Inside Arts
Nostalgia a growing trend around Scottish music, writes Brian Ferguson
Its official launch is a few weeks away yet, but a sneak preview of Rip It Up, the National Museum’s exhibition on the history of Scottish pop and rock music has already provided plenty food for thought.
It offered me the chance to head down memory lane with some of the key figures involved in both the industry over the years, and the exhibition, including singers Barbara Dickson, Karine Polwart, Richard Jobson and Fay Fife.
My lengthiest chat was with Bruce Findlay, former record shop owner, independent label founder and, of course, manager of Simple Minds for 12 years, including their 1980s stadium-conquering pomp. Incredibly, it is nearly 40 years to the day since the initial encounter between Findlay and then teenage frontman Jim Kerr, which set Simple Minds on the road to fame and fortune.
And four decades on, Simple Minds are still going strong and pulling huge crowds like the 20,000-odd who turned out to see them perform last weekend at BBC’S’S Biggest Weekend event in Perth. In September they will play Dundee’s new Slessor Gardens arena just days before its V&A museum opens to the public.
In Perth, I was taken aback by not just the turnout, or Jim Kerr’s age-defying acrobatics, but the fact punters at least half my age were merrily singing along to anthems which Simple Minds released before they were even born.
Comparing the lengthy list of bands the museum has revealed will be featured in Rip It Up alongside this year’s concert and festival schedules is intriguing to say the least.
Deacon Blue and Primal Scream, both born of the 1980s, have headline festival slots, while Del Amitri and Altered Images, from the same era, are among the acts appearing at Edinburgh Castle’s esplanade. The Proclaimers have sold out every date on an extensive tour of Scotland months in advance.
Runrig may be bowing out after 45 years this summer, but sold out two huge gigs in the shadow of Stirling Castle in August as soon as quickly as tickets could be snapped up.
The Skids, Big Country, The Rezillos, The Pastels, The Vaselines, Jesus and the Mary Chain and The Fire Engines – all from the late 1970s and early 1980s – have gigs in official Rip It Up spin-off events in June and August.
None of these acts have had uninterrupted careers. In some cases, they were on extended hiatus for decades. Others became deeply unfashionable as record sales dwindled away.
But all of these acts, and many more like them, have recently found that there are audiences who want to see and hear them in the live arena – no matter how far behind their heydays were.
It is not a complete coincidence that Rip It Up has come when there has been a revival of, and resurgence of interest in, so many.
Vic Galloway, the broadcaster behind an official Rip It Up book, as well as official TV and radio series linked to the exhibition, believes we are living through a period of more nostalgia around Scottish music than ever before.
This has obvious implications for the modernday music festival trying to capture that crucial 16-26 demographic – but also having to appeal to punters in their 40s, 50s and beyond.
The event industry in Scotland has almost had to reinvent itself to cater for audiences given the unexpected chance to relive the soundtrack of their lives with their old favourites in the flesh.
Given the level of interest the museum exhibition has already generated, it will be no surprise of many its stars feel the urge to linger even longer in the limelight.