Rip It Up Unwrapped

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A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland

BBC Scotland HD

Music: Rock & Indie

Stories of Scottish pop, told via unseen footage and interviews with those who were there.

Music series that uses unseen footage and interviews with those who were there to tell stories of Scottish pop.

BBC Scotland

Rip It Up Unwrapped: Series 1: The Glasgow Indie Scene

The Glasgow Indie Scene

Series 1

BBC Scotland - Rip It Up Unwrapped, Series 1, The Glasgow Indie Scene

How a group of indie dreamers from Lanarkshire took on the world.


This is the story of how a group of friends from Lanarkshire influenced a generation of American rock, and cemented the reputation of Scottish indie music on a global stage.

Today the Scottish musical landscape is dominated by indie guitar bands. But this vibrant alternative scene would perhaps not exist without the DIY rebellions of a network of friends in Glasgow and its surrounding towns in the 1980s.

Inspired by the likes of Stephen McRobbie and his influential band The Pastels, a richly creative independent scene began to emerge, which championed ideas over technical prowess.

Unexpectedly, a central hub of this movement was the small town of Bellshill, where friends Duglas Stewart, Norman Blake, Sean Dickson, and Frances McKee, disillusioned with their grey suburban surroundings, looked to music for an escape. From writing their own mini albums on home cassette recorders, and throwing impromptu gigs in the local park, they would each go on to form their own bands - BMX Bandits, Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub, and The Vaselines - all of whom left indelible marks on the local music scene.

However, the music coming from Lanarkshire at this time would not only define the sound of Scottish indie for generations to come, but also went on to inspire a new wave of American bands in the early 1990s. One of popular music’s most iconic figures, Kurt Cobain, was an ardent fan, famously stating that Teenage Fanclub were the best band in the world, and that if he could be in any band other than Nirvana it would be The BMX Bandits. He lovingly covering a number of songs by The Vaselines, most notably on Nirvana’s infamous MTV Unplugged performance. In doing so, he took a tiny band from the outskirts of Glasgow onto a global stage, and cemented the reputation of Scottish indie.

Rip It Up Unwrapped: Series 1

A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland


Rip It Up: Unwrapped uses unseen footage and interviews with those who were there to tell stories of Scottish pop, promising depth, detail, and
music for fans to enjoy.

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Rip It Up Unwrapped

Series 1

The Glasgow Indie Scene

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