Bobby Gillespie is one of Glasgow's best-known and most loved musicians having been born in the city in June 1961 when Glasgow looked like a very different place.
He is best known as the frontman of Scottish rock band Primal Scream but had been the drummer in East Kilbride band the Jesus and Mary Chain as he appeared on their debut album Psychocandy in 1985 with Primal Scream getting properly going with early recordings the previous year.
In October 1984, both Primal Scream and the Jesus and Mary Chain played together at 'A Creation Artifact Night' at The Venue which is now part of The Garage on Sauchiehall Street. Gillespie played guitar and sang for Primal Scream and then jumped on the drums a short while later for the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Gillespie would eventually leave the Jesus and Mary Chain in 1986 to turn his full attention to Primal Scream Everything changed for Primal Scream after Gillespie met Andrew Weatherall who helped produce their decade-defining album Screamadelica which included huge hits like Movin' On Up and Loaded.
The Primal Scream frontman took inspiration for the title of their most recent album from his gallus Glasgow dad who features on the cover. The title of the album is also very Glaswegian as he told us: “I always say Miles Davis had Miles Ahead as an album title and we’ve got Come Ahead which is a Glaswegian version of it.”
1. Celtic Park
“Celtic Park, obviously - Paradise. Hampden Park. Both are linked to amazing memories from being a teenager and getting into football and going to Scotland matches and Celtic matches and various amazing matches. Games and players that I saw. | Supplied
2. Gloria's Record Bar
“There was Gloria’s Record Bar in Battlefield, which doesn’t exist anymore. I could take you there. It was very close to my primary school - Mount Florida. That was an interesting place pre-punk. Also Soundtrack Records and Tapes on Cathcart Road where I bought a lot of records when I first really got into music in 1976/77." | British Record Shop Archive
3. Bloggs
" There was great record shops in town like Bloggs, Listen and Bruce’s around the late seventies. I still spend most of my time in record shops." | British Record Shop Archive
4. Cathkin Park
“Third Lanark’s ground Cathkin Park. When I was 12 or 13 or whatever, we’d go there and just hang out and play in the deserted stands. It was like it was haunted. In my book I write about playing in the empty tenements where everybody had been driven out by Glasgow Corporation during the slum clearances. We used to go into the empty flats and just wander around them. I loved that sense of absence. There was something about it that I found really comforting. When I used to go down to Cathkin Park in the early seventies as a kid we’d just play in the broken down stand. You’d kindle your imagination and think about all the matches which took place there and think that this used to be full of people and life and now it’s not. It was just something that I felt was kind of beautiful, but when I was younger I wouldn’t have articulated it in that way, but just instinctively knew that I liked it." Photo: Craig Williamson - SNS Group