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It had been a surreal journey through the dark heart of Ayrshire in the early hours of the morning until spotlights lit up the sky to guide us to a random collection of tents in a field near Tarbolton.

Under canvas, thousands of people were gripped by the dance culture which was just beginning to capture the hearts and minds of a generation.

Hours later, as the ecstatic final notes of a house anthem faded a laconic American voice emerged from the echoes:

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"Just what is it that you want to do?

We wanna be free

We wanna be free to do what we wanna do

And we wanna get loaded

And we wanna have a good time

That's what we're gonna do

We're gonna have a good time

We're gonna have a party"

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The tent went nuts.

Of all the rock bands who tried to capture the spirit of the early days of that movement, none succeeded with anything close to the euphoria of Glasgow's own Primal Scream.

Their single Loaded was an essential highlight of raves springing up all over the country.

The band's classic Screamadelica album portrayed the joy, hedonism and experimentation of an era which knew, even then, that the comedown could not be postponed forever and would be terrible to bear. Those who flew higher than the sun would inevitably get burned.

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When Primal Scream walk on to the stage at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Bandstand tonight they will do so as homecoming heroes, claiming their rightful place as the most influential band ever to emerge from Scotland.

Any band can knock off the odd great tune. A fair number can come up with one or even two solid gold classics. Few can transform music itself and open a door to a new future as Primal Scream did in the earliest days of the 1990s.

Glasgow has, of course, produced more than its fair share of classic rock 'n' roll bands, who cannot be lightly dismissed. So let's look at the contenders.

Let's first shake off the challenges from current indie faves The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit who are good but not quite good enough. Too young, probably too nice and certainly too niche.

Chvrches? Thrilling synth pop, a great singer and oodles of potential to make a serious impact in America, but at this stage in the game more influenced than influencers.

Franz Ferdinand have at least one classic under their belts in Take Me Out, but they're just a little too knowing, just a little too 'art school' for their own good.

Or then there are The Associates, who for a time at least combined an avant grade sensibility with enough commercial nous to have actual huge hits. But with a singer as unique and mercurial as Billy Mackenzie, The Associates were a dazzling one-off to be admired with awe rather than copied.

Belle and Sebastian have certainly attracted a faithful following, which is part of the problem. Lovely songs but their gigs are too much like going to church.

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The twin pillars of Postcard Records: Orange Juice and Aztec Camera? Just a bit historic, a bit out of time to still remain current, although it would take a harder heart than mine to remain unmoved by the genius of Rip It Up.

The Vaselines had songs covered by Nirvana. Everyone of a certain age loves The Pastels and the BMX Bandits. What else is there to say about either?

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions seemed poised to conquer the world when Perfect Skin combined a literary sensibility and a pop reinterpretation of The Velvet Underground. But they stalled.

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Then there are the big, populist choices: The Bluebells, the Bay City Rollers and The Average White Band have each had a hit that now seems almost part of the Scottish psyche. The Skids and Big Country have had a couple each. The Proclaimers have had a whole string of them. Brilliant tunes all, but perhaps a little musically safe for our purposes here.

Simple Minds were once one of the biggest bands in the world, conquering America through a key role in the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club.

Texas had an astonishing run of hits after perfecting a modernised version of pop soul on their album White on Blonde.

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The Waterboys hit big with The Whole of the Moon but preferred the more traditional pleasures of folk.

It wasn't that long ago that no festival was complete without the singalong classics of Travis, just as Biffy Clyro's sleek rock anthems are festival favourites today.

This is becoming difficult and we have not even reached the very top of the mountain, where we have to breathe in the same rarified atmosphere as Scotland's rock gods.

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Here live Mogwai, sonic sculptors, adventurers in noise, the very definition of post rock. Trouble is that most of the people for whose lives Mogwai provide the soundtrack are undead. And French.

Over there are Blue Nile; deep and drowning in beautiful existential melancholy. The Cocteau Twins, whose swirling atmospherics hold aloft one of popular music's most captivating voices, capable of stealing your soul simply by singing gibberish. Both hard acts to follow.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: theatrical, passionate, powerful, unique and pretty much unequalled still, 43 years after the release of their seminal Next album.

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Teenage Fanclub, three brilliant songwriters, heavenly voices. After 10 studio albums and two compilations we might be tempted to take their heartbreaking beauty for granted if not for the fact they sound as fresh and alive as ever on their album Here, just released and just superb.

And, towering above even these, the Jesus and Mary Chain, whose raging torrent of feedback can make even The Sex Pistols sound tame or capture a desolate urban beauty when combined with the Reid Brothers’ addiction to melody.

And so, with such riches in Scotland's past and present, what makes Primal Scream - formed by the Mary Chain's drummer Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie in 1982 - greater and more important than any of these?

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It's not just that they steal from the very best, although they certainly do that.

Screamadelica twists and turns through deep soul, gospel, country, dub, psychedelia, house and even free jazz, referencing everyone from Lee Perry to Steve 'Silk' Hurley. It takes the mixing skills of DJ Andrew Weatherall to fuse it all into a cohesive whole.

On the albums that followed Screamadelica - some brilliant other rather less so - their sticky fingers continue to pinch from George Clinton, MC5, The Stooges, Miles Davis, Can, the Chemical Brothers and, throughout their entire career, the swagger and swing of the greatest rock 'n' roll band the world has ever seen … The Rolling Stones.

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But it takes more than impeccable taste to achieve greatness, to grow into something far, far more than merely the sum of expertly chosen parts.

Primal Scream realised that what united the very different musics they combined, wasn't musicianship or skill, but something far more important: attitude, sensibility and outlook … a rebel stance.

They knew that where rock snobbery and fandom was unlikely to change the world, the dance floor, where one nation came together under a groove, could prove a revolutionary liberation. That, far from being apolitical, hedonism could be a force for radical change. To misquote George Clinton ... free your ass and your mind will follow.

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I've seen Primal Scream bring the rave to the Ayr hall which would later become the infamous Hangar 13. I've seen them in full-on punk mode at dance festivals and almost blow a tent away at Glasgow Green. I've seen them at T in the Park and the Wickerman Festival.

Infuriatingly, I don't think I've ever seen them perform a completely satisfying set but each gig has contained peaks few other bands are capable of reaching.

So tonight at the Kelvingrove Bandstand, no matter how lost you have been, you will be found; no matter how blind, you will see.

You may or may not get loaded but you will get deep down, you will party and you will get out of the darkness into the light.

Just don't forget to give praise for the band that Primal Scream became in the white heat of rave culture and continue to be all these decades later.