How Glasgow shaped its greatest band

From Tinselton to the Grey Adorable City by the Docks - inside Belle and Sebastian.

Belle and Sebastian have always been hard to categorise – too bookish for Britpop, too self-effacing for rock, too cult for commercial indie. And yet, for nearly three decades, they have remained one of Glasgow’s most beloved musical assets, their songs steeped in the city's rainy winding streets.

The founding of Belle and Sebastian seemed fateful. In the mid-1990s, Stuart Murdoch, the band’s lead singer and songwriter, enrolled in a music business course at Stow College. There, he connected with bassist Stuart David, and together they recorded a series of demos that laid the foundation for the band's early sound. These sessions culminated in their debut album, Tigermilk, recorded in just three days and initially released in a limited run of 1,000 vinyl copies. The album's unexpected success led to a contract with the Scottish label Jeepster Records, marking the beginning of their journey.

Though Murdoch is the band’s core, Belle and Sebastian have key ensemble members who have individually helped shape the band’s sound across the years. These include Stevie Jackson, guitar and vocals, Sarah Martin, violin, keyboards, and vocals, Chris Geddes, keyboard, and Richard Colburn, drums. The band members all joined in 1996. 

From the outset, Belle and Sebastian went against the grain. They seemed wary of fame, rarely appearing in their own press photos, playing scarce live performances that soon became sacred for their cult followers. The songs themselves deliberately stray from mainstream pop lyricism, instead painting rich vignettes – melancholic, playful and self-aware. 

Detractors who dismiss the band as overly twee, or complain of lame, pretentious fans, forget that Belle and Sebastian have always been authentically unabashed in their “uncoolness”. In their 1996 song Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying, Murdoch declares; "Think of it this way, you could either be successful or be us!", portraying the band’s nonconformity as a rather triumphant manifesto.

The music of Belle and Sebastian, as with all of Murdoch’s art, is deeply entwined with Glasgow. The song I Want the World to Stop, a homesick plea to escape the Hollywood glamour of commercial success, references The Blue Nile’s depiction of Glasgow in Tinseltown in the Rain, as well as the city’s shipbuilding and nightlife. Murdoch explains Another Sunny Day as an ode to the frenzy of a (rare) sunny day in Scotland. A majority of the band’s music videos were filmed around Glasgow, as well as Murdoch’s film God Help The Girl (2014). The band’s love towards the Scottish landscape is weaved throughout its musical portfolio.

For a band that never seemed concerned with mainstream success, Belle and Sebastian’s influence has been remarkable.

Personally, the song The Boy With the Arab Strap ignites more patriotism in me than Caledonia or Loch Lomond. Indeed, whether intentional or not, the opening line, “a mile and a half on the bus takes a long time,” perfectly encapsulates the uniquely frustrating reality of Glasgow’s public transport system. When playing this song live, the band invites the audience to come up on stage and join them in dancing along. It is wonderful to watch and proves that their discography is more than a love letter to the city, it is a tribute to its residents: the “rain-kissed marginals” wandering Byres Road, the “lonely tenement” dwellers, and “the girls who paint themselves at dusk.”

The city’s inescapable influence is equally prominent in Murdoch’s personal writing: “If I’d been born and brought up in Sheffield or Leeds, I’m sure those cities would have the same influence, but Glasgow is extraordinary to me. I like to sit beside the river, dreaming about the Glasgow that was and perhaps the Glasgow that never was.” 

This tension – between the real and the imagined, the past and the present, all of the city’s contradicting characteristics – runs through their music. Murdoch is somewhat of a West End fixture himself, often spotted in his signature hats, riding around on a scooter or wandering Kelvingrove Park.

For a band that never seemed concerned with mainstream success, Belle and Sebastian’s influence has been remarkable. In 2005, The List crowned them Scotland’s Greatest Band, and two decades on, their music still offers a refuge and a sense of belonging for those who recognize themselves in their stories. And no matter where they travel, no matter how their sound evolves, their work will always lead back to Glasgow – the city that made them, and the city they made immortal in their songs.

Published 16 March 2025