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Flee the country! Quick, run, Run, RUN!

“Rollermania” is to return to the UK after the Bay City Rollers announced a comeback tour almost 40 years on from the height of their fame.

Eeeek!

18 thoughts on “Flee the country! Quick, run, Run, RUN!”

  1. We might get lucky. A gang of their original fans might contact the police and accuse them of being fiddley and creepy.

  2. I look forward to the inevitable legal suit. I don’t know which members of the high-turn-over band are going to tour, but last I heard they were busy suing each other over the right to sue their record company for the obligatory stiffing them of their rightful royalties.

  3. Perhaps this will convince the country that the 1970s really were awful. High inflation, constant strikes, glam rock and a rubbish national football team haven’t managed to do so, but this might.

  4. and have been described as the One Direction of their day.

    Not really, at least the Bay City Rollers played instruments and wrote some of their own songs.

  5. I have never understood why people evangelise the past. My dad thinks the best time to be an Englishman was in the victoriana era. I pointed out that it would have been cold, complete with disease ridden cities and an early death due to no antibiotics.

    I here similar things when people talk about Downton abby and call the midwives.

    Madness.

  6. “Perhaps this will convince the country that the 1970s really were awful.”

    Don’t forget nylon.

    On the other hand, the 70’s was THE decade for pop music. Worth the rest combined I reckon.

  7. So Much For Subtlety

    Jack C – “On the other hand, the 70’s was THE decade for pop music. Worth the rest combined I reckon.”

    That simply dates you. Everyone thinks the music of their youth was the best. The 70s were a bit up and down in reality. Sure, Talking Heads formed in 1975. But the next year they released the bubonic plague of the music world Hotel California.

    The Jackson 5 were still Black and playing good music even if R&B was in terminal decline. The Who were playing. But on the other hand so were the Carpenters and the Osmonds. I suppose on the plus side, there are some bands who won’t be touring any time soon.

    I think the bottom line is that any decade that could give us Three Times a Lady and then inflict Lionel Richie on us as a solo act is best forgotten. Even though I have grown to like the best selling album of the 70s, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, more over time.

  8. @SMFS

    You missed your true calling in life. You should have been one of those alleged comedians you see on Channel 4/5 documentaries commenting on 60s/70a/80s television/music. Usually they come in threes and are of vaguely hipsterish appearance, and are arranged in an ironic fashion on some beat up sofa. Each non-entity in turn, whom you’ve never heard of, mouths some drivel, after which the other two look at him in awe of his mighty wit.

    Because you see Hotel California was a brilliant commentary on it’s times, with some of the greatest melodies/arrangements in popular musical history. And if you could get past the tribal allegiances of your youth i.e. grow up you would see that the Carpenters are easy listening in a very positive way, and that Richard was a genius arranger and Karen had a voice like honey.

    Despite passionately holding these views I can still take a joke about it. Unlike the audience at the gig of a comedian I saw on TV who announced he was gong to do a Karen Carpenter impression, then hung his jacket on his microphone stand.

  9. Ian Reid – “You missed your true calling in life. You should have been one of those alleged comedians you see on Channel 4/5 documentaries commenting on 60s/70a/80s television/music.”

    What makes you think I was trying to be funny in any way whatsoever?

    “Because you see Hotel California was a brilliant commentary on it’s times, with some of the greatest melodies/arrangements in popular musical history.”

    No it wasn’t. It was and is drivel. You simply see what you want to see. At the time they were writing a lot of lyrics about how wicked life in California was. Most of them are forgotten. This is just one. Like most lyrics it was written in minutes with the expectation of being forgotten in weeks. For some reason this one hung around with people trying to work out what deep meaning lies behind it. There never is any deep meaning and there certainly isn’t here.

    “And if you could get past the tribal allegiances of your youth i.e. grow up you would see that the Carpenters are easy listening in a very positive way, and that Richard was a genius arranger and Karen had a voice like honey.”

    I will accept the point about Karen’s voice. The rest is simply your tribal allegiance. Although thank you for introducing me to the concept of positive easy listening.

    “Unlike the audience at the gig of a comedian I saw on TV who announced he was gong to do a Karen Carpenter impression, then hung his jacket on his microphone stand.”

    Crass.

  10. SMFS,
    “That simply dates you. Everyone thinks the music of their youth was the best. The 70s were a bit up and down in reality. Sure, Talking Heads formed in 1975. But the next year they released the bubonic plague of the music world Hotel California.”

    No (born 1964 by the way). The 70’s music I listen to now is not the 70’s music I listened to then. And Talking Heads did not release Hotel California.

    Besides I’m not trying to say that the 70’s were “better”. That’s just personal choice. My point is that the 70’s had such volume and variety.

  11. De gustibus non est disputandum. Personally I was never much into punk (with the exception of The Stranglers) and I really liked Hotel California. I thought the stuff Joe Strummer did with the Mescaleros was better than The Clash. I think Bob Seger is far superior to Bruce Springsteen. I think in very decade there is great music and an awful lot of tosh. Sturgeon’s Law applies in spades.

    A quick look back through my most recent iTunes plays reveals the following, in reverse order: Joseph Arthur, Sarah Blasko, Dire Straits, Broken Bells, Alanis Morissette, The Levellers, Simply Red, Morcheeba, Blitzen Trapper, David Gray, The Republic Tigers, Snow Patrol, The Waterboys, Guster, Kate Bush, Sniff ‘n’ the Tears, Family of the Year, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Elle King, The Veils, The Shins, Eels, John Newman, Runrig, Conjure One, Sinéad Lohan, KT Tunstall, Carole King, Cake, U2, Rachel Sermanni, Joe Bonamassa, Neil Finn, Dave Mason, The Durutti Column, The Afghan Whigs, Oingo Boingo, Poe, Supergrass, Pink Floyd, Amy Macdonald, MS MR, Tina Dico (thanks, Squander Two), Anne-Marie Almedal and Fotheringay.

    Now I suppose someone could look at that list and say what my musical ‘taste’ was, but I’m buggered if I can.

  12. BiCR,
    Not sure how to categorise you, but we’ll soon know how well you score.

    SMFS has the Official List of Correct Musical Opinions.

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