Formed Coventry, England, 1985; disbanded
1991.
The Primitives were perhaps the most
frenetic band of the 80s, making a name for themselves with
their live sets in which they might run through six songs in
ten minutes. They were fronted, by the time they got into their
stride, by startling peroxide-blonde singer Tracy Tracy, with
high-energy support from Paul Court (guitar/vocals), Steve Dullaghan
(bass) and Pete Tweedie (drums).
The band's first single, "Thru
the Flowers" (1986), was a concoction of feedback-fed bubblegum
pop, and brought rewards in the shape of four different Radio
1 sessions. The follow-up, "Really Stupid", released
later in the year, was a student dancefloor stomper and saw
The Primitives firmly established in the indie charts. Its buzzsaw
guitar epitomized the band's live performance, and was brought
to the fore on the next single, "Stop Killing Me",
a UK indie #1 which established the band in the vanguard of
an explosion of guitar groups.
Everyone seemed to want to jump on
the bandwagon, and even Morrissey was photographed wearing a
"Stop Killing Me" T-shirt. The major record companies
now came calling and The Primitives signed to RCA in 1987, stopping
only to re-record "Thru the Flowers" as a goodbye
gesture to their indie label, Lazy. Their RCA debut, "Crash",
was released in February 1988 and soared to #5 in the UK after
a memorable appearance on Top of the Pops. By now Tracy's face
was shining out from a plethora of magazine covers and it was
no surprise when The Primitives' debut album, Lovely, stormed
into the UK Top 10 on the week of its release in April 1988.
With new drummer Tig Williams, the
band set off on their first major tour. Although a sell-out,
the gigs exposed their limitations, as songs which had glowed
in the studio were left flat and faltering in the live arena.
Still, they got better as they went along, and set off to try
and break into the US market. They did so with some success
with Lovely selling in excess of 150,000 copies and "Crash"
remaining in the college chart for six months.
The band then returned to England and
set to work on a second album, eventually re-emerging from the
studio in July 1989 with Tracy having become a brunette and
the band trimmed down to a three-piece, Steve Dullaghan having
left. The first fruit of their labours was the single "Sick
of it", a fine song reminiscent of "Really Stupid",
though it failed to catch the imagination of the record-buying
public and faltered at #24.
RCA alarm bells started to ring when
the next single, "Secrets", failed even to reach the
UK Top 40 and the fall from grace was confirmed when the album
Pure was released to generally lacklustre reviews in October
1989, peaked at #33 in the UK and spent just two weeks on the
chart. A compilation album of all the early singles, released
by Lazy a month before Pure, highlighted the band's lack of
progression.
The Primitives returned to release
"You Are the Way" in August 1991, but they were seen
as a spent force, and split up not long afterwards.
Lovely (1988; RCA). An album that freeze-frames
a precise moment in rock history. Girl-fronted English guitar
bands were all the rage and after the success of "Crash"
- naturally track one, side one - Lovely was held up as the
album from which all others should take their lead. A collection
of classic pop melodies alongside psychedelic-tinged offerings.
Andy Lowe
from The Rough Guide to Rock
www-2.roughguides.com
