The Skids, Big Country and the unsettling story of Stuart Adamson
Word In Your Ear
33,913 views
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
05:31 - The great mystery of Stuart Adamson
06:50 - Beginnings and family
09:03 - Forming the Skids
12:57 - Relationship with fame
14:51 - Leaving the Skids
18:53 - Big Country
22:00 - Steve Lillywhite and new marketing
30:06 - The rock press attacks
33:06 - Hitting the wall
36:52 - Grunge and decline
39:45 - Final years
Stuart Adamson co-founded the Skids and Big Country but was profoundly ill-suited to the spoils of his success. Author Scott Rowley unpacks his passage from Dunfermline to Nashville and Hawaii to get a sense of his demons and what drove and inspired him. He talks to us here about his compelling new memoir ‘Stay Alive: the Life and Death of Stuart Adamson’ and touches on …
… hints of troubled family life in his early lyrics and the shadows of his father and grandfather
… that famous three-word review: “More crusading porridge!”
… the guilt of his success when he returned to his Dunfermline roots
… why learning to sing is unwise!
… how Big Country were saved by Steve Lillywhite and the resentment about their being sold as a pop group
… Nick Drake, Sinead O’Connor … “people who should never have been given a record contract”
… insurmountable friction with Richard Jobson
… how Nevermind made the old rock landscape look outmoded
… “guitars that sounded like bagpipes!” and other hoary old clichés
… “empty, breast-beating, bombastic!”: the rigours of the rock press consensus
… and how Big Country nearly played Live Aid.
Order ‘Stay Alive: the Life and Death of Stuart Adamson’
here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/bo...
Help us to keep the conversation going: Patreon: wordinyourear
20 Comments
One of the things she said was so prescient and goes a long way to explaining factors in Stuart’s decline. Jan touched on the fact that each album sold less than its predecessor and the venues got progressively smaller. This must have been so difficult to deal with and the inverse of how a ‘normal’ career plays out…
Speaking as a recovering alcoholic who stopped drinking in 2001 one thing I can confirm is that, if someone has inner demons the very WORST thing that one can do is reach for the bottle….it takes any bad situation and makes them infinitely worse
Stuart was one of the greatest human beings I ever had the privilege to meet, I am just so sad that he couldn’t get help when he needed it most
RIP Stuart.
I had a wee bookshop in London, and when a artist we liked died, we would put a wee photo up in the window, so anyone who wanted to could come in and say hello. Only for two artists did more people come in, stay, have a wee sniffter, a hug, and a cry; Staurt Adamson and Ian Dury.
RIP Stuart 🙏🏻 🎸
Anyway, there's a clip or two of Big Country on my channel. My small way of making sure they're never forgotten.
Rest easy, Stuart.
The Skids, Big Country and the unsettling story of Stuart Adamson
Word In Your Ear
33,913 views
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
05:31 - The great mystery of Stuart Adamson
06:50 - Beginnings and family
09:03 - Forming the Skids
12:57 - Relationship with fame
14:51 - Leaving the Skids
18:53 - Big Country
22:00 - Steve Lillywhite and new marketing
30:06 - The rock press attacks
33:06 - Hitting the wall
36:52 - Grunge and decline
39:45 - Final years
Stuart Adamson co-founded the Skids and Big Country but was profoundly ill-suited to the spoils of his success. Author Scott Rowley unpacks his passage from Dunfermline to Nashville and Hawaii to get a sense of his demons and what drove and inspired him. He talks to us here about his compelling new memoir ‘Stay Alive: the Life and Death of Stuart Adamson’ and touches on …
… hints of troubled family life in his early lyrics and the shadows of his father and grandfather
… that famous three-word review: “More crusading porridge!”
… the guilt of his success when he returned to his Dunfermline roots
… why learning to sing is unwise!
… how Big Country were saved by Steve Lillywhite and the resentment about their being sold as a pop group
… Nick Drake, Sinead O’Connor … “people who should never have been given a record contract”
… insurmountable friction with Richard Jobson
… how Nevermind made the old rock landscape look outmoded
… “guitars that sounded like bagpipes!” and other hoary old clichés
… “empty, breast-beating, bombastic!”: the rigours of the rock press consensus
… and how Big Country nearly played Live Aid.
Order ‘Stay Alive: the Life and Death of Stuart Adamson’
here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/bo...
Help us to keep the conversation going: Patreon: wordinyourear