Southside by Texas

Southside, the debut album from Glasgow's Texas, came out on Mercury on 13 March 1989, barely a year after the band had played their first gig at the University of Dundee. Johnny McElhone, Ally McErlaine and Sharleen Spiteri, three of the founders, were all there, and it's Spiteri's voice, husky and knowing, that carries the record.

The sound is lean, moody rock with the Glasgow grit still under its fingernails. "I Don't Want a Lover", the debut single, is the calling card: a slow-burning, rolling groove with a hook that refuses to leave. The album shot to number 3 in Britain, went gold within three weeks, made a dent in America too, and has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. The next two records couldn't keep that pace, which left this as their high-water mark until White on Blonde.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.