Scotland, a land famous for inventors, is also home to a wealth of incredible bands. From 80s pop and alternative to current hit makers and noisemongers, Scotland hits above its weight class in terms of its contributions to music culture.
The Skids/Big Country
From punk music to playing bagpipe sounds on the guitar, Stuart Adamson quickly became a leading light in 80s alternative music. Guitarist Adamson left the Skids in 1981 (beef with the singer) and whilst they continued for a little while, he moved onto altogether bigger things with Big Country.
Big Country’s signature sound was Adamson and Bruce Watson’s dual lead guitars, whilst Adamson also became lead singer. Albums like The Crossing and The Seer are rightfully remembered as classic examples of Scottish rock music.
Franz Ferdinand
Primal Scream
Cocteau Twins
The sound of heaven, if angels strummed fuzzed out ambient guitars and played along to drum machines. The Cocteau Twins hailed inexplicably from Grangemouth, whose skyline of factory towers and smoke looks more like Mad Max than the Garden of Eden! Still, that’s where they came from, and their blissfully textured sound, filled with Elizabeth Fraser’s gorgeous and distinctive vocals, proved both enormously influential and also quite impossible to emulate. New ways to sing, new ways to play guitar and new paths to take rock music: the Cocteau Twins are an indispensable part of modern music.
Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Frightened Rabbit
I have fond memories of Scott and his bandmates visiting the Glasgow store when I worked in there. A lovely man with an easy smile and soft charm, I was one of the many left in shock when he departed. Still, he and his band left a collection of albums that continues to speak with a special voice: one that many can identify and resonate with.
Simple Minds
Mogwai
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Classic pop song writing with sheets of noise guitar assaulting every available space? Sounds good to me! This was the blueprint for early Jesus and Mary Chain songs, which took that otherworldly innocence of The Ronettes and passed it through Sonic Youth’s guitar mangling sensibilities. The result was equally timeless, and for a few albums at least, untouchable.
Del Amitri
A Certain Ratio
Biffy Clyro
Stadium fillers Biffy Clyro have been carving their own path for over two decades now. Hard rockers who get covered on X-Factor are a rare breed, but for Simon Neill and the Johnston brothers, it’s just part of the story. Meeting each other as teenagers and recording an early EP at Stowe College, the Kilmarnock/Ayr trio were a cult act for a few years before reaching a global audience, one that they’ve kept (and grown) in the years since.
The Proclaimers
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Beta Band
Scottish hip hop? Sort of, yeah, and it was ace! The Beta Band were an anachronism from the beginning, existing at the tail end of Brit pop in a musical landscape that was not exactly hungry for pasty-faced trip-hop-folk. Still, you can’t argue with quality, and their Three E.P.’s record was like a badge of honour in certain circles. Hailing from St Andrews - famous for its university maybe, but not for its music - the Beta Band somehow found themselves in the movie High Fidelity, both on the soundtrack and in person within the movie.
Idlewild
Travis
Why did it always rain on Fran? What did he do when he was 17? These questions will plague you after you become a Travis fan. Authors of massively catchy indie bangers, Travis have quietly built themselves a career of heartstring-pulling confessionals and gently-rocking anthems.
Strawberry Switchblade
Bleed From Within
Brutal heaviness from Glasgow here, proving that it’s not just angular 80s pop for Scottish music! Bleed From Within have been a steadily increasing force of metal core since their inception 20 years ago, using the tried and tested method of heavy touring, support slots and festival appearances to gain popularity. There’s intensity, there’s melody and there are riffs aplenty amid the breakdowns. In short, they have everything a metal band needs.
Orange Juice
Snow Patrol
The Blue Nile
The Blue Nile seem like a secret band you need a password or a handshake to get access to. Whenever their name is mentioned, most people don’t even know them, but one person will always stare off into the distance with a rapt gaze, and then begin telling you each and every bit of their back catalogue that they love deeply.
It’s kind of ‘grown up pop’, if that phrase lands with you? Wikipedia terms it ‘sophisti-pop’, which is agony. Whatever they are, the music is lovely sounding, tasteful and quite unpredictable, The Blue Nile are one of those well-kept secrets that deserve to be shared more often.
Associates
Texas
The Shamen
Forward-thinking, deeply psychedelic electro-rockers The Shamen were both ahead of their time, AND at the right place and the right time. Originally from Aberdeen, founder members Colin Angus, Derek and Keith McKenzie began as a psych rock band, before the brave new world of techno, rave and hallucinogenics brought their sound into a vastly different realm. The Shamen brought together the worlds of spirituality, cyber-culture, the rave-festival scene and some seriously futuristic sounds, in a package that was accessible enough to trouble the charts frequently during the early-to-mid 90s.
When Glasgow held the Commonwealth Games in 2014, it was the triumphant Shamen song Move Any Mountain that proved to be the most appropriate song used for the opening ceremony.
Boards of Canada
Young Fathers
Edinburgh’s Young Fathers are gloriously anachronistic. Frequent collaborators with Massive Attack, Young Fathers are ostensibly hip hop, but that term doesn’t adequately cover the breadth and vision of their sound. Rhythmically heavy and full of texture, their music also works well to picture, which is probably why film director Danny Boyle has commissioned them to create music for both Trainspotting 2 and 28 Years Later.
Aztec Camera
Wet Wet Wet
Belle and Sebastian
Named after a French TV show about a kid & dog which later became a hyperactive anime, Ayr/Glasgow’s Belle and Sebastian represented the more shy, reserved side of indie rock. Their big moment came around the late 90s and turn of the century with records like Tiger Milk. Frontman Stuart Murdoch went on to direct the movie God Help the Girl, which starred Sucker Punch’s Emilie Browning and former Eurovision hopeful Ollie Alexander.
Small Country, Huge Talent
For a small land of only 5.5 million souls, Scotland definitely delivers on the cultural arts front. The list above goes some way to illustrating that fact, but there were just as many bands on the longlist that I didn’t have space for! For those about to rock…make it Scottish!
