Screamadelica is the third studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 23 September 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 8 October 1991 in the United States by Sire Records. The album marked a significant departure from the band's early indie rock sound, drawing inspiration from the blossoming house music scene and associated drugs such as LSD and MDMA. Much of the album's production was handled by acid house DJ Andrew Weatherall and engineer Hugo Nicolson, who remixed original recordings made by the band into dance-oriented tracks.
Screamadelica, featuring Manchester-born singer Denise Johnson, was the band's first album to be a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the UK Albums Chart upon its release. It received wide praise from critics, and has been frequently named one of the best albums of the 1990s in various polls. It won the first Mercury Music Prize in 1992 and has sold over three million copies worldwide.
Background and recording
Drawing inspiration from the acid house scene, When naming the post-punk bands he listened to during his formative years, he explained: "a lot of those ideas are entrenched in Primal Scream, and maybe the last great rock bands were Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Buzzcocks and Joy Division. [...] The ideas in the music and the lyrics for those three bands completely influenced Primal Scream". Gillespie has also cited Nico's album The Marble Index as a major influence when they were making Screamadelica, claiming he "listened to [it] all the time." The band were also "big fans of '70s reggae and dub. These 12” sounded like dub records".
Artwork
The album cover for Screamadelica was painted by Creation Records' in-house artist Paul Cannell. Cannell was inspired by a damp water spot he'd seen on the Creation Records offices ceiling after taking LSD.
Screamadelica was among ten album covers chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.
The artwork also inspired a Fender Stratocaster for the album's 30th anniversary.
Release and commercial performance
The lead single "Loaded" reached the top 20 in the UK Singles chart in early 1990.
Screamadelica was released on 23 September 1991 in the UK. It reached number 8 on the UK Albums Chart, and was later certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album has sold 715,000 copies as of September 2020. The single "Movin' On Up" was the band's breakthrough hit in the United States: as it was heavily played on alternative rock radio, it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also reached number 28 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart as it was played on rock radio stations.
Critical reception and legacy
Screamadelica was very well received by critics. In a contemporary review for Spin, Simon Reynolds called it a "totally mind-blowing" record whose best songs were "almost unclassifiable". AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine deemed Screamadelica "an album that transcends its time and influence." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice, on the other hand, assigned it a "neither" rating, indicating an album that does not warrant repeated listening despite coherent craft and one or two highlights.
It was Melody Makers album of the year in 1991. It was also Selects album of the year in 1991, while NME placed it at no. 3 in its "Best Albums of 1991" list. The album won the first Mercury Music Prize in 1992. In 1996, Select named it as the number 1 album of the 1990s. In 2000, Q placed the album at number 18 on their list of the "100 Greatest British Albums." In 2001, Q placed it at number 81 on a list of the "Top 100 Albums of All Time." The album ranked number 2 in Qs "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" list. In 2003, NME placed it at no. 23 in its "100 Best Albums Ever" list. In 2003, Pitchfork placed it at number 77 in a list of the "Top 100 Albums of the '90s." In 2006, the magazine also placed it at no. 15 in its "Greatest British Albums Ever" list. It appeared in Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of All Time." In a 2009 review, the BBC hailed the album as "a solid gold classic." NME also named it the "Druggiest Album Ever" in 2011. It was ranked number 437 in the 2020 revised edition of Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and No. 1 on BrooklynVegan "Creation Records' 21 Best Records" list.
"Movin' On Up" was used on the previous Telewest Broadband commercials before Virgin Media bought them out. Subsequently, Bacardi spirits used the song on a UK television ad. The song was also featured in the popular game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on alternative radio station Radio X. A Northern soul version was also recorded by Edwin Starr for the cult British surfing film Blue Juice. Kellogg's used the song in an advert for their cornflakes in c. 2011.
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of French electronic duo Daft Punk, who drew inspiration from the rock and acid house in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s, referred to Screamadelica as the record that "put everything together in terms of genre".
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of the album, Primal Scream performed the entire album live at Olympia London in West London on 26 and 27 November 2010. The performance included a full gospel choir and horn section. The first of these gigs was broadcast live on BBC 6 Music, presented by Steve Lamacq. These gigs were followed by a UK tour in March 2011, where the band performed the album in full.
For the album's 30th anniversary in 2021, Fender created a limited run of custom Stratocasters depicting the album's artwork on the body. Additionally, Columbia released the Demodelica album on 15 October 2021, with early demos and work-in-progress mixes, accompanied by notes by Jon Savage. "Most of these demos were produced by Andrew Innes at his home studio on the Isle of Dogs and at the band's studio in Hackney in 1990. The Jam and Eden Studio demos were produced by the band in 1991."
In 2022, Ben Cardew of Pitchfork wrote: "Primal Scream made it all sound far too easy on Screamadelica, whose combination of classic songwriting and electronic production left an early high-water mark for forward-thinking rock music in the 1990s."
| 36
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! scope="row"| UK Independent Albums (OCC)
| 2
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{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ 1999–2000 chart performance for Screamadelica
! scope="col"| Chart (1999–2000)
! scope="col"| Peak<br>position
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|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 2004 chart performance for Screamadelica
! scope="col"| Chart (2024)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 39
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Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Release history for Screamadelica
|-
! scope="col" style="width:150px;"| Region
! scope="col" style="width:150px;"| Date
! scope="col" style="width:120px;"| Label
! scope="col"| Format
! scope="col"| Catalogue Ref
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3"| United Kingdom
| rowspan="3"| 23 September 1991
| rowspan="3"| Creation
| CD
| CRECD 076
|-
| 2LP
| CRELP 076
|-
| MD
| CREMD 076
|-
! scope="row"| Japan
| 1 October 1991
| Columbia Music
| CD
| COCY 7985
|-
! scope="row"| United States
| 8 October 1991
|
| CD
| 9 26714-2
|}
References
Further reading
External links
<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->
- Screamadelica at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)