The Vinyl Countdown
Shang-a-lang! A new exhibition rocks into town.
This summer promises to be a major celebration of Scottish pop music.
There are fantastic gigs, tours and festivals, major TV and radio series on BBC Scotland and, headlining, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh presents Rip It Up, The Story of Scottish Pop.
The major exhibition will feature over 300 objects, many of which are being loaned directly by the artists and are not normally on show to the public. Curator Stephen Allen picks out his top 10 for us.
Gerry Rafferty
Born in Paisley in 1947, Gerry Rafferty’s career spanned the Glasgow folk scene to international chart success. He first came to prominence as part of the folk band The Humblebums, performing with Billy Connolly. Rafferty became a successful solo performer and singer/songwriter as well as part of the band Stealers Wheel, formed with an old school friend Joe Egan. He continued to record and release material, and also produced The Proclaimers’ debut album. Gerry Rafferty died in 2010, and he is recognised as one of the most talented and loved musicians of his generation. He was close friends with another son of Paisley, celebrated artist John Byrne, who painted several guitars for him including the one we’re showing, which has not been on display before.
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers were hailed as the biggest group since The Beatles, provoking the Rollermania craze. The distinctive look of calf-length trousers with tartan trim and tartan scarves tied round their wrists was adopted by fans. There was great demand for band-related memorabilia and the Bay City Rollers Fan Club had a global membership. We’ll be showing a stage costume jacket worn by Eric Faulkner in the mid-1970s. Eric himself suggested the addition of tartan trim to their outfits and made alterations to his own outfits, a style copied by fans. The jacket was later
collected by a Bay City Roller fan.
The Rezillos
In some ways, The Rezillos are the reason I am doing this exhibition. I have a vivid memory of seeing them performing on Top of the Pops in August 1978, with Eugene Reynolds in a spectacular lime green jumpsuit. I’d no idea at the time they were from Scotland but it was one of those moments that started a lifelong love of music. And now, 40 years later, that same jumpsuit is going on display in this exhibition, along with a wealth of brilliant material from Eugene and Fay Fife. It was fascinating to visit Eugene who, as was the case with quite a lot of our contributors, had this wealth of “stuff” from back in the day that he hadn’t really looked at for 20 or 30 years.
Postcard Records
Punk and New Wave changed music – not just the sound, but the industry. Small independent studios and record labels sprang up everywhere, including Scotland. The old model of having to go to London and sign to a big label to be successful was subverted. Founded in Glasgow by Alan Horne in 1979, Postcard Records billed itself as “The Sound of Young Scotland”, inspired by Detroit’s Motown records. Although only active for a little over two years, its influential stable of post-punk bands and irreverent, stylish tone, exemplified by Orange Juice’s Edwyn Collins, meant Postcard had a lasting impact on future labels and artists. I’m especially pleased to have material from Malcolm Ross, who played in – among others – Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, three of the most influential bands of the period.
Simple Minds
So many famous artists and bands emerged at that time, and we’ll be featuring a real range of them from The Skids, The Associates, Big Country and more. The one to have the greatest commercial success was probably Simple Minds, who went from gigging around Glasgow, to filling stadiums the world over and selling, to date, around 60 million records. Among the objects on show will be two guitars, one painted with Simple Minds song titles that featured on the cover of their Acoustic album released in 2016, the other decorated with Embassy