The Skids
The Skids were formed in the summer of 1977 in Dunfermline Scotland and would go on to make 2 albums and seven singles before 1979 was ended, and all bar one on the Virgin label. Arguably the biggest Scottish punk band of the 1976-79 era, their most successful year was 1979 where they spent over half the year in the singles charts with hits like Charade, Working For The Yankee Dollar and their biggest song, the top 10 hit Into The Valley.
Given time to develop, the band went from from punk to poetical and from lyrics about factories to dodgy Teutonic overtones to Scottish myth. But hey that’s what its all about.
Before they became The Skids (or just Skids) there was a band called Taboo with Stuart Adamson and bassist Bill Simpson that was a bit glam and did mainly covers of the Stones, Bowie and Status Quo. Dunfermline Scotland was known for its heavy metal and was the birthplace of the band Nazareth who had achieved some success. Around mid 1977 the call of Punk came a calling and suitable change of direction, fashion and stage names adopted. A drummer called Tom Kellichan who had just been in cabaret bands joined and a singer called Richard Jobson.
Richard Jobson When we first started I was just an idiot really. I got into the band because I had presence – an image…I was probably the perfect punk guy to be in the band at the time – black and white hair, not frightened to do anything. Sounds, 11.3.78
They were also slightly different in their approach.
Stuart Adamson We’re a lyric based band … we’re too diverse for our own good. Sounds, 11.3.78
At the time their adopted punk names were Joey Jolson (vocals), Alex Plode (guitar), Stevie Cologne (guitar) and Tom Bomb (drums)
John Peel Yes, Jolson. This, according to a mimeographed sheet from No Bad Records of Dunfermline, was the original line-up of the Skids. The anonymous writer of this press release, which accompanied the first Skids single, was of the view that the band was ‘destined for the top’, and he was almost right. To quote further from his thoughtful paragraphs, the Skids were ‘causing a substantial “BUZZ”,’ and this time he was spot on. This was early 1978 and for some months Scottish fanzines had been noising abroad the excellence of Messrs. Jolson, Plode, Adamson and Bomb, remarking that they had moved beyond the confines of pure punk and were evolving into something entirely of their own devising, something that was, or so it was hinted, identifiably Scottish. Sleeve notes, “Fanfare” album
Those fanzines were ones like Kingdom Come and Hanging Around which were strong supporters of the band. Writing for them were Johnny Waller and Ronnie Gurr who joined music papers Sounds and Record Mirror and would do features on the band.
Kingdom Come #7 February 1978 – Click for larger image
The Skids were a phenomenal live act. Solid bass and drums but with a genuinely non trad innovative guitarist in the shape of Stuart Adamson and topped off with the ball of energy that was Richard Jobson. No Bad records was formed by Sandy Muir, local record shop owner and initial manager to start the boys off in the time honoured now punk tradition.
John Peel Thus it was that when No Bad NB1, ‘Reasons’, ‘Test Tube Babies’, and ‘Charles’, reached the sink-pits and stews of London, the Skids already enjoyed the first murmurings of a reputation, and when the band followed the record south they must have hoped for an enthusiastic reception. Back home they had been heard on Radio Forth, for Heaven’s sake, and had supported the Stranglers in Edinburgh, and when they clambered on stage in a Stoke Newington pub they must have been disappointed at the mute, incurious glances of the few regulars which greeted them. Happily, my old brave ones, this performance was enough to win the Skids an outing on Radio 1 and a subsequent approach from Virgin Records. Sleeve notes, “Fanfare” album
The Radio 1 John Peel mentions was his own show and the first of 2 sessions.
1.9.78
1. Hope And Glory
2. The Saints Are Coming
3. Dossier Of Fallibility
4. Six Times
7.5.79
1. Withdrawal Symptoms
2. War Poets
3. Masquerade
4. Hymns From A Haunted Ballroom
John Peel First out of the Virgin gate was ‘Sweet Suburbia’. ‘This white vinyl record has a weird gimmick’, warned the company’s effervescent promotions department mysteriously, adding ‘You’ll like it’. Consumers did, but only a bit, as the record pounced on the number 70 spot in the charts but then fell away into nothingness. ‘The Saints Are Coming’ improved on this, clawing its way as high as 48.
Next on our turntables was ‘Into The Valley’, released in February 1979, which reached the top ten, although the truly discerning preferred the reverse, ‘TV Stars’, assuredly the only record to date to bring together in song the stars of ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Crossroads’ along with Kenny Dalglish, the greatest living Scotsman, and this typist. Sleeve notes, “Fanfare” album
Without doubt a challenge for The Skids was their lyrics and meaning. Though allied to strong chorus and catchy tunes, they were well – impenetrable.
Richard Jobson I think lyrics should be like a kaleidoscope…if you can’t see what I’m on about maybe you can draw your own conclusions….I just like to fill my lyrics with lots of imagery.
Ronnie Gurr (Journalist) Heard live, the lyrics may be undecipherable or inaudible but on paper they are simply unfathomable or vastly rewarding depending on one’s viewpoint. Record Mirror, 10.6.78
Into the Valley
Betrothed and divine
Realisations no virtue
But who can define
Why soldiers go marching
Those masses a line
This disease is catching
From victory to stone
Ahoy! Ahoy! Land, sea and sky
Ahoy! Ahoy! Boy, man and soldier
Ahoy! Ahoy! Deceived and then punctured
Ahoy! Ahoy! Long may they die
In December 1978 Adamson featured in a Record Mirror article on how bands were faring under record company pressure and he revealed discontent with Virgin who he said had forced them to drop songs and be more commercial. Other bands featured in the article, The Saints and The Rezillos had both split because of record company interference and doing nothing to support respectively.
Scared To Dance was released in 1979 making the top twenty though allegedly there were disagreements between Adamson and producer David Batchelor. The band and Jobson had already moved far past its punk roots as this article on the band from, of all places, Smash Hits shows.
THEIR NEW album is great too, and knocks everything else released this year into a cocked hat. A memorable collection of 12 strong tunes and Olympic-qualifying riffs, it’s performed with a truly inspiring brand of developed skill and riotous raw power.
It also boasts some very unusual lyrics from Richard, an intense young man who’s already written a volume of poetry and carries books by French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre around. “They’re all personal,” he says of his mysterious verses, “but I always write them so that people can take something from them.”
The Skids aren’t being deliberately obscure: it’s like their logo says — they’re “Wide Open” to all possibilities. Smash Hits, 22.3.79
More hits followed and their second album, Days In Europa produced by Bill Nelson, was a curious if perhaps misguided affair, not because of the music but the iconography of the lettering used. Nelson was into his more futuristic Red Noise stage by then and Adamson wasn’t entirely bought into the album. Add into it Jobson’s obtuse lyrics that could be interpreted all ways, and the accusations levelled at the band was they were right wing or playing with some dangerous ideas and concepts in some songs.
Richard Jobson ‘Days In Europa’. . . we don’t play that song live, we don’t rehearse it, we’ll never play it again. It is the most dangerous song that I’ve ever written. It came out wrongly. I didn’t do it very well. I deserve certain criticisms. Certain things in that song left a horrible sense of purity and power and destruction. I don’t know what I was when I wrote that. There’s something in that song which is very evil. It is a very evil song. I think it’s horrible. . . bad. I feel badly about it. The Controversies Around Skids Album Days In Europa. (2020, Jun 10)
From the corner
I bled with dismay
Sight of my victims
It was my judgement day
Walking the street
So subtle and calm
Caught in my pocket
Was an Aryan psalm
And the memory shall linger
And the memory shall fall
A day in Europa
My regression recalls
Model the guilty
I blame the blamed
Trangressions liable
To cover in shame
The stainless shall linger
And the guiltless prevail
The day of our glory
My righteousness hails
The album did yield the magnificent Working For The Yankee Dollar that is just sheer brilliance.
John Peel After the Skids third LP, The Absolute Game, Stuart Adamson, by now a highly individual guitarist, resigned his commission, leaving Richard, brother to Meadowbank Thistle’s goal-hungry striker, John Jobson, to soldier on with bassist Russell Webb.
On the stage, amid locker-room gossip that he never simulated anything, no siree, Richard was to be spotted spending evenings lying on top of the celebrated ingénue, Honey Bane, and he could be observed at artistic soirees declaiming his and other folks’ poems in a firm and manly voice. Contemporary with this arts-lab activity Richard was working with Russell on ‘Joy’, an LP in which they ferreted back into Scottish history and culture. Despite a warm review from the Guardian, reaction to ‘Joy’ was pretty frosty and shortly after release the Skids were no more.
Brushing aside with a contemptuous snort all the usual stuff about legacies of fine music, the great sadness in the demise of this most admirable of bands lies, for me, in that in his search for a Celtic identity and sound, Richard Jobson (nee Jolson) overlooked the fact that it was precisely these elements that distinguished the Skids from the post-punk herd in the first place. If you don’t believe me, listen again. Sleeve notes, “Fanfare” album
Last word to Robin Saunders, long time contributor to Punk77 and his take on the band that made Scottish punks swell up with pride.
The Skids…Were fun. Everyone loved the Skids although there were a few head-scratching moments over their bizarre lyrics. “Betrothed and divine” (Into the Valley)? Their first e.p. Charles/Test Tube Babies/Reasons (on No Bad Records) was a gem. Everyone eagerly awaited their first album and…boy was it a disappointment! Jobson’s lyrics were a bit too extra-terrestrial for our liking. However the band were good fun; they might have been pretentious bastards, but they were our Pretentious Bastards.
All the written content on this page is from an article in Spiral Scratch, 9 April 1991 by Alex Ogg called “A Wee Look Back At The Skids.” He says it all so well its pointless me paraphrasing him. Take it away Alex…”With an album Jobson had forty odd minutes to indulge his Rupert Brooke fantasies, but singles saw The Skids stripped down to their basic, fiery elements. Built around the distinctive, and pre-flatulent guitar of boyish knave Stuart Adamson, Jobson could languish in lyrics which would range from punk opera to, yes soap opera. And they were bloody great. Let me explain…”
Charles/Reasons/Test Tube Babies
(No Bad Records March 1978)
Lots of punky bloodlust on these rough and ready mixes, released by then manager Sandy Muir on a record label set up for the purpose. It had just enough spark to set it apart from the crowd, a fact which did not go unnoticed with Mr Peel. It might sound a little jaded in retrospect, but it was fine as an opening volley.
The Skids performing Charles – film by Don Letts
Sweet Suburbia/Open Sound (Virgin September 1978)
The “free gimmick” mentioned on the sleeve refers to the white vinyl pressings fro the 7″, for their major label debut. The A-Side is s a choppy little number of no small merit, though the clarity of Adamson’s fretwork is masked by a fuzzbox. However both sides display the Skids perennial talent for the anthemic chorus. A neat little dig at life in the slow lane.
The Saints Are Coming/Of One Skin/Night And Day/Contusion (Virgin October 1978)
The lead off track, The Saints Are Coming, is a joy. Mott The Hoople meets The Clash in mini Armageddon scenario. Why this isn’t one of ’78’s more fondly remembered new wave tracks escapes me, as style and energy are balanced in equally abundant proportions. The first rhythm breaks were appearing in One Skin and Night And Day displayed further willingness to experiment with the punk formula. They were still riffing away in the background but Adamson was letting his guitar ride over the top with elegant brashness. Not technical virtuosity yet, though that wouldn’t be far away. And there are some genuine “down there” R&B breaks on the final cut, Contusion.
Into The Valley/TV Stars (Virgin February 1979)
From its throbbing bass intro to the snaking guitar fuzz, Into The Valley was the perfect, trashy, punk pop glam single. Jobson on Top Of The Pops was the definitive aristocratic football hooligan as The Skids screamed into the top 19. The live rendition of TV Stars name checking well, TV stars. In there somewhere singing was John Peel, and, to prove what terrace louts they really were, Kenny Daglish. And as it fades out you can just detect Adamson’s guitar striking up the first chords of Will You Go, Lassie Go. The shape of things to come and no mistake.
Punk77 – Stranger still was this email I received explaining Into The Valley. Perhaps it was all about this then…
The Skids are from Dunfermline in Scotland and Into The Valley is about going into a small village nearby for a fight basically. Anyone who lives in Dunfermline (me included) will tell you walking through Valleyfield is a VERY bad idea! But I’m16 so don’t know the time but know I’d get jumped down there! 27.10.2003
Masquerade/Out Of Town/Another Emotion/Aftermath Dub (Virgin May 1979)
A modicum of synth by maestro Bill Nelson prefaced another good single, though a long way from their best. It maintained the tempo of their previous hit and is punctuated by pinpoint drumming and rhythm work, a sadly neglected facet of The Skids sound. This was the first of two double packs to be released, following Adamson’s objection to the coloured vinyl gimmicks which had accompanied all previous Virgin product. The two tracks on offer were by no means essential..
The Skids gave us anthemic choruses and strident guitars but they also gave us that weird way of dancing that Richard Jobson had like a cat skipping on a hot tin roof while can canning. Good though when no one else was dancing as you looked like a one man dance machine as you copied Jobbo’s as opposed to Jacko’s steps. Come to think of it Stuart’s guitar shapes were kinda weird with the guitar and lower half of body moving as one with knees shut tightly and feet nailed to the floor.
Jobbo’s sartorial know how also seemed strangely underdeveloped. Whether the Captain Scarlet uniform and boots for Into The Valley, complete with monogrammed RJ on his top, or those Top Of The Pops television appearances with the dashing double breasted army jacket for Masquerade or that hideous yellow thing for Charade that fellow Scot Sheena Easton must have leant him he had the knack for picking clothes.
Charade/Grey Parade (Virgin September 1979)
Another rollicking single, perhaps a little close in conception and execution to its predecessor, but we could live with that. Another sing a long skids chorus. This time the B-Side captured a radically altered band. The slow tempo of Grey Parade was enough of a surprise without the languishing synth and chorister backing vocals. Almost ritualistic and very Celtic, it showed once again what we might expect of the group in the future.
Jobbo moves to a yellow jumpsuit but it’s the evil Jimmy Saville that sends a shiver down the spine
Working For The Yankee Dollar/Vanguard’s Crusade/ All The Young Dudes/Hymn From A Haunted Ballroom
(Virgin November 1979)
What a corker this was. Again the chorus was not one you could forget in a hurry…(and) featured the most effective use of synth yet with Adamson’s guitar dovetailing nicely. A smash hit in pundit land and a return to form with a vengeance. The free single this time comprised two John Peel session tracks. The first, Bowie’s All The Young Dudes, left you you in no doubt who Jobson wanted to be when he grew up. A Haunted Ballroom was more frightful yet, with the first evidence of Jobson’s, ahem, poetry.
The Skids – Scared To Dance (Virgin February 1978)
Punk77 says: I’m not entirely convinced by The Skids albums so I’ll give the views from the music papers & fanzines below (click for larger readable images) and you can make your own minds up.
Left Kingdon Come review. Abobe NME.
“The Skids have produced an album of virtually no merit: all attitude and no substance. An almost definitive catalogue of modern mistakes. ” NME, 3.3.79
A more modern review from Amazon by D.J.H THorne ****
Despite being heavily into punk and new wave, I somehow avoided The Skids, even though I loved their first hit, ‘Into The Valley’. Perhaps it was the sight and sound of Richard Jobson dancing and singing badly. Like many vocalists after John Lydon’s emergence, he seemed to bluff his way through it all. Listening to ‘Scared To Dance’ now, however, I realise he was right for the band. Their punk credentials rest mainly on Jobson, as the rest of the band could play rather better than most of their competitors. They could have substituted a hard rock vocalist like Ozzy Osbourne or Dan McCafferty for Jobson on certain tracks (the title track in particular) and no one would have thought they were listening to a new wave band. Stuart Adamson’s incendiary guitar work is murderously heavy for the most part, yet full of energy.
As for content, it’s difficult to figure out what most of the songs are about. The lyrics are condensed to the extent that most lines seem to be abbreviated and Jobson’s delivery renders many of them more obscure. War imagery is common among these songs and a marching rhythm breaks in occasionally. The album isn’t short of outstanding tracks: the galloping ‘Into The Valley’, the heavy title track, the rallying, anthemic ‘The Saints Are Coming’ and the most articulate song, ‘Charles’.
It isn’t a perfect album by any means. Two or three of the songs in the second half of the original album don’t have as much of an impact. In particular, ‘Six Times’ is too ambitious, the time signature changes being better left to the prog boys. Even so, it’s one of the superior albums of its era.
Skids – Days In Europa (Virgin October 1979)
Punk77 says: An album that certainly divided people with its cover and lyrics. That said Charade, Animation and Working For The Yankee Dollar are stand out tracks that all charted keeping up their run of success.
RockAndRollMoomin, 2022 An underrated post punk album that kind of feels like a less intentionally ‘quirky’ XTC. It’s still ‘quirky’ in the sense that it’s a bit off the wall and at times even a little awkward. But it feels a bit more naive, and that naivety makes all the accusations of the record “flirting with fascism” just laughable really.
The songwriting is much stronger than Scared To Dance, the previous record and all the songs have a more confident and thought out structure. They still tend to peter out in the same way but not without leaving you with something – most often a competent enough to not being annoying hook, but occasionally a fantastic climax like on A Day In Europa or even a bit of emotion that somehow manages to pierce through Jobson’s Weirdo Voice like on the ballad Home of the Saved.
Worth a listen to even if just for the experience of ‘Working for the Yankee Dollar‘, a now mostly forgotten former UK radio mainstay which was featured in NME (a long running British music magazine) as part of a competition inviting readers to submit their guesses as to what exactly the singer was saying, with prizes for the best response! RockAndRollMoomin, Rate Your Music
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