Scotland's 2nd biggest import

Everyone knows the best Scotch is from Scotland. Each region has a distinctive distillerie.

But Scotland never had the modernist prominence of politically-tortured Ireland in the field of literature. There was no one to compare with Beckett, Joyce, or Yeats, arguably the greatest modernist playwright, poet, and novelist. But most people would think of Robert Burns, who's poetry was often written in Scottish Brogue. Scottish-born authors, like Arthur Conan-Doyle or Robert Louis Stevenson, are often thought of as English.

But music. It may be a clue to the Scottish character. Scottish music is traditional, of course, in the "Mull of Kintyre" mode, but also produced some internationally famous bands. And they tend to be jangly, upbeat, and playful. Spinal Tap made fun of the traditional stylings of Jethro Tull. Also, cringe-worthy were the '80s band Big Country. Their guitars sounded like bagpipes.  "Aztec Camera," produced by Declan McManus, were among the first jangle-rockers. "Cocteau Twins" had a dreamy sound like nothing before or since. "Primal Scream," big stars in the UK in the '90s, had a Stones-y sound. Simple Minds, famous for "Don't You Forget about Me," and "The Proclaimers" are mentioned in Trainspotting. Scotland was big in '90s Britpop, with Teenage Fanclub and - biggest of all - the Beatlesque Travis, a strong influence on Coldplay. Lastly, quirky, literate and twee Belle and Sebastian, a cult band that recorded their first album as an assignment for a class.

Still, these groups are usually grouped as British. Is there anything uniquely Scottish about them?