Formation and early years (1982–1984) Bobby Gillespie moved to
Mount Florida in southeastern Glasgow, where he attended
King's Park Secondary School, where he first met Robert Young. Another schoolfriend was
Alan McGee, who took Gillespie to see his first concert,
Thin Lizzy. They soon moved on to
the Velvet Underground and
the Byrds cover songs before starting to write their own songs, based on
Jah Wobble and
Peter Hook basslines. Gillespie later said that the band "didn't really exist, but we did it every night for something to do." The backlash from the album caused internal strife within the band. Beattie and Skinner subsequently resigned. ,
Kawasaki, Japan The band entered the studio with Weatherall,
Hugo Nicolson,
the Orb and
Jimmy Miller producing, and
Martin Duffy now full-time on keyboards after Felt disbanded. They released two more singles, "Higher Than the Sun" and "Don't Fight It, Feel It" which featured the lead vocals of Manchester singer Denise Johnson. The album
Screamadelica was released in late 1991 to positive reviews.
Ink Blot Magazine said that the album was "both of its time and timeless." The album was also a commercial success, reaching number eight on the UK chart. The album won the first
Mercury Music Prize, beating Gillespie's former band the Jesus and Mary Chain. The supporting tour kicked off in
Amsterdam, and it included a performance at the
Glastonbury festival before coming to an end in
Sheffield. Throughout the tour the band and their increasingly large entourage gained notoriety for their large narcotic intake. some dismissed the album as tired and drawing too heavily on their influences. Two more singles were released from the album, "Jailbird" and "(I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind", both of which charted progressively lower. While touring in support of the album, relations within the band began to wear down. The band's American tour, when they supported
Depeche Mode, was, in the words of manager Alex Nightingale, "the closest we've come to the band splitting up." The album was recorded in the band's personal studio in two months, and was mixed in another month. and
Musik saying that "this group's place in the history book of late 20th Century music is assured." The inclusion on the album of
the title track from the film
Trainspotting also helped cement the band's place in alternative modern culture. The band scheduled a short supporting tour to take place during July. The band had to postpone the dates. This led to speculation that there were problems within the band, and that one of the members may resign. Despite their new-found peace, the band pursued a harsher and angrier musical direction. Many of the songs they wrote had overtly political lyrics, Gillespie said the band wished to convey "What it's like to be in Britain in this day and age." made it controversial. Nevertheless, it was a hit, charting at No. 22 on the British charts.
XTRMNTR itself fared well, reaching No. 3. The political content was well received, with Allmusic calling it a "nasty, fierce realization of an entire world that has... lost the plot.". In 2009
NME charted
XTRMNTR at No. 3 in
The Top 100 Greatest Albums of The Decade. The song was on the soundtrack of the 2004 film
Football Factory, whose plot involved
football hooliganism. In 2000, the band began recording their seventh album,
Evil Heat, released in 2002. Though the political content was not as strong as the previous album, there was a song originally slated for the album entitled "Bomb the Pentagon", which was reworked into the song "Rise" after the
11 September attacks. The album, like many of Primal Scream's previous albums, had multiple producers. Shields produced several tracks, and Andrew Weatherall produced three tracks, his first work with the band since
Vanishing Point.
Kate Moss sang professionally for the first time with single "
Some Velvet Morning", a version of the Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song. The album also featured another guest appearance,
Led Zeppelin singer
Robert Plant. In 2003 the double CD album
Dirty Hits was released containing the better known works and some previously unheard versions and remixes of those tunes. In June 2005, Primal Scream played a controversial set at the
Glastonbury Festival, throughout which Gillespie was playfully abusive to the crowd and was alleged [by whom?] to have made Nazi salutes during the song "Swastika Eyes". They were eventually forced off by officials after overrunning their allotted time; the festival organisers were at that point already annoyed at the band when, in response to their invitation to join other recording artists in signing a
Make Poverty History poster which would be auctioned off for charity, lead singer Bobby Gillespie instead altered the poster so that it read "Make Israel History". Gillespie later said that this was to show his support for the
Palestinian cause. They intended to capture the energy of their live performances. The band chose
Youth as their producer, which led to speculation that they had fallen out with Shields. Although the band themselves admitted that they were unsure of the situation, while
AllMusic called it "a refreshingly retro rock & roll album". In support of the album, the band toured the UK, along with selected dates in Europe. The band released their first DVD,
Riot City Blues Tour, in August 2007. The DVD featured clips of the band's performance in
London, as well as all their music videos and an interview with Gillespie and Mani. On 26 August 2006, bassist Mani was arrested at the Leeds music festival, after what was said to be a drunken brawl. However, he was soon released and the band's appearance at the festival went ahead. Also around this time, Young left the band to go on sabbatical, failing to appear on their November 2006 UK tour. It was later stated by Bobby Gillespie that Young was unlikely to make a return. He was temporarily replaced by
Barrie Cadogan of
Little Barrie. Young died in September 2014. After touring
Screamadelica for most of 2011, on 18 October
Gary Mounfield revealed he had left the band due to the reformation of his original band
the Stone Roses.
Debbie Googe (of
My Bloody Valentine) filled in on bass for the band's 2012 summer dates, before Simone Butler joined as full-time bassist in October 2012. Primal Scream supported the Stone Roses at their
Heaton Park concert in
Manchester on 29 June 2012.
More Light and Chaosmosis (2013–2018) The band's tenth album,
More Light, was released in May 2013 on the band's own label, First International, via Ignition Records. The new album was produced by
David Holmes, who confirmed the release on his
Facebook page on 11 January 2013. The first track taken from the album is "
2013" with a music video directed by Rei Nadal. The first single proper is "
It's Alright, It's OK", which was played in the UK by both
BBC Radio 2 and
6 Music, as well as supported by leading alternative music stations
XFM and
Absolute Radio. It also appears on the soundtrack for
Freaks of Nature (2015), playing over the final scene and end credits. The second single is "Invisible City". Former guitarist Robert "Throb" Young died in September 2014. Their eleventh album
Chaosmosis was released on 18 March 2016. In August 2018 it was announced that the band would release the original long-lost recordings made for ''Give Out But Don't Give Up'' for the first time, which were made when the band went to Memphis's
Ardent Studios in 1993 to work on a new album with producer
Tom Dowd and the
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
''Maximum Rock'n'Roll: The Singles and Come Ahead'' (2019–present) On 24 May 2019 the band released a third compilation album, ''Maximum Rock'n'Roll: The Singles''. The album contains seventeen tracks spanning the period from 1986 till 2016. In 2022 Primal Scream played at the
Victorious Festival in
Portsmouth. In April, the band sold song rights of fifty percent of their back catalogue to
BMG. The deal involved Gillespie, Innes and the estate of Robert Young. Martin Duffy died in December 2022 at the age of 55. Following his death, Duffy's son, Louie, made a statement at his father's inquest. Louie claimed that despite playing with the band for over 30 years, he was paid only as a session musician. On 23 May 2023, Primal Scream announced that they would be performing as a 12-piece band for their upcoming tour dates, with the core line-up augmented by members of the House Gospel Choir on backing vocals, Alex White of
Fat White Family on saxophone, and keyboards by former
Go-Kart Mozart member Terry Miles who had also previously played with the band in Martin Duffy's absence. The band released the single "Love Insurrection" in July 2024 and simultaneously announced their twelfth studio album
Come Ahead for release on 8 November 2024. The band features in the book
Postcards from Scotland detailing the 1980s and 1990s independent music scene in Scotland. In 2025, the band signed an open letter in support of the hip-hop trio
Kneecap which opposed a "clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform" the group. In September 2025, the band joined the "
No Music For Genocide" boycott to geo-block their music from music streaming platforms in Israel in protest of the
Gaza genocide. Gary "Mani" Mounfield died in November 2025 at the age of 63. The band dedicated "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" to Mounfield during their Manchester gig on 22 November. This turned out to be Simone Butler's last show with Primal Scream, as the band brought in Phil Mossman, longtime touring guitarist for Andrew Weatherall's group
The Sabres of Paradise, to play bass for their full album performance of
XTMRNTR at the
Roundhouse in
London on 8 December. The
XTRMNTR show at the Roundhouse provoked controversy due to the visuals during the performance of "Swastika Eyes" showing images of swastikas inside
Star of Davids rotating in the eyes of
Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli political figues, in addition to other world leaders, including
Javier Milei,
Keir Starmer, and
Donald Trump The
Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, said it had reported the British band to the police over the incident. The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "The Nazi swastika represents the ideology that inspired people to industrially slaughter six million innocent Jewish men, women and children by bullet, gas and any other means available. "To visually combine that with the Star of David - the pre-eminent symbol of Judaism - is absolutely sickening and totally inexcusable." The group defended the display stating “It is meant to provoke debate, not hate. In a free, pluralistic and liberal society freedom of expression is a right which we choose to exercise.” The band's recently-announced headlining slot at the Trentham Live festival scheduled for 21 August 2026 was then cancelled because "the graphics used at a recent Primal Scream concert do not align with our values." On 28 January 2026, Simone Butler announced her departure from Primal Scream. ==Awards and nominations==