Stuart Adamson.

[Mickyk]

What a waste of talent. Beam me up and drop me in that Tube performance in 1983

 

[Lozz196]

Sadly his demons were too strong for him to beat, a great shame as imo he was an amazing talent.

[Mickyk]

10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Sadly his demons were too strong for him to beat, a great shame as imo he was an amazing talent.

He sure was Bud.

[pete.young]

RIP Stuart.

[edstraker123]

I probably still listen to Big Country more than any other band. What a unique sound they had and such a tragedy for Stuart to end in that way.

[ezbass]

The Crossing is one of my absolute favourite albums to come out of the ‘80s. I still feel sad when I think about Stuart, same for Chris Cornell.

[vbance]

Their new years eve gig at Barrowlands,in the early eighties, is one of my all-time favourite live performances...would have loved to have been there.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Great writer and performer. Sadly missed.

And as for Big Country? What a collection of musicians. Made some cracking music. 

[Bassassin]

I was a massive fan of Stuart, BC and The Skids - when Fields Of Fire came out, & subsequently The Crossing, it coincided with me starting to take songwriting & composition seriously, and using the guitar as a writing tool. It's entirely fair to say he was my single biggest influence as a guitar player & songwriter at that point.

 

I got the opportunity to meet him briefly in the early 90s & told him so - he seemed genuinely humble & flattered. Such a loss, it broke my heart when he took his life.

[DGBass]

I met Stuart and the band in 1982 when they were doing a few warm up gigs around Scotland prior to their first UK tour. Thoroughly nice bunch of guys, and very down to earth. They sat pre-gig at a table having a beer in the lounge with everyone else in the club. The gig that evening was at a local Disco Club called the Mayfair Lounge in my hometown in North Lanarkshire. I was still in my teens at the time, a big SKIDS fan, and quite thrilled to speak with the man himself. Tony Butler was also a complete gent and was quite happy to talk about his rig. It was the first time I'd ever seen Trace Elliot gear in the flesh. He was using a four cab setup with two amp heads, and that evening was playing an Aria Pro II TSB bass. Stuart and Bruce were both using their early trademark HH combos and Yamaha SG's. Mark had an enormous drum kit. I always remember that gig well as it was very LOUD but super clear and perhaps a bit overkill for the size of the club. The next time I saw them live just a few months later was at Tiffany's (the Locarno Ballroom) in Glasgow playing to a crowd of thousands when they hit the big time with their singles Harvest Home and Fields of Fire, and of course their album The Crossing. I always remember them as a lovely bunch of down to earth guys, and fantastic musicians. They made some iconic music in their time, and were great influences for me musically.  

[Steve Browning]

He was also a huge Be Bop Deluxe fan and tracked down, and bought, the white Hoyer Les Paul on the back cover of Axe Victim. 

[ezbass]

18 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

He was also a huge Be Bop Deluxe fan and tracked down, and bought, the white Hoyer Les Paul on the back cover of Axe Victim. 

Top knowledge there, Steve!

[tubbybloke68]

A very talented man, used to love the skids! Bass break in ‘out of town’ still makes me tingle when i listen to it even after all these years x 

[Frank Blank]

Big Country didn't do a lot for me but I was a huge fan of Skids (their name does not includeThe), a brilliant, brilliant guitarist.

[Skybone]

The man was a brilliant talent, sad loss.

[NancyJohnson]

I saw Big Country a few times. 

 

Just before The Crossing was released, me and a mate flew to Jersey to see them.  He worked for an airfreight business, they had an office in St Helier and he got someone to procure tickets; both of us had family working at BA, so we got cheap flights out.

 

We had nowhere to stay and travelled in shorts and t-shirts.  Found a room in Pontac.  Gig day we thumbed a lift to St Helier (in a Lords Taverners minibus!), found the venue (Fort Regent Centre) and just holed up in a bar there.  We saw the load-in and then Stuart and Bruce came in.  This was mid-afternoon.  Drink was drunk.  They're stunned that anyone would want to fly somewhere to see them.  We were invited in for the soundcheck...it was just me and my mate and a couple of crew (private gig!), more drink (Stuart gave us fresh t-shirts), then the gig.  It was a great gig.

 

Next morning we were on standby flights, so we're at the airport at 7.00am, same clothes.  Band come in, see us, Stuart cheers (I remember him putting his arms up like he'd scored a goal), he tells me proudly that he's bought a wristwatch for £2.99 (this memory has stuck with me, him just going, '£2.99!'.). It's noticeable that despite the hour, he's not holding back in the spirits.

 

Cleared to fly, we're on the same flight...Stuart is cheering when he sees us boarding.  He's in the row behind us.  Amazingly, Kenny Dalgliesh us sitting in the row in front of us.  Over the years, we run into Stuart a few times and he always made some remark about the Jersey blokes.  

 

I genuinely miss him, it was a tragic, terrible, lonely and pointless death.  I often wonder what could have been, but at least his legacy us pretty much intact.

 

 

[Musicman666]

 ...it was a late balmy sunset afternoon ..there were fires and flags randomly scattered amongst the restless reading rock festival

 crowd ...hundreds of bottles of piss flew from one encampment to the other relentlessly,  it reminded me of some medieval tribe going to war ...so what better band to get them all riled up than big country sounding the pipes ...they were truly in their element ...this was what they had been preparing for ...i had never seen them live before  and i would never see them again but that was ok because i knew i had seen them at their best ..

Edited 4 hours ago by Musicman666

[Lozz196]

On 30/01/2026 at 20:00, Frank Blank said:

Big Country didn't do a lot for me but I was a huge fan of Skids (their name does not includeThe), a brilliant, brilliant guitarist.

I was fortunate enough to play with the Skids, two things struck me, first Richard Jobson is such a nice bloke, second was that although I was never a major fan just how many of their songs I knew. If asked I’d probably have said 2 or 3 max but ended up knowing well over half their set. Sign of a good band that.

[uncle psychosis]

I regularly travel past the street named in his honour. Nice touch from the local council in Fife. 

 

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fife/4376146/stuart-adamson-crescent-fife-street-tribute/

[NancyJohnson]

Redux.

There's a load of photos from Jersey.  

 

Stuart

 

We were crawling over the soundcheck:

 

 

St Helier airport 7.00am (note t-shirt that Stuart gave me).  I'd just come back from Spain, hence my complexion reflecting mu Portuguese heritage.  And glasses!:

 

I had nothing to sign, so I bought a book and they signed that!