Growing Up In Scotland in the 70s or 80s.

2. Whatever my big sister was listening to. My big sister.

3. Listen or Bloggs.

4. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Chou Pahrot?

5. See above.

6. No better or worse than anyone else.

Venues/places: the Hootchie Cootchie Club, Tap o' Lauriston, Waterloo Bar, Potter Row, Onion Cellar, Kaleidescope Club at the Caley

http://hemingwoid.blogspot.com

(starts again next week)

fun coloured with the shadow of random violence.

What were the best record shops?

in Glasgow there was Rat Records, Missing, old scummy Virgin before they put lights in, that one in Virginia Galleries, that one in the Sauchiehall Centre, that one that the guy from Belle & Sebastian ran etc etc

Were Bowie, Wilson and Iggy Pop really gods in Glasgow, or just amongst the cool crowd?

Wilson only amongst the cool crowd, Iggy & Mick Jagger were the real gods. Amongst older people Roy 'Tha Big O" Orbison was god.

Do Scots in general have good taste in music?

Only Billy Sloan has (local joke)

x-post

Also worthy of mention is Bruce's Record Shop in Union St across the way from HMV, if only for the fact that (a) one Saturday after the '78 World Cup I and some of my fellow pupils went in there, bought up their stock of "Ally's Tartan Army b/w I Want To Be A Punk Rocker" by Andy Cameron (10p each), went out and smashed them in the street; and (b) we repeatedly went in and bought the same single at 20-second intervals in forlorn attempts to hype them into the charts (e.g. "Transmission" by Joy Division, "Electricity" by OMD, "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" by the Pop Group).

Wasn't Rat the one in Virginia Galleries?
There was also Metamorphic, behind the Trongate or thereabouts. And the one in Shawlands that I can't remember the name of that was good. And the old Fopp.

Wasn't there a shop that appeared near Miller St/Queen St in the late 80's, upstairs I seem to remember.

Also, did anyone go to the record fairs at the McLellan Galleries? God I loved those.

hmm, i think you're right. they did have a shop beside buchanan st underground, but now i remember they started in virginia galleries. 23rd precinct in the late 80s early 90s was an odd shop, with the dance section at the front mobbed by newly e-pacified neds & andy anorak playing beat happening records very loudly in the back room.

x-post

Rebel Records. He didn't run it, he was employed. The owner was a guy called Pete. I suppose you could be forgiven for thinking Murdoch ran it. But he didn't.

There was a definite sixties tendency in the 80s, but a lot of the records that are now perceived as classics weren't really classics then, they were quite oddball things, fairly difficult to get hold of. Things like Love and The Seeds and Suicide and everything and all that.

Fopp was a normal shop, not a bargain bazaar.

There were a couple of shops down Partick Cross, but you knew you were desperate if you ended up there.

I also went to Paisley once. God knows why.

They say it's more difficult to find an unsigned copy of a Sonic Youth record than a signed one in Glasgow. I hope this is true.

Nice to see Andy Anorak getting a mention.

(I wasn't really growing up, I'd done that already.)

I bet they signed shed-loads of stuff that day!

As I was only born in 1980 my years of music fandom didn't really start until the 90s.
I grew up in Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, which was quite nice really. Had lots of wee friends in the street, nice primary school that encouraged us to play musical instruments and paint. Glasgow seemed very far away, even though it was a 45 minute drive.
Started going to Glasgow in my teens, attracted by all the talk of the 13th Note, Nice & Sleazys, Bis and Mogwai in the NME and MM. I remember dark and pokey Virgin on Union St and Missing in its various shops. It's really sad to see Missing reduced to little more than a second hand shop, but it's good to see Dep doing well with the splendid Monorail Records.
To answer yr questions: I found out about music through friends passing on hissy 3rd gen C90s of Nirvana and Metallica. Then I started listening to Marc Radcliffe and reading NME.
A few years previously however, Scottish music just seemed to be about Runrig, Deacon Blue, Texas and other Billy Sloan approved black denim wearing mofos. When all you've got is the Chart Show and TOTP you're never gonna hear about the Pastels or JAMC.

my, how gracious of you :)

There were a couple of shops down Partick Cross, but you knew you were desperate if you ended up there.

oh, there was a great secondhand record shop in Partick, i bought loads of seminal-for-me records there.

Notice how this thread is all about record shops and not about bands?

i could quite happily ramble on about the Batchelor Pad, Dawson, Stretchheads, Cateran, Mackenzies, Desperadoes, etc etc but i doubt anyone would be interested

Which assumes of course that hearing about the Pastels is a good thing - well better hearing about them actually hearing them I suppose.

As I recall, both the Pastels and JAMC were on The Chart Show fairly regularly.

Surreal classic radio - Radio Clyde's Round Table singles review show with Edwin Starr and Stephen Pastel. Starr being thoroughly bemused by the latter's "Truck Train Tractor."

Sorry, I did not mean it to come out like that. I should have said 'one' instead of 'you', if anything.

I liked the Max Walls, but I can't remember the name of their shop on Byres Road.

Was the secondhand shop painted blue inside?

How did you find out about music? Beat Patrol on radio scotland and allan campbell's programme on radio forth

What were the best record shops? Avalanche and the old fopp (pre 1995)

Who were the best scottish bands? see above

Were Bowie ,Wilson and Iggy Pop really gods in Glasgow, or just amongst the cool crowd? dunno, i'm from Edinburgh but i've loved Bowie since i first heard Aladdin Sane aged 10

Do Scots in general have good taste in music - who can say, probably not

Really? Well, I suppose there was a lot of weird stuff you'd hear ten second snippets of during the indie chart. But when I was 8 and listening to Kylie I was hardly gonna pay attention to Mr McRobbie and his shambling chums. I like em now though, especially after Stephen said nice things about my zine.

i think alba is correct that one side of the scottish scene is very old-recordy, i think. (there was also a scarily progressive techno side when i lived there) not that it's a bad thing at all, you get to know about wonderful old stuff, but it can sap the life out of the present day. big star >>>>> teenage fanclub

I think that's a bit of an out of date view. The progressive techno scene still bubbles away underground but Glasgow has one of the most open musical cultures of any city in the UK. You've got weird folk artists, indie popsters, art rockers, electro-punks, laptop boffins, rock n rollers, country singers, outsider artists, a strong improv/avant/jazz scene, with a fair amount of overlap. And, I'm glad to say, surprisingly few Fraz copyists. You'd have to go to London for them.

from what i hear a lot of the people who were most into their stooges/modern lovers/velvets/mc5 purism now seem to be into laptop glitch stuff and psf style japanese noise.

in observing a large group of people i knew while in scotland (including, happily, andy anorak) who were very old recordy and who hate belle and sebastian and now who are, i think, much less old-recordy, i am trying to extrapolate this onto the youth/cultural movement of an entire country. ok?

Perhaps it is just a phase people go through, being less old recordy.

It was covered in mud.

Sadly, I heard Ally Begbie from Dawson died a while back. Can anyone confirm this? Michael Derrick gets tons of props for being a maddy over on the PROLAPSE thread but surely Ally beats even him?

Bachelor Pad (note spelling) are probably the best unsung band from Scotland. First time I saw them opening up for 1000 Violins at Rooftops I just stood there agape. Please correct me if my memories are muddled but I also recall them playing at the very first TFC show (at Glasgow Tech I think). Blew them away of course. Loved them all, but also the Primevals, Rote Kapelle, Dog Faced Hermans, (original) Meat Whiplash, and the fucking Nyah Fearties! I could dredge up any number of obscure Scottish acts, some of who were pretty good (AVO-8, This Poison!, Whirling Pig Dervish spring to mind) but as noted above, I doubt anyone would be interested.

No-one's mentioned poor old Justin Curry from Del Amitri pouring pints for years behind the bar at Fury Murry's, gnashing his teeth while the Vaselines drone on and on and the Keatons wreck the place.

"I remember Edwyn C being extremely uncomplimentary on Radio 1's Round Table in the mid-'80s about a BMX Bandits single."

I think I remember this almost exactly: "Kids, stop writing songs about sweeties and start writing songs about good old rock'n'roll" Great line. BMX Bandits ruled though. And where the fuck was Edwyn from 1985-1995? I remember ONE fabulous gig at the QMU and nothing else. What a bastard. Get well soon.

Record Stores: For some reason I spent a lot of time in the Record Exchange on Jamaica Street. Dunno why. It wasn't that cheap and they stuck huge yellow stickers on everything.

Actually, us cool types followed the Alexander Sisters (featuring Craig Ferguson's sister).

For a few years AK Records in the Savoy Centre (Sauchiehall St) was my source for all things Creation, In Tape, Subway, Ron Jonson and Fierce.

This couldn't support a whole thread so I'll ask here: Taking Sides: Old Pastels vs. New Pastels. Bernice, Brian and Martin were the really cool ones in my book. Let me tell you they could be a powerhouse rock band back then. Though obviously Stephen was a major driving force in the band he was the weak link. Then it became Aggi, Stephen and Katrina. Not even the same band. For me, it's old Pastels all the way.

Don't really remember anyone being much into these guys. The way I remember it(mid-late 80's) it was MC5, Stooges (not Iggy's solo stuff), Syd-era Floyd, Jonathan Richman, Loop, Blondie, Orange Juice, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Swell Maps, The Fall, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, Fire Engines, Chocolate Watchband, TVPs, The Who, Nancy and Lee, etc. Lots of defunct indie bands, old 60's rock'n'roll and/or psychedelia, US Punk and new wave, plus a smattering of current indie bands like the Soup Dragons, Wedding Present, Bachelor Pad etc. Old flyers for the Chocolate Factory, the Wasp Factory or the Magic Roundabout (those names say SO much) will confirm this.

BMX Bandits were big into the Beach Boys, but this wasn't really apparent for years. I'd say their major influence was Jonathan Richman, who was treated like a GOD when he came to Glasgow and played the Renfrew Ferry on St Patrick's day 1990. There is only one other band I've seen treated with such devotional enthusiasm by a Scottish crowd: the Proclaimers.

audio tour of glasgow.... stick it on your mp3 player and find out for yourself.

Now, I've never been a fan, but it's impossible to deny the importance of the Pastels to independent music in Scotland, as organisers and as an inspirational example. All respect is due etc. etc.

Having said all that, I saw them four or five times in the eighties at the insistance of close friends, and I have to say that they were about as far from any conception of a 'a powerhouse rock band' as it would be possible to get. It's a while ago now, and I don't remember line-ups, but at what point was the studded leather gloves and Marshall stacks on ten approach abandoned?

I still have records with those huge yellow stickers on them.

But hey, it's ALL A LONG TIME AGO NOW, and I'm sure we both drank a lot more then. Mostly.

Baby Honey does dispel the shambling, twee idea many people have of the Pastels somewhat. It rocks for sure, with a dark psychedelic edge. Everett True event went so far to describe it as "dead sexy". Well...

Never seen em live though. Last gig was a couple of years ago in East Kilbride arts centre I think. They're just DJing at the Geographic event at the end of the month. But they're recording right now apparently. Yay!

I was the rock reviewer for Aberdeen University's student paper Gaudie, so I saw everyone on the student circuit: Magazine, The Pop Group, Aswad, Ivor Cutler, The Slits, The Stiff Tour, and of course, back home in Edinburgh, things like Josef K, The Associates, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera... In fact, I seem to remember ending up joinin' one o' they bands!

What were the best record shops?

Early Virgin, opposite the King Hero on Thistle Street. Bruce's on Rose Street. I even remember Fast Product's warehouse out near Easter Road. The Other Record Shop on the High Street. Some place on Shandwick Place, another on Raeburn Place. Buying Stevie Wonder from the Comet Superstore off Leith Walk!

Were Bowie ,Wilson and Iggy Pop really gods in Glasgow, or just amongst the cool crowd?

I know for a fact that Paul Haig, Edwyn Collins, Roddy Frame and Billy McKenzie all secretly thought they were David Bowie. Or not so secretly, really. There used to be Bowie Nights up at Clouds discotheque. You'd go there in your "Bowie breeks". They had to balloon. You'd sit there and watch Just A Gigolo on VHS. It got so embarrassing that people started pretending they worshipped Frank Sinatra instead. Frank Sinatra became "the Bowie it was cool to say you liked". There were tribute evenings to Sinatra, and Haig even made an EP of Sinatra covers. Apparently it's awful.

Do Scots in general have good taste in music?

Celts have a lyrical talent for song and words which far outstrips that of the English. Morrissey is an honorary Celt. In fact just about anyone with any talent in British pop turns out to have Celtic blood. If there's a weakness in Scottish music, it's a certain saccharine melodic lyricism. We're basically rather sentimental. We're also the most unbearable New Romantics at heart. We all have an inner Midge Ure.

By the way, Justin Curry (mentioned above) is actually Justin Currie. I should know, we share a grandfather, William Currie.

Dude! Man, if only I'd known that I would have added you to the list of famous former Gaudie people in the graduation edition of 2002. You weren't there the same time as Nicky Campbell?
Looks like you had a great time to be writing for the student paper. Sadly it was all Travis and Coldplay when I was music ed. Although receiving the promo of Stankonia was very exciting.

One Up in Aberdeen remains a damn good shop. I think it's been there for years. It wasn't a great place for gigs, although I did see great, great performances by Flaming Lips, Beta Band and Love in my time there.

Sorry about that. I should know this as the first gig I ever went to was a Del Amitri gig in about 1984. Of course I arrived about 5 hours too early. In the 80's the gigs seemed to begin ridiculously late. I can honestly remember bands coming on stage at Rooftops at 3am. Del Amitri kind of sat out the mid-80's before re-emerging hugely after the post-postcard scene had kind of eaten itself.

Hi five from an older Gaudie rock ed to a younger one!

You weren't there the same time as Nicky Campbell?

I was indeed. He also went to the same school as me. He kept telling me to "come out of the closet". He used to swagger about the Sports Pavilion Cafe, fraternising with everyone. He was a DramSoc type, though, whereas I tended to hang out with Gray's Art School people. I didn't really want to socialize with the types of people I'd been at Edinburgh Academy with. DramSoc just seemed to be a way for them to enhance already obscenely high levels of self-assurance. How I laughed when Chris Morris put a Nicky dig into Nathan Barley: a magazine cover announcing "Nicky Campbell: the burden of my genius".

Blood Uncles
Goodbye Mr MacKenzie
Three Johns
The Membranes
Gin Goblins
Expoited
Nirvana

Or am I getting two different guys mixed up?

What others.

Indeed it is... Not that I remember. I find it hard to imagine. I worked on Thistle street for the last few years. There's not a lot there really... The World pub; that's about it. "King Hero" sounds cool.

example:
"Oh yeah there's a famous black singer called Labi Sifre he's quite cute but he's also a chubby chaser big time ... " - Big John Duncan

Actually, on the subject of this thread, my memories of Glasgow in the '70s was as a mega dirty city complete with mud, and it's part the reason I've been in Edinburgh for 15 years or so; but I noticed last week that the very last dirty building has been knocked down, on the corner of Bath street and West Nile street.

Yes, I rather enjoyed that. He came up in 2002 to record his discussion show when the Scottish Parliament came to Aberdeen for its holidays and the Queen visited. I was editor of the paper at that point and we went out looking for him. Wasn't difficult to find - he was lurking around the entrance to King's College with his production team. His whole demeanour was "I'm Nicky Campbell, who the fuck are you?" He took all the pretty girls from the paper out for drinks while us guys sat in the office scowling. The girls got an interview about his time at Aberdeen though. I'll go look it out and see if there are any revelations.
Was the Gaudie in the damp, drafty basement of Luthuli House back in the early 80s?

No, they're still there, still the same guys, still fans, and I make a point of buying tickets of them instead of TicketBastard.com

It was in a back courtyard off the Gallowgate, just round the corner from what was then the Students' Union, but I think is now called the Bon Accord Centre.

There's only one way to remember scotland in the 90s....

It was in a back courtyard off the Gallowgate, just round the corner from what was then the Students' Union, but I think is now called the Bon Accord Centre.

The Bon Accord centre is a modern shopping centre. It's pretty shit really, just your usual shops. The Student Union building is still there but it's no longer the union cos the fuckwit that was in charge sacked all the experienced managerial staff and installed his clueless SRC chums. Oops, did I say that? Wish I had when I was editor. Anyway, it's all in the past.

The Fubar in Stirling is still there, although its days of happy hardcore glory are behind it. Happy hardcore had an incredible stronghold on Stirling teens until the late 90s however. I remember being subjected to the same Bonkers tape and Be Here Now almost every day in my skivey computing module class. As a hip-hop fan I was disgusted at the time by its complete absence of funk but I find it quite funny now. Still rubbish mind you.

I loved Lost in Music on Byres Road. I bought the Drill ep by Radiohead in there for 50p.

The one that was in Partick, just along from the Partick Tavern, was good for getting chart albums cheaper than the big town horrible places. I also liked Music Mania at the bottom of Byres Road, mostly because it was about a minute's walk from my house. And it sold Sarah t-shirts.

The Wasp Factory was Stuart Murdoch's thing. Have you still got flyers? I did some of them, including a ridiculously optimistic one of 'upcoming bands' which included Pussy Galore. I even did a little drawing.

I am looking forward to this Chocolate Watch Band compilation as an example of the Sound of Young Scotland, mid to late eighties:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007RFONE/qid=1113049504/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-8095063-7235853

The other great place to go and see a band was Greenock.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/jobhosle/flyer1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/jobhosle/flyer2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/jobhosle/flyer3.jpg

The Snorkels were various members of the Bellshill mafia (Norman, Jim etc)in diving gear.

"The Wasp Factory was Stuart Murdoch's thing. Have you still got flyers? I did some of them, including a ridiculously optimistic one of 'upcoming bands' which included Pussy Galore."

Nah, probably don't have any flyers but who knows? All my shit from those days is in storage several thousand miles away. I have no memory of Stuart Murdoch at all, although our path may have crossed (I had no idea he was involved with the Wasp Factory). Pussy Galore played a legendary gig Sonic Youth at the Far Out Club in 1985. Supposedly blew minds.

Q: What bands did you listen to and how did you find out about music?
A: 1979-84: Dead Kennedys, Revillos, Dickies, Devo, B-52s, Talking Heads, Specials, Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Orange Juice, Pink Floyd, ELP, ABBA, Marillion, Meatloaf, Ivor Cutler, Ramones, Monty Python, Bonzo Dog Band, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Buzzcocks.

1984-1990: Most of the previous ones but also Foetus, BMX Bandits, Cud, Bachelor Pad, ZZT, US Punk Rock, Pastels, Cardiacs, Sudden Sway, the Stupids, Snuff, Stretcheads, Fall, McCarthy, Matt McGinn, Adam McNaughton, Wonderstuff, PWEI, Soup Dragons, Camper Van Beethoven, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth,Butthole Surfers, etc.

I found out about music from the weekly music press (Sounds, Melody Maker, NME in that order), fanzines (Coca-cola Cowboy, Are You Scared To Get Happy, Pure Popcorn, Slow Dazzle, Baby Honey, Legend!, tons of others that I've forgotten), radio (Peel, Beat Patrol, Janice Long), and listening to music in clubs.

Q: What were the best record shops?
A: CASA Cassettes deserves a mention. Very unique selection.

Q: Who were the best scottish bands?

A: The Bachelor Pad were probably the best band of the late 80's - great songs, great live, great records, great attitude. I have a clear memory of US bands playing in Glasgow and just blowing everyone away with their energy and musicianship (I'm sure no-one needs reminding that a lot of the UK indie bands of the 80s could be pretty inept performers). Redd Kross, Camper Van Beethoven and Dinosaur Jr spring to mind - I believe they had a small but significant effect on the musicians in the city at the time.

Q: Were Bowie ,Wilson and Iggy Pop really gods in Glasgow, or just amongst the cool crowd?

A. The biggest gods I can think of amongst my peers and those we came into contact with were The Ramones. By my time Bowie was just an establishment fixture along with Bono and Peter Gabriel. Iggy was revered by cool types for his Stooges days and Brian Wilson was unknown but revered by a select group(Duglas from the BMX Bandits always promoted the Beach Boys and did a BBC Radio Scotland show all about SMILE in about 1990).

Q: Do Scots in general have good taste in music?

A: Have you ever listened to Runrig or Scheme? ie. No.

I don't know why they aren't better known. Not twee enough to fit the 80's/Scottish template? Being from Edinburgh won't have helped.

Basically they sacrificed their own reputation for a shot at the big time, followed by a legacy-damaging second kick at the can.

When did Billy Sloan 1st start writing for the Daily Record? Was he around in the late 70's?

DANTE VIDEO DEAD GOOD Apr 3 2005

Billy Sloan

EL PRESIDENTE nearly came a cropper while shooting the video for their great new single, 100 MPH.

Frontman Dante Gizzi had to perform the track lying on his back in a coffin.

The Glasgow band play King Tut's on May 25 as part of the annual 10 Days In May mini-festival.

He told me: 'The video is based on those 1960s picture square puzzles where you had to slide panels around.

'It was weird and very uncomfortable doing it for hours. But the end result was worth it because it looks amazing.'

Who was that other scottish rock band from lanarkshire. The singer was born in N Ireland and married to the VJ from Headbangers Ball. I can't remember his name or the bands name.
They were shite anyway. Did a cover of "You ain't seen nothing yet" and it was horrible.

By lame second Shop Assistants line-up, you mean the one that put out "The Big E Power" and "Here It Comes"? I really like that singer, actually; she sounds less Sundays, more riot grrrl. The Trouser Press says she was the bass player.

What were those shows like?

The Almighty, I think? Repressed memories come flooding back...

Were there any other Scottish heavy rock/metal bands around in the 80s? (that weren't Nazareth)

Was there a metal scene anywhere?

This second line-up was kind of a mish-mash of ex-Meat Whiplash people and ex-Shop Assistants, although I don't really remember or know for sure who was there. Saw them a couple of times in pubs in places like Troon and Ayr. A bit of a come-down as they had been headlining at the QMU only three years earlier. It wasn't too impressive since their numerous imitators had taken their template and advanced it by then, and not many people were interested. By the way, "Here It Comes" was originally the b-side to Meat Whiplash's only single "Don't Slip Up" from 1985. Now THAT'S what I call a classic.

the virgin megastore when it first opened on princes street was actually mega for a few years. it stocked every independent release that came out ( it even had a section for the homosexuals) and had the best euro / kraut rock section i have ever seen. when cds arrived, the buying policy went tits up and it went rapidly downhill. sadly most of edinburgh's great record shops - listen, phoenix, ezy rider and the other record shop all went out of business at around the same time (late 80's). by then i had moved to glasgow which also used to be a great city for record shooping.

sadly missed glasgow record shops - a1 (became fopp), ak, rat, dub2, echo.

i saw the shop assistants many, many times (the original line up) as my best friend played in a band called rote kapelle who were part of that shop assistants, jesse garon, 53rd and 3rd scene. it wasn't really my type of thing as i was a foetus freak at the time but they were very good live. must dig out 'safety net' and see how it has aged.

and x - post

Were there any other Scottish heavy rock/metal bands around in the 80s?

there were a few scottish heavy metal bands in the early 80's that were part of the new wave of british heavy metal. one that springs to mind is holocaust who were on the label of the phoenix record shop. i could be wrong but i think metallica covered one of their songs. heavy metal and the prog revival (marillion, pendragon, iq etc.) was deliriously popular on the east coast.

chou pahrot are mentioned at the top of this thread. several of my older glaswegian friends talk of them in hushed tones. did they ever release anything?

also, if anyone has any info about a mid 80's edinburgh band called the new york pig funkers, i would be very, very gratetful.

Missing Records was great way back before they moved to the big shop on the corner then the even bigger shop a few streets away.
Its back now where it used to be but its 2nd hand only now. I don't even bother going in there now.

ILX Lists The Best Record Shops In The UK Thread.

I mentioned them upthread as being one of my favourites. I played "A Gasfire" recently. It's still pretty wild sounding for a Scottish band. I was also a Foetus freak at the time but I still liked RK, but they didn't really fit it with the Scottish scene at the time anyway. Unusually their label was Intape (curated by Marc "Lard" Riley), I think the only Scottish band on that label. Most of the other bands were lumpy, angular, shouty or jokey types from the Manchester area which I think suited Rote Kapelle better than the 53rd&3rd/Narodnik scene. I believe they actually date from before the whole Shop Assistants thing really took off.

Most of the members were also in either the Desperadoes or the Fizzbombs who respectively jangled and buzzed away in the common Scottish styles of the time. Is it possible that the three bands that made that little scene suffered because they spread themselves too thin? They were obviously talented but it's disapointing that none of them reached any degree of fame since all three were most righteously excellent.

just saw this upthread and i am happy to say that he is alive and well. well, he was about a week ago.

reading all this has brought back so many memories. the abiding one is moving to glasgow in '86 and being somewhat taken aback by just how many indie kids or 'cuties' as they were known there were. still, thee cutie club - texas fever - played some wonderful, wonderful music.

yey! thanks for cheering me up stirmonster - i went to school with ally and was saddened by the original post. will put on my copy of 'romping egos' now ... oh and Scheme, argh!

I don't think there was ever a question of spreading themselves too thin - you had a big line up of diverse, creative folk, who were all huge fans of different types of music. There were a LOT more than three other bands involving RK members, and there always seemed to be energy to spare.

Did the top tier really sway as much as the legend suggests?

Ha ha, actually I only said Chou Pahrot were the best band in Scotland as a joke! And now it turns out they were "some legendary 70's glasgow band"! The only reason I know of them is because I had an older cousin who used to go on about them, particularly their song "Lemons For Your Face", I think they played quite often when gigs by local bands were a rarity. From what I can gather they were a kind of Zappa/Gong influenced hippy band with saxes, funny time signatures, daft pseudonyms etc - in fact, the sort of thing that people go apeshit for these days!

We won the Cup, we won the Cup, we won we won, we won the Cup

how did I miss this thread

Painfully true

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7scMC7YSDQ

Hah, yes.

School holidays were the worst though. Kids TV shows didn't start until the English kids went on holiday. Of course when we went back to school we missed out on a month of TV shows being shown.

glad to see a few scheme references on an ilm thread

this thread is a great read, even though / because it's largely about an era of glasgow a bit before anything i know.

having been away from scotland for going on five years i feel i've completely lost touch with glesga's music scene, what's going on now?

tons going on at the moment glasgow. i'd say it is probably the best it has been for music since i moved here in 1986.

in the subsequent decade since this thread was started i have finally heard legendary 70's glasgow band chou parrot's music. they sound just about exactly how i imagined. this one (which may be at the wrong speed) sounds like it should have been the theme tune to something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Q2DAvEv34

Klub Records - the same as Ally's Tartan Army and using the same producer, Peter Shipton.

Will need to listen to that when I get up the road.

Was in glasgow in the autumn for the first time in three years and all the posters for gigs were for bands I hadnae heard of, well and truly out the loop. Keep meaning to do a wee trawl of soundcloud or whatever.

Thanks Stirmonster, that Chou Pahrot EP sounds great.

Golden Teacher are the best Glasgow band right now

^^^ one of the few contemporary bands ive listened to (on the internet) and they're really great

There's a group called Haight Ashbury that are good too. I saw them supporting Young Marble Giants at Stereo last year and I'm fairly sure they're local

I don't really follow the local music scene too closely though. I know that's bad

I saw Golden Teacher in a gazebo in the dark at the Botanic Gardens in Dundee a couple of years ago, they were pretty good fun. (My old band played in a shed, the lights were on).

my last night living in dundee (mid-2011) involved a night at the botanic gardens though uh i don't remember anything, i'm sure i saw some good and interesting stuff

"Stray dogs round-up succeeds"

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/paisley-propelled-epicentre-uks-punk-24196332

More late 60s than 70s/80s but this rings true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-y6JqXjQQ