Sushi and Shang-A-Lang: the Rollers are still the UK's biggest boy band in Japan
AngrieWoman
http://www.sundayherald.com/30128
Robbie and Blue just can't compete with the allure of tartan trousers
By Mike Merrit
It's been 30 years since they had teenagers swooning and the nation drowning
in tartan, but the Bay City Rollers still tower above today's superstars ...
in Japan.
Scotland's most famous boy band have topped the British artists playlist in
the land of the rising sun with a song that was recorded in 1973 but went
unnot iced when released in Britain.
Saturday Night was played more often during 2002 than any song by a British
artist ... more than Robbie Williams, more than Travis and more than Blue.
But it's unlikely to cause mass celebrations in the Rollers camp. Saturday
Night was not written by the band -- it was penned by Phil Coulter, who also
wrote Shang-A-Lang -- so they won't get any songwriting royalties.
It seems a fitting twist for a band who sold almost 100 million records
worldwide but claim they never made any money.
'It is incredible to think that with all our success we never made a penny,'
said the group's bass player Alan Longmuir, 54, who worked as a plumber
after the band split in 1979.
'We were just five working class lads who knew nothing about the music
business. We sold 97 million records and made no money -- it seems
impossible to do, but we did it.
'I am surprised and delighted by its success in Japan. The Rollers still
have a huge fan base. The websites have thousands of hits each week. It is
incredible.
'The fans are still there -- they are just in their 30s and 40s now. They
are incredibly loyal but if we ever reformed we would not expect to see them
in those short trousers -- the fans have grown-up now.'
JASRAC -- the Japanese equiv alent of the Performing Rights Society --
compiled the chart. The only other British artist in the top 10 was Point
Break who took sixth place with Do We Rock.
A spokesman for PRS said that he was 'amazed' at the Rollers' success in
Japan.
'Saturday Night was the fifth most performed work by an overseas artist in
Japan this year and the best by a British artist,' he said. 'It is quite a
surprise. We don't know why, although we suspect Saturday Night has been
used as a theme tune for a television series or for an advert. The Japanese
market is one of the world's major music markets and the Rollers must be
delighted with their unexpected success.'
The Bay City Rollers notched up a string of No1 hits in the 1970s including
Bye Bye Baby, Shang-A-Lang and Give a Little Love. The band are now chasing
£160 million they claim they are owed in royalties through the US courts.
Nobody is expecting an early settlement.
The court case has at least brought the classic line-up back together as
friends, after a bitter fall out in the mid-1980s. The Rollers, all now in
their 50s, have found very different lives after fame.
Derek Longmuir studied for a nursing degree and is now a NHS nurse in
Edinburgh looking after dementia patients. He received 300 hours community
service in March 2000 for a child porn conviction but was allowed to
continue working as a nurse. His brother, Alan, suffered a minor heart
attack and a stroke two years ago and is now semi-retired.
Guitarist Eric Faulkner, who runs a small studio in Sussex, singer Les
McKeown, who heads his own Rollers tribute band, and Wood, who now produces
traditional Scottish music, are still in the music business. Former manager
Tam Paton, who was jailed in 1982 for sex offences against teenage youths,
is now a property millionaire in Edinburgh with a fortune worth more than
£5m.
All admit they are surprised by Saturday Night's success 30 years on. The
song was given to the band by their record company Arista, who they are
currently suing. It went to number one in America, Germany and Japan but was
never released in the UK.
Certainly, the band have always been ... erm ... big in Japan. 'It was the
wildest place for hysteria,' said Alan Longmuir. 'We toured there many times
and released nearly 30 records. If we ever got together again it would be to
tour America and Japan.
'The tartan image had a lot to do with our success in Japan and being in the
right place at the right time. Even in our reunion tour in the 1980s we were
still playing at Japanese concerts with more than 10,000 fans.'
The reunion tour in the 1980s ended in bitter acrimony with band members not
talking to each other for years, although the class line-up reunited for a
one-off television special for a Japanese broadcaster in December 1998.
Now there are even whispers that the band may reform for a nostalgia tour in
Japan.
Alan's brother Derek would certainly be up for a reunion tour now -- in the
right circumstances. 'I still get fan mail from Japan,' he said.
'People forget how big the records were in other countries. It was bizarre
to see all these Japanese kids dressed in tartan.
'We are pals now. We went through a bad time but we are older and more
mature. A reunion tour or gig is doubtful but no longer out of the
question.'
The band's former manager Tam Paton, who recently won a 25-year-fight for
£500,000 of unpaid royalties from all the Rollers' years, has rather
different memories about the song which has raised the Rollers' Japanese
profile. 'It went straight to number one in the US, but I thought it was
awful,' he said.
Angie
--
http://www.auctionusers.org
Tina
>(not 30, 29 dammit!)
>
>
How times flies eh? I was one of those 12- year-old goofballs who adored the
BCR too. I even seen them in concert at our local state fair. I was in puppy
love with the guy who ended up being a pedophile. Too bad this article didn't
have recent photos of the guys. Love to see what they look like now.
Thanks for posting the article Angrie Woman. :-)