hurting he's grateful for the experience. It has a 'these are the days of our lives' quality to it, like it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. We might get chunks taken out of us along the way but to have lived a full life is really what it's about. The bruises are an afterthought. Nostalgia is to look back with rose-tinted glasses.
  
  
• One of the more traditional efforts on the album. The producer, Jimmy Miller, is well known for his work with The Rolling Stones.
  
  
• Drugs and music. A deadly combination that hasn't half produced some great records. Primal Scream's guitarist Robert Young died of a suspected overdose in 2014. May he rest in peace. His bandmates escaped the worst but it wasn't for a lack of trying. At one point they prided themselves on being able to do more drugs than any other band and all you have to do is listen to Screamadelica to know it.
  
  The entire album is designed to emulate the highs and lows of a drug experience and with song titles like 'Higher Than the Sun' and 'I'm Coming Down' they hit the nail firmly on the head. The album cover was designed by an artist tripping on LSD. The now iconic blue face with massive eyes in a yellow sun is what he was seeing when he was looking at a bit of damp on the ceiling.
  
  The album is basically comprised of remixes, only the original tracks were never released. Primal Scream would record their songs as usual and then an acid house DJ, Terry Farley or Andy Weatherall, would effectively remix them by adding samples and drum loops and the like. The DJ would take the indie rock and make it ready for the dancefloor.
  
  It was more than that though. The album's an eclectic mix of dub, funk, house and psychedelia mixed with a gospel choir. It's a unique experience that's beloved by indie kids and ravers alike. I've never heard an album remotely close to it and I doubt I ever will. More than just being an album, Screamadelica's a time and place encapsulated in sound. It's a record of the early 90's Madchester scene made by a Scottish band who were only there for the kicks.
  
  
  
  
  Artwork