Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has branded Blur’s Alex James a “social climber”.
The 63-year-old Glaswegian singer – whose group released their latest album ‘Come Ahead’ on Friday (08.11.24) – has suggested the Britpop group’s bassist, 55, who is also a farmer and cheesemaker, has tried to gain a higher social status by hanging out with the likes of former Prime Minister and Conservative Leader David Cameron and former ‘Top Gear’ host Jeremy Clarkson.
In a candid interview with The i newspaper, he began: “I find myself in the strange position of being both inside and outside of [class].”
Discussing the track ‘Wrestles’, Bobby said: “’Wrestles’ might be overstating the case but if you’re in a successful band, you get invited to things, know people from different classes, you’ve experienced things. It’s not like you’re trying to be like the guy from Blur [Alex James] hanging out with David Cameron and what’s his name, the guy that does the driving? [Jeremy Clarkson].
“That’s obviously social climbing going on there, right? I don’t mean it like that. It’s just being aware. You’ve got nice houses and are doing alright. And you think, ‘Well, not everyone else is doing alright.’”
The former Jesus and Mary Chain drummer’s father, Bob Gillespie, was a former SOGAT union official and Labour Party candidate in the 1988 Govan by-election.
Asked if he has “working-class guilt”, he replied: “No, not really. We wanted to be rock’n’roll stars so that we don’t have to work in a factory or be told what to do. There was no guilt. My dad always said to me, ‘While the money’s there, you’ve got to take it, because you’re not promised tomorrow.’”
‘Common People’ hitmakers Blur, like their rivals Oasis, were part of the Britpop phenomenon of the 1990s and former Prime Minister Tony Blair and New Labour capitalised on the music and cultural movement that became known as ‘Cool Britannia’.
Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, 57 – who was raised in a working-class family in Manchester – even partied at 10 Downing Street when Blair led Labour to victory in the 1997 election.