The Waterboys (GB)

About

Also known as: Waterboys

Few bands have reinvented themselves as dramatically as The Waterboys. Formed in London in 1983 by Edinburgh born Scottish songwriter Mike Scott, the group built their early reputation on what became known as "The Big Music", a sweeping, anthemic sound described by Scott as a metaphor for seeing the divine in the world. That phrase ended up being borrowed to describe the whole scene around bands like U2, Big Country and Simple Minds. Their 1985 track "The Whole of the Moon" remains their best known song, but the band refused to stay in one place. By the late 1980s they had shifted deep into Irish and Scottish folk territory, before swinging back toward rock and roll in the 1990s. Scott is the only constant member across four decades of shifting lineups and styles, and he draws no real distinction between his solo work and the Waterboys, treating both as the same ongoing musical journey. After dissolving in 1993, the band reformed in 2000 and has kept releasing albums and touring ever since. Their catalogue spans punk influenced early recordings, lush Celtic folk, country inflected records cut in Nashville, and more recent rock releases, making them genuinely hard to pin down, which is probably exactly the point.