Tenement Kid: From the Streets of Glasgow in the 1960s to Drummer in Jesus and Mary Chain and Frontman in Primal Scream

In this straightforward, confessional memoir, Scottish rock musician Gillespie (b. 1961), who grew up against the backdrop of a conservative British government in a heavily class-based society, recalls his first 30 years. The son of a self-made socialist trade union leader, he describes his impoverished, angry youth in the tenements of Glasgow and his awakening with punk rock during the late 1970s. Gillespie recounts his first forays into music with the band Wake and as a drummer for the Jesus and Mary Chain during the repressive Thatcher era. In the last half of the book, he chronicles the musical transformations of his most famous group, Primal Scream, from its inception in 1984 as a blend of folk and psychedelia, to its era as a loud rock outfit, and finally to the pop-rock electronic dance grooves of their masterpiece 1991 album Screamadelica. Gillespie vividly details his struggles with depression and his lifelong obsession with music amid punitive British conservative politics, ever-changing fashion trends, a multitude of drugs, and shifting musical styles.