Rip It Up (BBC)

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Arts Documentary hosted by Laura Fraser, published by BBC in 2018 - English narration

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Scotland is a renowned pop music nation, and its artists are loved around the world. But it wasn't always that way. Since the global birth of pop in the 1950s, Scots have overcome obstacles and blazed their own trail to make the music they loved - and bring it to their biggest fans.

[edit] Chapter 1: Blazing a Trail

The biggest names in Scotland's early pop story tell their own unique tales in their own words and share how they went from bedroom dreamers to international superstars. Celebrated solo performers like Lulu and Donovan are joined by members of pioneering groups, including The Skids, Nazareth, The Incredible String Band, Josef K, The Average White Band, Middle of the Road, The Rezillos, The Beatstalkers and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

These musical mavericks had to invent Scottish pop from the ground up - and they did. The first act in Scotland's pop story takes in schoolboy skiffle, psychedelic folk revolution, a 'beat riot', gallus rock rebellion and the unique story of Scottish punk.

Along the way, Scots have picked up guitars and formed bands, built a loyal following of fans, pioneered a touring circuit all over the country and broken fresh ground in new musical genres.

This is the untold story of the first wave of Scotland's pop creativity; it takes in everything from the tale of how an Edinburgh schoolboy of the 50s became Scotland's first pop star to the dodgy early days of real rock legends.

It covers a multitude of our favourite genres over three decades of musical invention: punk, 60s beat, hard rock, folk, new wave, funk and R&B, glam and pure, unadulterated pop.

[edit] Chapter 2: Success and Excess

Traces the humble beginnings of some of Scotland's biggest-ever bands to show how they evolved, riding the waves of the music industry in order to achieve unprecedented levels of commercial success.

This programme looks at how Simple Minds grew from the ashes of punk and post-punk, and how they adopted new technology - the synthesiser - which set them on a course for world pop domination in the 80s. Through the prism of the synthesiser, it also looks at how Simple Minds contemporaries The Associates and Altered Images impacted the pop charts and made it OK to be weird on Top of the Pops.

The second part of the programme looks at how Scotland in the 1980s experienced a pop enlightenment as bands such as Wet Wet Wet, Deacon Blue, Texas and The Proclaimers began to hit the charts with songs rife with social commentary. We see here that there is a lot going on underneath the shiny pop exterior of the 1980s.

The timeless artistic tension between success and credibility is then explored through art-dance mavericks The KLF as we examine their contribution to the debate (at great personal cost!). These ideas are explored further through the realms of independent music featuring acts such as Primal Scream and KT Tunstall, before ending on a band that encompasses many of the themes in the programme - Chvrches.

The show has a wide scope, covering synthpop, stadium rock, glossy pure pop, indie and arthouse dance. It is about the success that music can bring and the strange excesses that often go hand in hand with that success, whilst asking the central question - can you be successful and keep your credibility?

[edit] Chapter 3: DIY or Die

Tells the story of the evolution of the Scottish music industry and the bands that helped nurture it and still support it today.

Beginning in the 80s, the programme examines a generation of disaffected Scottish youth, who were desperate for music and pop culture that spoke to their experience of everyday life. This came with the bands The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins. It also looks at the birth of the the nascent indie scene in Bellshill, featuring bands such as Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits and The Soup Dragons.

The second part of the programme shines a light on the part played by dance music through SOMA Quality Recordings and then looks at one of Glasgow's proudest exports, Chemikal Underground, who played host to acts such as Arab Strap, The Delgados and Mogwai.

The final part brings the story fully up to date, showing that the music industry in Scotland has diversified in a way that supports artists who make music for the love of it, rather than to make loads of cash. Featured bands and artists include King Creosote, James Yorkston, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines, The Pastels, The Delgados, Free Love f.k.a Happy Meals, Hudson Mohawke and Daft Punk.

This is the story of the independent record industry in Scotland and why it continues to produce some of the most interesting and influential pop music in the world.