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Classic Albums - Screamadelica (Primal Scream) from dc85 on Vimeo.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch the Golden Girls series in its entirety in one sitting than go to a movie theater right now. It seems as if Hollywood is consolidating into only 3 genres: Comic Book/Pixar/Apatow, which I guess defines the three remaining demographics of the moviegoing public: Idiots, Children, and Bros. Everyone else just streams shit on the internet, which is exactly what you should do right now. Watch the above short-doc about the making of Screamadelica.

Primal Scream have an interesting career arc. They spent the 80s as a kind of middling, jangly throwback band, and then, practically from nowhere, did a stylistic pirouette and delivered the transcendent pan-genre workout that is Screamadelica, then spent the rest of the 90s making incoherent drug albums, and now they're basically old and reminisce and play festivals. So their creative highpoint was a one-off curio, delivered in the middle of their career. Quite unusual, but it sort of makes sense, because it is the kind album that can only happen once, like Dark Side of the Moon, you can't reasonably expect to put out 5-10 Screamadelicas.

I become less and less enamored with Creation Records all the time. Back in high school, they seemed like the mysterious, exotic label dedicated to quality product: cutting edge bands, beautiful packaging, English provenance (this matters when you are an American suburban tweenster). After all, they were the guys that introduced us to the Jesus and Mary Chain, gave us My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, the better shoegaze acts, Oasis. What could be wrong with that? But over time, as I wised up, Alan McGee & Co. just seems like a bunch of rockists. Rockism, for those who don't know, is an ideology usually espoused by white men of all ages, that aims to view the world and its events "through the lens of Rock". Remember "The Week in Rock" on MTV? Rockist idea. Nick Hornby? Rockist writer. In rockism, sideline genres such as Soul or Hip Hop just serve to emphasize the centrality of Rock in modern existence. Because of this shameless ethno/musico centrism, rockism is reviled on college campuses, and which is why you never here things which could be associated with mainline rockism on *certain* radio stations. I guess it's my buddha-nature that compels me to find the middle path - I'm certainly no rockist, but a good BTO/ELO/Moody Blues/et. al song has its charms and place. Which brings us to Screamadelica, and why it was so extraordinary. You might not pick this up from the movie, but Primal Scream are a bunch of rockists. And speaking from my limited experience in bands, its fucking hard to get one of these guys to step out of their comfort zones, let alone explore uncharted musical territory. But that's what producer Andy Weatherall seems to have done, and it takes a mind operating on a whole 'nother level to sequence such disparate-sounding songs like 'Come Together' (UK version)-->'Loaded'-->'Damaged' which don't even sound like the same band, on the same album and make it feel not just 'right', but perfect. Yeah, I like Screamadelica.javascript:void(0)

What's odd is that I wouldn't call this an influential album. No one's attempted such a sublime fusion of rock/dance styles since. The only group that comes to mind is maybe Gang Gang Dance, but they're albums are too diverse, to the point where even though I've heard most of them, I couldn't begin to describe what they sound like. The important thing about Screamadelica is that it keeps its eclecticism unified, somehow, where all the songs sound 'of a piece', even though they shouldn't.

Well kids, that's todays lesson. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, so no big deal. Leave any tips on Screamadelica-esque albums in the comments, either as precedents or antecedents. As a parting gift, here's a B-side, apparently not quite up to par for the album. If you want to hear it live, bring some drugs over to The Truth's house!