A heritage house party
Press play with Glasgow City Heritage Trust! Enjoy our playlist of Glasgow musicians from across the decades. Representing the diverse popular music heritage of the city, we’ve brought together staff favourites from oh-so cool indie bands to sing-along pop favourites.
Glasgow makes music
Glasgow’s built heritage often plays a major role for the musicians on the playlist. From Deacon Blue’s use of Oscar Marzaroli’s photograph of Glasgow for the cover of their album Raintown to Belle and Sebastian rehearsing and recording in Hyndland Parish Church, the buildings of Glasgow contribute to the music and imagery of the artists. There’s also the importance of the Glasgow School of Art which has attracted many musicians to the city and counts members of Franz Ferdinand, Travis, Frightened Rabbit and Texas amongst its alums.
A city of music
Glasgow was the first city in the UK to be given “City of Music” status by UNESCO, demonstrating the importance of music as part of the city’s heritage and cultural life. Alongside the bands themselves, there’s the many venues across the city which unite music lovers. Whether it’s to get their start in the smaller clubs of Nice ’n’ Sleazy and King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, or play the iconic Barrowland Ballroom, musicians from around the world continue to flock to Glasgow.
We helped to fund a unique cross-artform project, Barrowland Ballads, to document Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom in 2018. Alison Irvine, Chris Leslie & Mitch Miller engaged with the untold stories of the Barrowland Ballroom in close collaboration with the venue, the east end community that surrounds it, and a much wider community of gig-goers, dancers and musicians whose life stories are woven into the building.
We hope these songs help connect you with the city and its musical heritage. Please share with us your musical memories of Glasgow by following @GlasgowHeritage on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, or nominate a historic music venue as a #GlasgowBuildingOftheWeek
