Tenement Kid: Rough Trade Book of the Year

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Description

Bobby Gillespie is the lead singer and founding member of Primal Scream. He was born in Glasgow into a family with strong links to the socialist trade unions. He discovered punk, like many others, and became obsessed with music. After forming Primal Scream he took a sabbatical as the drummer in Jesus & Mary Chain (who famously refused to sit down because his hero Moe Tucker in the Velvet Underground had also stood up). He played on their classic album Psychocandy and toured with them. In the late 80s the Scream signed to Creation and, when they met Jeff Barrett and Andrew Weatherall, discovered ecstasy and acid house. The result was SCREAMADELICA, a masterpiece fusion of dub, soul, gospel, rock n roll and dance beats. It is a timeless classic. This first volume of Bobby's memoirs will take us through his childhood in Glasgow, his time in Jesus & Mary Chain, the Primal Scream early days, right up until the release of SCREAMADELICA.

Reviews

Gillespie is rock and roll's Oliver Twist. A punk rock fairytale, razor sharp on class struggle, music, style, and a singular view of the world resulting in one of the world's great bands. Couldn't put down -- Courtney Love
As hugely influential and inspiring as Bobby Gillespie's music is, we now know his genius includes the telling of this story and reviving the ghosts that brought the music to life -- Mark Lanegan
A righteous journey, an elegy for the transformative power of rock and roll told with heart and soul. The Gospel according to Bobby Gillespie -- Warren Ellis
If they encapsualted the spirit of rock and roll in one person it would be Bobby Gillespie. The book is affirmative not just of a rockin' life but the beautiful working-class culture that made it. I felt like shedding tears of joy reading it, but also enraged about what we've lost -- Irvine Welsh
From Rottenrow hospital to the TOTP studio, this is the enthralling and vividly detailed story of a boy dreamed himself into a rock and roll star -- Simon Reynolds
Readers will be astonished by the detail in his memoir, the extraordinary rolling energy of his prose, and his warmth, gratitude and performerly wisdom . . . The way Gillespie writes about music's intoxicating buzz is inspirational . . . Tenement Kid's joy is in its undeviating belief in rock iconography * Mojo *
A fascinating story * Guardian *
An impassioned, elegantly written tale of self-realisation through fandom, along with plenty of doubts and insecurities * The Times *
An obsessive music fan who fulfilled his wildest rock star dreams, Gillespie has found an authentic voice to desribe his often hair-raising experiences, and the result is a rock 'n' roll epic * Daily Telegraph *
I can't recommend this book highly enough . . . the best music-related book I've read this year, and essential reading for anyone who loves and cares about alternative music * Louder Than War *
Gillespie is a hypnotic writer and this self-aggrandising yet self-lacerating self-portrait is, on its own terms, brutally honest * i Newspaper *
Tenement Kid is a thrilling read laced with copious laugh out loud moments. This is a riveting account of how a tenement child of the Cold War era, and his friends, created a soundtrack for the hopes and dreams of a generation * Irish Times *
This, as his enjoyable memoir Tenement Kid confirms, is a true believer steeped in politics and pop culture . . . The most arresting passages are those in which he captures the febrile, incestuous activity of Scotland's underground music scene in the Eighties/early Nineties . . . He also strikes an unforced yet tangible note of melancholy: we will never be so young and free again * Big Issue *
Bobby Gillespie is a believer. A true disciple who, in his autobiography Tenement Kid, is going to take you on a spiritual journey through poverty and the struggles of a city at the end of time, in a country being dismantled by an evil overlord with all the might of the state behind her, and into the light and triumph of a band finding their identity. It is a tale of redemption, of how - through a spiritual and chemical path - rock and roll can truly save, taking you away from the suffering to your higher self. This is a tale of love; it is a tale of salvation . . . It does what you expect from a rock and roll memoir but also achieves something rare for the genre: it gives the sense that Gillespie is still one of us * Concrete Islands *

Author Bio

Bobby Gillespie is a singer, songwriter and founder member of the rock and roll band Primal Scream. The band's origins are in the city of Glasgow. They have released 11 albums including major hits, 'Loaded', 'Rocks', 'Country Girl' and 'Kowalski'.