Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Interviews by Rich Pelley

The Primitives: ‘A reviewer said that Crash would finish the band. Then it was in Dumb and Dumber’

The Primitives members Tracy Cattell and Paul Court in 1988
‘It felt like we were this independent little band, when the rest of the charts was all Stock Aitken Waterman’ … The Primitives. Photograph: BSR Entertainment/Gentle Look/Getty Images

PJ Court, vocals, guitars

The Primitives formed in the summer of 1984 with a singer called Keiron, who brought me in to write songs. When he left, we pinned up an advert in Coventry library and Tracy, who I’d actually met before on a Youth Opportunity Programme, answered. At that point, we sounded more like the Birthday Party or the Gun Club, so I wrote three new songs – Through the Flowers, Across My Shoulder and Crash – to test a more pop direction. Crash was simple and noisy, with a basic guitar line that became the “Na na na” hook.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.