Buskers in Glasgow City Centre - 31st March 1984

For a college project I had to record a short 15 min video about some aspect of life in Glasgow.
Along with two fellow students we decided to video and interview some buskers on a Saturday afternoon in spring 1984

[@roberthenderson7062]

Thanks for this post. I was the guy playing trumpet

[@iainmacfadyen1101]

Can any one remember the guy who played really good finger style guitar through a radio on suchehall Street

[@roberthenderson7062]

@@iainmacfadyen1101 its so long ago but i do remember seeing that guy,great guitarist

[@iainmacfadyen1101]

@@roberthenderson7062 yea he was pretty amazing stuff a nice bloke to gave me the names of the guitar players and started me on my journey.. My mum used to buy him lunch

[@gordonferguson9394]

No problem - I dug out this old video after seeing Robert The Robot on the Lost Glasgow FB site. A few folk in the video have been in touch having seen this footage for the first time after 39 years!

[@maybankstudios6955]

Recognised you straight away Robert!

[@MetalGearTenno]

Not a single face staring into a mobile phone. Good times.......

[@1gerard47]

Good memories, who remembers the scrambles at weddings 😂?

[@starofdavid9919]

They were great.

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@jaye26]

​@@starofdavid9919hi in Oban

[@mapuppa]

Carnage 😂

[@jgemslie]

Fabulous video, I was 13 then, everyone went to the town on a Saturday, this was our life. Glasgow city centre is like a graveyard now, full of undesirables.

[@Yolo_Swaggins]

I was born in 1984 just a few months after this video was made but I still remember the robot guy from the late 80's/early 90's. One of those things that stick with you for life.

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Back in 1984 few people could afford video cameras and they could quickly attract a crowd if you were filming on the street. Great to see these buskers especially the robot- there were a couple of guys who performed as robots for many years and always gathered a large crowd. They were a big part of the fabric of life on the street during the 80s and become quite iconic in their own right. I wonder what happened to them- they must be knocking 60 now!

[@ajs41]

You normally hired a video camera for a few days, rather than owning one. Radio Rentals.

[@markdillon5494]

@@ajs41 Yeah TVs and video recorders all hired from Radio Rentals or Telebank round my area. We didnt own our living room TV or VHS player for years. The amount of rental paid for these things we could have bought 10 TVs. People were just skint back then.

[@chrisjolly78]

​@@ajs41would you credit it? Morrisons would !!😊

[@rosco5765]

This is fantastic, it felt like I took a trip back to better times. Thank you for uploading this!

[@MarcoNegrisEye]

Nae danger man, the robot speaking!! Aw these years I thought he actually wis a real robot. Stuff a childhood nightmares but a big part of many of our memories and a good buzz. Quality upload.

[@Buster_Piles]

He's lucky he didnae get punched right in the cyberplums touching up they wee lassies.

[@JimHopper81]

How's the eye Marco ? Has Porrini apologised yet ?

[@colinhamilton2636]

Wasn't rob the robot on rab c nesbit 'season's greet'? Wee penny whistle guy, we saw him every Saturday outside boots on sauchiehall st. Great you uploaded this.

[@tok1964]

Yes he was

[@TS-1267]

... Decked Out In "Mcewans" Lager Livery... LONG LIVE 'RAB!'…✌️🤕🥂

[@anonUK]

I recognised where the preacher was standing at the beginning of the video from the Seasonal Greet, where the preacher was played by Peter Capaldi.

[@G4RY1159]

All changed these days, hearing another Scottish accent is rare

[@thecraftyguy6358]

The good old days before the internet (sorry YT). Bustling City Centre and shops thriving.

[@jaye26]

Hello from Oban 😅

[@johnnyboy-f6v]

There were some brilliant busking acts in Buchanan St in 1984/85. I rember the two 'Egyptian' sand dancers especially. Whatever happened to them? Then there was the smiley old accordionist who played opposite Frasers main entrance for a couple of years.

[@irc6587]

The sand dancers may have been Mike Rowan and his pal just before he became Big Rory the Giant Scotsman. Who retired this year. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaOpn3meoLCapsk

[@DoctorDave5]

I remember a couple of these buskers from back then. There was a guy in Buchanan Street who played a fantastic slide guitar and I also remember a great Rockabilly band that played outside Boots in Sauchiehall Street.👍🎸

[@frankmurphyburr3598]

At the end is my two old mates Andy and Mark, I should have been there 😆 edit: oh wait, I am at 07.47

[@tok1964]

we were down there every saturday, know robert from those days, remember a band playing on Argyle st that turned out to be the BMX bandits, used to sing "the wheels on the bus" and a parody of "psycho killer" called "psycho chicken"

[@SlowLane-pv3nf]

I also remember them doing wheels on the bus. Thanks for the reminder. I still stop to listen to buskers today. Some mince, some great, but all need that wee bit of bottle.

[@SlowLane-pv3nf]

Also Roller-coaster by the Sea (Jonathan Richman)

[@julianshepherd2038]

I remember the 2 whistle guy but he rarely played as coherently as that.

[@nocode1603]

Yeah I rember Robert the robot when going shopping outside Irvine mall late 90s early 2000 with my kids outside what everyone wants it was bustling I went thayr last month its dead !!! Omg the high Street is dead all over its really sad to see!!!!!! Times have changed but not for the better!!!! Bring the high street back & Robert the robot!!!!😢

[@LexEllis]

I moved on to become Dunno the Clown! :)

[@me-cq7wv]

And not a junkie or begger in sight.

[@jasonmudgarde286]

Even during Thatcherism people were looked after far better,.

[@bushwhackeddos.2703]

Or an enricher

[@anonUK]

​​@@jasonmudgarde286That was Thatcherism phase 1. And yes there were homeless people in ever greater numbers than before. The Embankment in Central London was known as "Cardboard City". We've now endured it for 44 years and Keir Starmer's not going to change that because he's after those precious Southern English Boomer votes.

[@BlowinFree]

Or a burkaRus

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Don't kid yourself, they were there back then too.

[@johnaitchie3803]

i wasnt born till december 1984 great seeing how the city looked back then

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@OnlyElshafto]

Anyone remember the 1 man band busker on buchanan street? Long haired dude with the bass drum..used to sing..play acoustic and harmonica..the crowds he used to pull were big..i remember the old whistle player here and the robot dude, brilliant upload..memories..amazin..peace❤

[@the_famous_reply_guy]

Upload more, this was brilliant.

[@lochlomondpirate]

hahah remember those days and the breakdancers with their roll of lino busting the moves outside lewis department store yae cannae whack the glesga buskers god i miss the 80s when life was easy lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣take ma hat aff tae the buskers

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@lochlomondpirate]

@@jaye26 awerite jaye i was in oban last week for lunch love oban im up ther pirating quite a lot ganivan sands is a favourite bay 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@bunzlbear]

Toon looks buzzin

[@Teeb2023]

12:07 That's Robert (Henderson?) Used to play in a band with him.

[@iant9461]

Our High street were hoching back then.

[@iant9461]

0:17 and they all laughed and mocked him. Now look at us!

[@cubecubesson6779]

Haha 5:40 attempt to insert previous females Streptococcus into unwilling child's ear😂😂 That robots a right Bawbag!

[@Jason1-gl9my]

wow, aye remember the robot guy he was brilliant 👍

[@chazmork8265]

I remember every Saturday just past aArgyle Street train Station there was a guy doing Al Jolson he was brilliant , and 2 buskers used to come down the Barras doing 60s songs they were fantastic just outside the Hawaiian Grill less tha 20 feet from Bairds pub everybody was signing along all the Stall holders and all of us a never ending sing song wee Bertie the "Calton Gangster" hanging out his window and his wee hat on right above the Sarry Heid,feeding his dog a link sausage,in the Sarry Heid where we used to buy their famous Shammy by the gallon wee Bertie used to go into Bairds pub, the Sarry Heid and get an ashtray of Guiness, for his wee dog, mental days indeed 😅😅😅😅😅 non stop laughter now their all blue tooths in their ears talking 💩to themselves trying to be A.I kid on buisness people, help ma boab 😁😁😁😁😁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@GoogleMeAgain]

Is that Rab the robot?

[@jaye26]

HELLO FROM OBAN

[@bluecanary1note]

Gaun yersel, lads! Gie it laldy!

[@jaye26]

ONE DAY THESE GLASGOW BUSKERS MIGHT SPOT THEMSELFS ON KZbin? AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 😮

[@belgrader6858]

Think it is Sauchiehall Centre,been there in November 1990

[@binniemod]

The Guitarist at the start of the video looks like Jim McCulloch from the Soup Dragons/BMX Bandits?

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@TS-1267]

2:20 .... "… SILENCE IN COURT!… I SAY OLD BEAN!…"…🤕✌️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@kingkush4476]

I use to love watchn robot guy was awsum

[@LadGlasgow]

I've met the man behind the robot suit......he's a Legend....🫡

[@jaye26]

HI from Oban

[@Rhiannan_Bee]

That guy at 3:30 with the violin will be dead now 😮😢 and so many younger people in 50s and 60s!

[@georgeaye7535]

Where's the bang on boogie band? ( A one man band who was in Argyle st a lot)

[@sha.37]

Glasgow was Glasgow back then and shops all open and not a …………….. In sight.

[@delboy6364]

👳🏾‍♀️😏🇬🇧

[@Clusters3rdStrikeArc]

😂 This is one day before I was born. April 1st 84 lol

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@daz3745]

Must have really been a robot his lips never moved once

[@RikHoward.]

This was In the days before buskers started using amplifiers.👍

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@AngieGibbs-c3v]

Anyone remember the elvis on stilts guys

[@kevindunne6832]

My old man caught me smoking when one of these clios appeared on stv

[@kevindunne6832]

@@Lee-nh5bb aye just a bit he had hand,s like fckn shovels never missed

[@Lee-nh5bb]

@@kevindunne6832 A bloody dangerous man! And just when you thought you were safe, smoking miles away from home!

[@kevindunne6832]

@@Lee-nh5bb aye well we live an learn ,never done me no harm over the years

[@Lee-nh5bb]

@@kevindunne6832 Who, your dad or the smokes?!

[@kevindunne6832]

@@Lee-nh5bb both I still smoke ,gave up the whacky baccy an booze but still like ma wee roll ups

[@johnmcintosh5413]

Anyone remember the old bloke who wore the tartan scarf often tied it around his guitar with 3 strings on it and had two teeth, only one song ( I’m putting on the agony I’m putting on the style 😂

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@derekcurriecurrie1609]

When Glasgow was great and not full of wee bams

[@AR-dn6kh]

How can s robot be sponsored by candleriggs market?😂😂

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@1gerard47]

Moving buskers along,the police should be charged.

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@PmashWATP]

The robotics guy used to be outside the Savoy Centre every Saturday. Refreshing to see not one Eastern European playing the kid-on electric violin! Proper buskers and proper Glaswegians.

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@bobbyfischer6786]

How come all the people are Scottish?

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban

[@georgeaye7535]

It was back when Scotland was filled with Scots

[@1gerard47]

Far too young to be smoking.

[@deathfab]

That robot was crap

[@jaye26]

Hi from Oban