STUART Adamson was a reluctant pop star. He had an uneasy relationship with the fame and adoration thrust upon him by his passion for music. One story perfectly sums this up. The date was October 21, 1980. The venue, Hammersmith Odeon in London.

His group, The Skids, were about to play one of the most prestigious concerts of their career to showcase their new album, The Absolute Game.

“I’d gone to the gig with Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill of Simple Minds,” recalled Ronnie Gurr, then a press officer at Arista Records. “The Skids were the first Scottish band who’d risen up through the ranks to headline Hammersmith, so it was an important show. The foyer was full of fans buying drinks at the bar and T-shirts at the merchandising stall.

“At a kiosk, I spotted Stuart standing in a queue waiting to be served and said: ‘What are you doing?’

“He replied: ‘What do you think I’m doing? I want to buy a Twix.’

“I said: ‘You’re on in 15 minutes. You don’t need to do this. You’ve got people who can do it for you’.

“But the thought of asking anybody to go buy chocolate for him was completely alien.”

READ MORE: Maggie Bell on John and Yoko, a tragic death on stage and a famous music hall aunt. Scotland's favourite albums

The tale does not surprise his former musical partner, Bruce Watson. When Adamson split from The Skids in 1981, they formed a new band that became Big Country. For the next 20 years – over eight acclaimed albums and 15 Top 40 singles – they wrote a unique chapter in Scottish rock history.

The pair began working together in a makeshift studio at Townhill Community Centre in Dunfermline. In the first two months, they’d written eight songs in a burst of creative energy. The first, Angle Park, was used as the B-side of hit single, Fields Of Fire.

They also completed Harvest Home, which became their 1982 debut single. Also, Inwards, The Storm and Porrohman … the foundations of The Crossing.

Watson had played with The Delinquents and Eurosect, while working full-time at Rosyth Dockyard. Initially, he felt in awe of the musician behind Skids’ hits such as Into The Valley, The Saints Are Coming and Working For The Yankee Dollar.

“Stuart chose me not for my technique, more my lack of technique,” he admitted. “I was an ideas guy as opposed to a real technical musician. Every song we did, half written on guitar and half on synthesiser, was an instrumental. Stuart would come up with melodies and lyrics, using lines from books, particularly World War II books, which he read a lot

READ MORE: Scotland's greatest albums: Aztec Camera

“I was definitely in awe of him. He’d done three albums and had chart success.”

Their mutual admiration for twin guitar bands like Status Quo and Thin Lizzy helped shape their music.

Critics would later dub their sound “bagpipe guitars”, a lazy description that failed to sum up their true appeal. “We made a conscious decision not to play bends … like blues notes. We wanted more scales and melodies,” Bruce pointed out.

“On The Crossing, you will not hear a single blues bend. It was more straight ahead twin guitars, almost like The Shadows without Cliff Richard, but obviously done in a much heavier style. We found the whole bagpipes description funny. I think it was more because we came from Scotland. It gave our management another way to promote the band.”

Big Country were touted around London record labels by manager Ian Grant. They recorded demos for Virgin, produced by John Leckie, featuring Rick Buckler of The Jam on drums.

But Richard Branson’s label, who’d signed The Skids, passed on them. They also recorded with Adam Sieff for CBS and Chris Thomas for Phonogram.

After a previous band line-up had not worked out, they recruited bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki, who’d worked with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. It proved an astute decision. “Chris had just had success with The Pretenders and there was the Roxy Music connection,” said Bruce. We ended up doing half of the album with Chris, but he was also making a record for Elton John in Montserrat so he couldn’t commit to us fully.”

The Herald:

Thomas was able to record the single, Harvest Home, which got them a deal with Phonogram. Adamson had admired the 1979 album, Drums And Wires by XTC, produced by Steve Lillywhite,

But he was already committed to producing War by U2. During a break in the Irish band’s schedule, he found time to record the single, Fields Of Fire, at RAK Studios in London.

The chemistry felt right so Lillywhite was drafted in to work on the album at RAK and The Manor in Oxfordshire. “Being in the studio with Steve was absolutely wonderful, especially for myself,” recalled Bruce. “He knew I was nervous but he was very encouraging and also really honest with me.

“I was lucky in that everything I did, he loved. He gave me so much confidence. I think I became a bit of a pest though as I got more confident. I’d say: ‘Steve, I’ve got an idea’.

“But he’d reply: ‘Calm down, Bruce, other people have got to play on this record as well’.”

The Crossing was released on July 15, 1983, and reached No. 3, going on to spend 80 weeks in the charts. Three singles, Fields Of Fire, In A Big Country and Chance were Top 20 hits.

The band were nominated for two Grammy awards for Best New Group and Best Single for In A Big Country, which peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

They were a stunning live act, and also shared concert bills with The Rolling Stones, U2, Simple Minds and Eurythmics. But with the spotlight firmly on frontman Adamson their success took its toll.

“At the very start, Stuart and I thought … should we get a vocalist in?” revealed Bruce. “But after he’d sung on the demos we knew he was the right man for the job. Stuart preferred being the guitar player at the side of the stage. He was more comfortable in that role. He was never happy being upfront. Even though he turned out to be great at it.”

Bruce added: “Stuart was a home bird. He didn’t like the attention he got. He was the main guy in Big Country and that pressure got to him. He was definitely a reluctant star.

“Stuart just wanted to write his songs and play them, and then take the f*** off. It was the same when we made albums in later years.

“He’d do his vocal and guitar parts, then say: ‘You guys finish it’. Then he’d go home to Dunfermline and do normal stuff with his family.”

The Crossing took Big Country around the world, paving the way for a string of further impressive records including Steeltown (1984), The Seer (1986), The Buffalo Skinners (1993) and Driving To Damascus (1999). Sadly. Adamson died in 2001.

READ MORE: Billy Sloan on The Kevin McDermott Orchestra – Mother Nature’s Kitchen

Watson still leads a line-up of the band in 2021, now with son Jamie on second guitar. “I always say … if it sounds good then it IS good,” he said.

“You could tell The Crossing was special. We’d play it to cynical record company people and watch as they were blown away. I’m not being big headed … but every note, every melody, every harmony on that record was a real collaboration between the four of us and Steve Lillywhite.

“The stars aligned. I couldn’t believe it when we listened to it back. I thought, I want to do this for the rest of my life. That’s how I felt. Of course, not realising what lay ahead and how big it would get.

“It was amazing. The Crossing was such a great foundation for what Big Country were all about.”

THE Billy Sloan Show is on BBC Radio Scotland every Saturday at 10pm.