Mike Scott这位具备诗词创作文采，同时精通多样乐器的苏格兰青年在1981年基于他个人对摇滚老将Lou Reed的"The Kids"这首歌曲中所触动的对于海洋的一个幻梦而创立The Waterboys这支乐团，当乐团在1983年发表首张同名专辑《The Waterboys》时，乐坛就对他们以苏格兰民谣摇滚为主干，再放进键盘、喇叭、大、小提琴与口琴等流行摇滚与古典乐的乐器配置感到相当新鲜，甚至还有乐评将他们酝酿歌曲戏剧化情境的编曲功力与U2相提并论。 The Waterboys are a British-Irish folk rock band formed in London in 1983[1] by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained the only constant member throughout the band's career. They have explored a number of different styles, but their music is mainly a mix of folk music with rock and roll. They dissolved in 1993 when Scott departed to pursue a solo career. The group reformed in 2000, and continue to release albums and to tour worldwide. Scott emphasises a continuity between the Waterboys and his solo work, saying that "To me there's no difference between Mike Scott and the Waterboys; they both mean the same thing. They mean myself and whoever are my current travelling musical companions."[2] The early Waterboys sound became known as "The Big Music" after a song on their second album, A Pagan Place. This style was described by Scott as "a metaphor for seeing God's signature in the world."[3] Waterboys chronicler Ian Abrahams elaborated on this by defining "The Big Music" as "...a mystical celebration of paganism. It's extolling the basic and primitive divinity that exists in everything ('the oceans and the sand'), religious and spiritual all encompassing. Here is something that can't be owned or built upon, something that has its existence in the concept of Mother Earth and has an ancestral approach to religion. And it takes in and embraces the feminine side of divinity, pluralistic in its acceptance of the wider pantheon of paganism."[4] "The Big Music" either influenced or was used to describe a number of other bands specializing in an anthemic sound, including U2,[5] Simple Minds, In Tua Nua, Big Country and Hothouse Flowers