Bay City Rollers lead man passes away

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These guys blasted on the AM radio in mid/late 70s, and you couldn’t avoid them even when you wanted to. But “Saturday Night” was a great summer party song that year. I remember there was a Huge push on San Francisco’s KFRC AM, that broadcasted across Northern California, as the next coming of a new Beatles. They were serious about this, and for awhile there was a lot of momentum for this group. But, glam rockish teen pop bands could only go so far in a Led Zeppelin era. Anyway, this is how I remember a bit of it. Sorry to hear about the passing of lead singer Les.

The very rare “Punk” magazine, the first of its kind, essentially a mimeographed 20 page fanzine had a funny and yet very loving tribute for the band back when in the late 70s. It should be noted that there was a lot of “the next Beatles” bands in the 1970s. Klaatu comes to mind when KSAN FM tried to pass off one of their records, perhaps half jokingly, as being a stealth Beatles record. The reasons for this at the time was people really wanted The Beatles to get back together again, and put out another record and tour.
 
My only knowledge of them is that single “Saturday Night” and the remembrance of going to a Nugent concert in the same venue that the Bay City Rollers had performed at the night before. My step-sister liked them and she went to the show. The only reason that Nugent played there was because he was banned from the Coliseum as there was a near riot the last time he played there and a local politician just happened to be there as it was city run.

That would had been funny if they had gone metal after the pop thing ran dry. Can you imagine a metal band wearing kilts? Probably not too far fetched as there were metal bands with odder outfits.
 
My only knowledge of them is that single “Saturday Night” and the remembrance of going to a Nugent concert in the same venue that the Bay City Rollers had performed at the night before. My step-sister liked them and she went to the show. The only reason that Nugent played there was because he was banned from the Coliseum as there was a near riot the last time he played there and a local politician just happened to be there as it was city run.

That would had been funny if they had gone metal after the pop thing ran dry. Can you imagine a metal band wearing kilts? Probably not too far fetched as there were metal bands with odder outfits.
They may not be metal but they rock, Peatbog Faeries – Eilean A' Cheo great gigs, best in smallish venues!
 
I unknowingly purchased a Rollers LP in 1981. I had wandered into my local record store and this mysterious album caught my eye.
The album was in a plain brown sleeve. It was entitled "Collectors Edition". Underneath the title it said " contains one great rock album" That was it. Nothing else providing any clues.
I purchased it and took it home. Upon opening the paper sleeve, the actual lp cover provided no other clues. It was basically the same as the brown bag, but all white with black printing.
The lp label was white. I don't recall if it had the song titles on it. The titles, and pseudonym song writer names were on the back of the album cover, I believe.
Anyways, I threw it on...and it was a really good album. I played it quite a bit.
It was only decades later I found out it was The Rollers "Ricochet" album. This was an attempt by Epic records to get some word of mouth happening on their new release without it being jaded by the Bay City Rollers name.
It was only released as "Collectors Edition" in Canada I believe

Les had departed the band by this time.
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When I lived in Edinburgh in the 80s they were rather notorious, especially their manager, who was in jail for liking lads who were a little too young. Les was mentioned in a newspaper article I read at the time as visiting the manager, and came across as a decent person.

The manager owned a large apartment complex that was pointed out to me. Seemed to have lots of teenagers as tenants. Oh my. Anyway, can't think of the Bay City Rollers without having that slant cast over it!
 
When I lived in Edinburgh in the 80s they were rather notorious, especially their manager, who was in jail for liking lads who were a little too young. Les was mentioned in a newspaper article I read at the time as visiting the manager, and came across as a decent person.

The manager owned a large apartment complex that was pointed out to me. Seemed to have lots of teenagers as tenants. Oh my. Anyway, can't think of the Bay City Rollers without having that slant cast over it!
Yes, their manager was a complete dirtbag. He had a thing for underage boys, and also played a part in the band not getting paid. I wish I could remember all the facts. horrible stuff.
 
When I was in college in the 1970s, I worked for a campus radio station. We played jazz, alternative rock, etc. Nothing commercial, disco or AM. And so I went out and bought a copy of the Rollers' Greatest hits. I used to play it all the time on my show just to piss everyone off. My dirty little secret is that S-S-S-Saturday night, and their cover of I only want to be with you are amazingly great pop songs. Yeah, I Liked them. Interspersing them with Pere Ubu and Magazine was always fun!
 
Yes, their manager was a complete dirtbag. He had a thing for underage boys, and also played a part in the band not getting paid. I wish I could remember all the facts. horrible stuff.
And speaking of taint, although of a far less serious type, I recently read a review of the Triumph TR 7, and English sports car (sort of) that came out in the mid 1970s. Almost all the first couple of years' cars were sold with plaid (or Tartan) upholstery. Even though the author gave a largely positive review of the car in retrospect, he hated that everything was plaid at the time, and opined, 'The Bay City Rollers have much to answer for!' I think that was a bot of an overstatement!
 
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