Primal Scream mainman Bobby Gillespie has bemoaned what he sees as a lack of ambition and creativity in today’s rock bands.
Now classic albums such as ‘Screamadelica‘ and ‘XTRMNTR‘ have marked Gillespie’s Primal Scream out as one the most eclectic British bands of recent times but, in an interview with the Irish Times, Gillespie has spoken of his belief that those commendable traits are now sadly lacking in modern-day music.
“I bumped into Paul Weller the other day and we went for a coffee and we were talking about the lack of ambition which seems prevalent in rock right now,” he said. “You read interviews with bands and it’s all about being rich and famous and being the biggest band in the world.”
“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of artists out there any more. It seems to me that if you were a serious young person and you had something to say that you’d be looking at other disciplines. In music, everything seems lightweight and conformist and not very artistic. Everybody seems to be settling for the status quo.”
“Rock music is no longer where creativity is and it’s no longer taken seriously by creative people. It’s been absorbed into the mainstream culture and has become too conformist and normal. There doesn’t appear to be many great minds at work in music right now.”
Primal Scream are tipped to release a new studio album some time next year, but are likely to be without bass player Mani who has now rejoined his first band The Stone Roses.