Retro Video of the Week: "In a Big Country" by Big Country

Sunday marked the 35th anniversary of the release of Scottish new wavers Big Country's debut album, The Crossing.  The album was their best charting in the U.S., topping out at #18 on the Billboard album charts, and it hit the Top Ten on the album charts in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.

In the States, the band is known for their single off that album, "In a Big Country," an infectious '80s new wave pop song with guitars made to sound like strings and bagpipes.  It was the group's only Top 40 single in the U.S., reaching #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- though the band would have Top 20 songs on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1988 ("King of Emotion"; #11) and 1993 ("The One I Love"; #17).  

While the band is considered a one-hit wonder in the U.S., Big Country had much more success in their native UK, with The Crossing hitting #3 on the UK album charts and their three following albums -- Steeltown (1984), The Seer (1986), and Peace in Our Time (1988) -- hitting #1, #2, and #9 on the UK album charts, respectively.  In addition, the band had 15 Top 40 hits on the UK pop charts between 1983 and 1993, including four Top 10 songs.  They were equally as successful on the Irish pop charts, notching 11 Top 25 hits, including three Top 10s, one of which was a #1 (1986's "Look Away" -- not to be confused with Chicago's hit of the same name several years later).

But here's the song of theirs that everyone knows, with a very '80s video to go with it.