On May 23, 1979 The Skids had a new single in the U.K. charts, "Masquerade". The track peaked at #14. It might have gone higher but when viewers saw Richard Jobson dance in his red suit on Top Of The Pops they didn’t feel quite so compelled to buy the single for some reason.
On January 9, 1979 Skids released the anthemic UK Top 10 hit "Into the Valley". Because of Richard Dobson's accent, most people don't know the lyrics are actually about Scottish youths being recruited into the army, with a personal touch after a friend was killed on duty in Northern Ireland .
"A lot of the guys I knew who went to Northern Ireland had become prejudiced when they came back. They spoke about Catholics or Irish Nationalists in a very negative way, and always used that precursor, 'I know you're not like that, but...' It definitely had a curious effect on them as people, and psychologically scarred them. So that had a deep influence on the song."
The anthemic quality served the band well and would also be a defining quality of guitarist Stuart Adamson's next band, Big Country.
