Big Country singer/guitarist Stuart Adamson found dead in hotel room in Hawaii.
December 17, 2001 8:26 AM   Subscribe

Big Country singer/guitarist Stuart Adamson found dead in hotel room in Hawaii. The Big Country singer had been missing for over a month. Big Country was one of my favorite bands in the 80s, though they continued making music together until just a few years ago. Adamson was a big influence on U2's Edge, among others. R.I.P. Stuart.
posted by sjarvis (27 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Is that the Black Angus guy?
posted by scarabic at 8:27 AM on December 17, 2001


Sad news.
posted by ColdChef at 8:33 AM on December 17, 2001


"Chance" is one of the greatest songs of all time. It's sad that they could never regain the success of their first album.
posted by eyeballkid at 8:39 AM on December 17, 2001


Sad indeed.

Glenn McDonald has long been a passionate fan of Adamson and Big Country. Nothing on his site yet, but the old reviews are still there, for people who didn't even realize they were still around. I look forward to Glenn's take on this.
posted by rodii at 8:43 AM on December 17, 2001


That is sad news. When I first found Napster, I downloaded three tracks immediately: Big Country by these guys, Tarzan Boy (Baltimorra), and I Want Candy (Bow Wow Wow).

Early 80's music was most fine.
posted by ebarker at 8:46 AM on December 17, 2001


The eagle soars above the clouds
The deer ran in the hills
And I may walk in cities

Where the wolf once had his fill
And here is strength for us to find
To turn the old to new
And wipe our eyes of misty years
And see the future through

Eiledon, I will be there
Eiledon, my dream is there.

posted by dnash at 8:52 AM on December 17, 2001


I remember radio announcers saying.. "Here's In a Big Country by Big Country from the album Big Country." Hmmmm. Original!
posted by aacheson at 8:54 AM on December 17, 2001


from the album Big Country.

Then they were wrong. That album was called The Crossing.
posted by dnash at 8:59 AM on December 17, 2001


I remember radio announcers saying.. "Here's In a Big Country by Big Country from the album Big Country." Hmmmm. Original!

Hm. Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbth from the record Black Sabbath, so not really original, even if the announcer were correct. But never pass up someone's death as reason for a snark, eh?
posted by videodrome at 11:14 AM on December 17, 2001


Talk Talk by Talk Talk from the album Talk Talk? Anyone? I still remember the video.

Sad to hear about Adamson.
posted by kokogiak at 11:35 AM on December 17, 2001


Living in a Box by Living in a Box from Living in a Box, now available on the CD Very Best of Living in a Box. heh.

Every time an 80s music star turns up dead I feel just a teeny bit older. Tonight I'll tease my bangs up real high in honor or Mr. Adamson.
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:47 AM on December 17, 2001


I'll never forget sitting in a movie theater in Inverness back in 1987, surrounded by geezers drinking lager, waiting for "Baby Boom" with Diane Keaton to start. When the theater played a Big Country commercial (I think it was for MacEwan's Ale or Tennant's). Absolute pandemonium erupted in the audience for about 5 minutes with everyone singing, yelling, and waving their cans of beer around.

Ironic that the guy probably died as a result of alcoholism.
posted by MrBaliHai at 12:25 PM on December 17, 2001


Honolulu Advertiser : "The man found at the Plaza Hotel at 1 p.m. had registered Dec. 4 as William Adamson, said Lt. Bill Kato of the Honolulu Police Department's homicide division. Kato said Adamson apparently committed suicide. No note was found, he said. A maid had looked in on him Saturday and thought he was sleeping on the floor, Kato said. When she found him in the same position Sunday she called security who called police, Kato said."
posted by Carol Anne at 12:49 PM on December 17, 2001


Rufus Thomas (Ambassador of Beale Street) has also passed away.

These things usually happen in "threes" - who's next?
posted by topless at 12:54 PM on December 17, 2001


Aw, man, I thought Rufus Thomas would live forever. Saw him emcee the Miss. Delta Blues Festival in Greenville, Miss. in the early '90s, in a show featuring B.B. and Albert King (who had a pre-"South Park" Issac Hayes, there to do a documentary for Japanese TV, sit in with him on keyboards - impossibly mouth-watering). Very funny. I can tell the grandkids one day. ¡Viva Rufus!
posted by raysmj at 1:08 PM on December 17, 2001


Chance, Harvest Home, Where the Rose is Sown, great stuff on those albums. Big Country was one of those bands when I was 11 or 12 years old that you hear and it completely opens yours eyes and ears when you didn't even know stuff like that was out there. A real shame.
posted by chrismc at 1:27 PM on December 17, 2001


Actually, Talk Talk was from the album The Party's Over.

What about Bad Company by Bad Company from the album Bad Company? Or maybe the lesser known Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden, from the album Iron Maiden.
posted by ry at 1:41 PM on December 17, 2001


Or Porno For Pyros by Porno For Pyros on the album Porno For Pyros, for that matter.
posted by youhas at 1:49 PM on December 17, 2001


Gah. Talk Talk x3 was displayed as such on MTV because it was released as a single before the album was released.

But I'll make up for it - Icehouse by Icehouse from Icehouse. Another 80's fave ;)

I wonder how many of these there are - there must be a pop culture name for this phenomenon. Sorry to hijack the thread.
posted by kokogiak at 2:01 PM on December 17, 2001


Or maybe the lesser known Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden, from the album Iron Maiden.

Lesser known!?! Not in my house, baby. But then, I did mention the Sabbath thing....

And to un-jack the thread:
I really liked Big Country when I was younger. They were one of those solid bands that you knew would never make it continually big in the States because they just didn't have that pandering side. Sad.
posted by videodrome at 2:22 PM on December 17, 2001


"Wonderland" was the first record I bought. It was a 45 I got from Licorice Pizza after seeing the video on Video One with Richard Blade. I think I'll dig out the ol' turntable when I get home and put that ol' 45 on again and remember.

And you will take my hand
And be with me in Wonderland...

posted by RakDaddy at 4:03 PM on December 17, 2001


Icehouse by Icehouse from Icehouse.

Nope. Icehouse by Flowers from Icehouse.
posted by sennoma at 12:46 AM on December 18, 2001


Honolulu Advertiser: "All evidence so far points to a suicide in the death of Scottish rock musician Stuart Adamson, who on Sunday was found hanging from a rope in his hotel room near Honolulu International Airport."
posted by Carol Anne at 5:51 AM on December 18, 2001


who's Big Country?
posted by tolkhan at 5:52 AM on December 18, 2001


Is it a reading problem, tolkhan?
posted by rodii at 6:49 AM on December 18, 2001


Local hero: In 1982 Stuart Adamson asked Allan Glen's schoolfriend and bandmate Bruce Watson to join him in a new group called Big Country. Adamson and Watson went on to pop stardom. Glen became a coal miner. Here he describes his friend's journey from Dunfermline to Top of the Pops - and suicide in a Hawaii hotel room. A touching tribute in The Guardian.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:24 AM on December 19, 2001


Great music. Quite sick of that lousy Big Country video, however.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:10 AM on December 19, 2001


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