Bobby Gillespie: “Rock is dead”, says Primal Scream frontman

24 May 2019, 11:19 | Updated: 24 May 2019, 11:21

Grime music is “sexier” than rock ’n’ roll, says the Primal Scream singer. “Guys in rock bands dress like they've come to fix your electrics.”

Bobby Gillespie has admitted rock is "dying" like Latin and no longer has the "inventiveness, sex and danger" of rap and grime.

The Primal Scream frontman has previously bemoaned the fact that there are no "interesting characters" left in rock and he says he understands why young people are more interested in grime music because it is much "sexier".

Gillespie told The Daily Telegraph: "Rock is like Latin, it's a dying language, it's old, it's finished, and it really has nothing more to say."

Describing rap, he added: "It's like they're talking an occult language, and that's how it should be. It's got irony, intelligence, inventiveness, sex and danger."

Primal Scream - Rocks (Official Video)

The Primal Scream frontman - who released his last album Chaosmosis in 2016 - says a lack of a "sex symbol in white rock" hasn't done the genre any favours.

He said: "You've got rappers on acid going mental on stage, skinny, covered in tattoos, crazy coloured hair, high fashion, some of them wear dresses. Guys in rock bands dress like they've come to fix your electrics.

"There's not one sex symbol in white rock anymore, cause there’s no sex in it.

"It's very solipsistic, so inward looking, it's all me, me, me. Rock is dead."

However, he admitted: “It's a paradox, I know. I love rock 'n' roll, it's a great democratic art form, and I'm glad there's still kids playing it. I'm a rocker 'til I die."