Threepeat Thursday: "All" Things Scottish
A special edition of Threepeat Thursday, dedicated to my penchant ...
Good morning. Several times over the past week there have been mentions of my abiding love for Scottish bands. It’s come up a few times on Threads, and my scintillating copy here on Substack seems to get more comments when I’m mentioning Scots. Maybe I’m imagining it, trying to find more reasons to seek out more of my preference. Who knows?
A Special Edition Of Threepeat Thursday
Funnily enough, as much as I love Frightened Rabbit, and they are my ALL TIME favorite Scottish band, they are not the band that set me on my path.
In the ‘80s
It began much earlier, with squealing guitars pitched to sound like bagpipes. That’s right, my first Scottish music love is Big Country. And while most of us in the USA were enamored with “In A Big Country,” I quickly requested and was gifted the album, so I could dig in. I was twelve or thirteen. I’m pretty sure that’s where it all started.
And while they, for many initial fans, slowly faded into obcurity, I remained a Big Country fan through several albums that didn’t chart in the states, and got little to no radio play.
And in the ‘90s
Enter a little band you might remember, they were called Nirvana. And they loved to do obscure covers. They covered DEVO. They covered a Wipers song. But the covers that stood out, for me, were The Vaselines covers. So, as a college student, I did what any college student would do, started digging through bins at the recod store to find what I could. And The Vaselines became my next Scottish music obsession.
And, finally, in the ‘00s
Which band made the biggest impact in my 30s? While I discovered quite a lot of Scottish music in the ‘00s, including my beloved Frightened Rabbit, the band that grabbed me early on and stayed with me was Idlewild. Roddy Woomble is a fantastic singer and storyteller. His solo albums are also big favorites for this gal. But Idlewild grabbed me when they stormed the USA with “You Held The World In Your Arms,” and I immediately began my usual process of digging deeper and finding as much of their music as I could.
And Today?
I’m still seeking, finding, and adoring Scottish music. Frightened Rabbit led me to We Were Promised Jetpacks, who led me to Malcolm Middleton, and then I looked backward to Arab Strap. Backward and forward I went, until I “collected” as many Scottish bands as I could. And I hold them all close to my heart to this day!
Here Are The Playlists:
Play With Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/threepeat-thursday-all-things-scottish/pl.u-d2b0v0lFLz1r8No
Play With Tidal:
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/8daf69f5-f297-4be8-95d9-6e8dec38cf7b
And there you have it. My continuing obsession with Scottish bands. It hasn’t diminished over some forty years. And even when I go on new geographic bents, I’ve lately had a thing for German bands, I still return to the Scots. Did I mention there’s not one drop of Scottish blood in this body? LOL. Irish, yes. Scottish, none at all.
Please share your favorite Scottish songsters with me. The lesser known, the better. Have I persuaded any of you to dig a little deeper into the depths of Scottish rock and indie rock?
God, I love The Vaselines - and yes it was Nirvana's Unplugged which led me to do a deeper dive and buy that fantastic Enter The Vaselines collection. I seem to remember a decent comeback album from them a few years later, but it's always going to be those early classics that astonish. HOW did they write those songs?? As for other Scots I love, there's Belle & Sebastian, of course, with one of the best discographies of the last few decades - but only up through The Life Pursuit. After that, there's a song or two, but mostly a sad decline. Then there's Simple Minds, unquestionably one of the best bands of the late 70s to early 80s - up until their own decline after Sparkle In The Rain. In more recent years, I've loved a lot of what C. Duncan has put out, especially 2019's Health, which hit my Top 25 that year: https://anearful.blogspot.com/2019/12/best-of-2019-top-25.html. I think you're going to like him, too!
Where to start!!!! BIG COUNTRY!!!!! I can’t say I have ever dived deeply into their music but at age 15, “Through A Big Country” was one of my most played albums and I love every song on it ❤️
I only discovered “The Vaselines” a couple of months back when “Enter The Vaselines” was randomly playing in Rough Trade. I was immediately hooked in by “Son of a Gun” which brought to mind another great Scottish indie band “Belle and Sebastian”.
I’ve never listened to “Idlewild” but enjoyed all three of these tracks.
In terms of Scottish bands I would recommend, obvious candidates are the wonderful “Vistas” and “Biffy Clyro”, although I’ve failed to listen to any of their new releases since “Ellipsis”. “The Snuts” are also great, especially recent single “Gloria”. Up and coming bands “Spyres” and “Dead Pony” are definitely worth a listen and, maybe a little out of left field, I also love “Honeyblood” and “Lucia and the Best Boys”.
Great playlist. Really enjoyed this one.