NFL
By: Greg Rector
I’m sorry for all the fans of all of the “Boys Bands” around since the New Kids On The Block and all of these screaming girls for all of the “K-POP” groups. To understand the natural “Boy Band” phenomenon, you must go back to the 1970’s and witness the five young lads from Scotland, the Bay City Rollers. When the Bay City Rollers came to America in 1976, they were greeted much like The Beatles did in the 1960s.
The Beatles weren’t a “Boys Band.” Their fans were young but not as young as the fans of the Bay City Rollers. The Bay City Rollers saw the music-buying audience age fall to the ten-year-old girls. Oh, and they all played their instruments.
Tartan Teen Sensations From Edinburgh
When Les Mckeown (1955-2021) (Second right) became the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers and was joined by Stuart “Woody” Wood (on the left), the most famous iteration of the Bay City Rollers became a reality. Wood was just 16 years old. Eric Faulkner (Far Right) joined the Longmuir brothers, Derek in the middle, and his bass-playing brother Alan(1948-2018). This was the group that would take over the world of pop music.
Before the group became known for “Saturday Night,” these young Scotsmen took over the UK pop scene. The band released “Shang a Lang,” which reached number two in the UK and became the title of the band’s 20-week TV show.
This song resonated with so many young folks in the UK because of the economic situation in the UK at that time. Scotland’s answer was much nicer than the entire “punk” scene that would be all over London with the Sex Pistols, but make no mistake, the kids in Edinburgh were just as violent.
The group’s first number-one single was a cover of the Four Seasons “Bye Bye Baby.” The U.S. and the rest of the world caught onto the Bay City Rollers with the release of “Saturday Night,” which had been an abysmal failure when recorded originally in 1973.
Wearing calf-length tartan trousers and tartan scarves worldwide came into being in 1975 when these skinny, pasty-looking young lads wearing their shirts wide open young women worldwide went nuts. Trust me, young people reading this, this was the world-wide phenomenal event. How big were the BayCity Rollers?
They were also trendy in Australia. One example of their popularity was put into the book about Countdown – the Australian TV music show from 1974 to 1987. Their Countdown appearance in October 1976 coincided with a total sun eclipse. Director Ted Emery recalled:
(there)… were thousands of kids dressed up in tartan pants that didn’t reach the top of their shoes, constantly bashing on the plexiglass doors. They would do anything…to get into that television studio. Two hundred kids are bashing on the door, and a total eclipse of the sun occurs. I’d never seen one. We all stopped in the studio on this day, and the Rollers went up on the roof. We stood out there and watched the flowers close up, and all the automatic street lighting come on. It was chilling, the most fantastic thing you’d ever see. Downstairs, the kids never turned around, staring into the plexiglass, waiting to see the Rollers come out of the studio, down the corridor, and into the canteen. (They) never noticed the total eclipse of the sun.
The Downside of the Bay City Rollers
Arista Records became embroiled in a dispute with the Bay City Rollers. Clive Davis was the genius behind releasing “Saturday Night,” and “Rollermania” became a genuine phenomenon.
After Saturday Night debuted on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cossell (Yes, folks, Cossell had his late-night show), the band stormed the United States and Canada in 1976. Do you recall seeing The Beatles in concert? Well, when “Rollermania,” the concerts were simply insane.
In August 1976, I saw the Bay City Rollers in Edmonton, Alberta. The concert ended quickly after the young ladies stormed the stage and caused a riot. It was an insane evening, and after 40 minutes, the Bay City Rollers left the stage, and 27 young ladies had fainted and been treated for various injuries.
As much fun as the Bay City Rollers were having on stage, their lives were ruined by their former manager, Tom Paton, who was a sexual deviant and had once forced Les McKeown to satisfy him. I won’t include any photographs of Paton but feel free to read up on the nonsense this man did to the Bay City Rollers.
The Bay City Rollers were so messed up by Paton and the various deals he had cooked up regarding merchandising and record sales that when Les McKeown left the group, he had to sell his home and the home he bought for his parents.
Look at how destroyed this man was. He was 17 years old and was embarking on his dream job. I support your “Me Too” movement for all the ladies out there. I wish it had happened earlier because I saw how destroyed McKeown was, along with all of the young victims of Tom Paton and Jimmy Saville. So many others in the UK music scene was an abomination, and this dark side, not just the sexual aspect, but seeing a band that had entertained millions of people were all left broke.
The Bay City Rollers sold 300 million albums worldwide, and in 1987, the main members were paid 120,000 pounds. Then, finally, in 2016, they ended their decades-long legal battles with a final payout of 70,000 pounds. Forensic accounting said the band should have earned 70 million pounds.
Stuart Wood still performs and is always my favorite Bay City Roller.
I was always amazed at seeing this 16-year-old man in the world’s biggest “Boys Band.”
You can make fun of the clothes and the music all you want, but in the 1970s, long before the internet, the Bay City Rollers were everywhere. Every teen magazine was filled with pictures of Bay City Rollers.
MY FAVORITE BAY CITY ROLLERS SONG
“I Only Want To Be With You” is a classic song by Dusty Springfield. If you have read my previous article about my favorite female singers, you know Dusty Springfield means the world to me.
So here is the Bay City Rollers performing ” I Only Want To Be With You.”
ROLLERMANIA LIVES ON!!!
