Bay City Rollers: Saturday Night

S A T U R D A Y Night!
S A T U R D A Y Night!
S A T U R D A Y Night!
S A T U R D A Y Night!




This has to be my all time favorite Bay City Rollers song. The song had just been released in the US, and our elementary school teachers were teaching all the girls in the school a dance routine to the song. I had the coordination of a newborn calf with two left feet. But I still loved that song.


The orginal version of the song was released in the UK in 1973, but it did not hit the charts until it was released in the US in late 1975. In January 1976, the song reached #1 as the first Billboard #1 of the year. The original version was sung by Nobby Clark, and the second - more popular version was sung by Les McKeown, Nobby's replacement.

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest in the mid 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at teeny-bopper acts of the 1970s". For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were worldwide teen idols. The group's line-up featured numerous changes over the years, but the classic line-up during its heyday included guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart John Wood, singer Les McKeown, bassist Alan Longmuir, and drummer Derek Longmuir.

Like many bands, they experienced poor management and financial mishandling. In 1978 McKeown had left the band and they fired their manager Tam Paton. The band decided to continue in a more new-wave, rock-oriented sound. Their name was now The Rollers.

South African-born Duncan Faure joined the band as new lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. With Faure, the line-up produced three albums: Elevator, Voxx, and Ricochet. Following the expiry of the band's Arista contract, neither of the releases sold as well as expected, and they stopped touring by late 1981.

In the late 1980s a version of the band called the 'New Rollers' was formed featuring Faulkner on lead vocals, Kass (Karen Prosser) on vocals, Jason Medvec on guitar, Andy Boakes on bass, Mark Roberts on drums. The band toured extensively throughout the US and Canada as well as tours of the UK and Australia. This group also released an independent 5-song EP titled "Party Hardy".

In 1990 Stuart Wood and Alan Longmuir joined with Faulkner to tour under the Bay City Rollers name, and issued several CDs of re-recordings of the old Roller tunes.

In March 2007, six former members of the group (Faure plus the "classic line-up") announced a lawsuit against Arista Records in hopes of claiming what they describe as "tens of millions of dollars" of unpaid royalties. Nobby Clark has threatened to sue the other band members if their lawsuit is successful, stating that he was the creative force behind the band's success, despite the fact that he left the group in 1973 before the bulk of their fame and fortune began.

In September 2010, Gordon "Nobby" Clark, Ian Mitchell and Pat McGlynn filed a complaint in the courts in United States against the six members (Faure plus the "classic line-up") over their being excluded from the case against Arista records. Clark, Mitchell and McGlynn were seeking to have their rights determined and are also seeking financial damages against the other Bay City Rollers for alleged breach of contract. In 2013 a judge in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the three due to the statute of frauds, which establishes that certain agreements must be in writing under certain conditions, with the appellate judge ruling, "A claim for unjust enrichment must be based on the value of plaintiffs' contribution to the joint effort of the band at the time it made the relevant records, not on the income stream resulting from a revival over thirty years later,"

In March 2011 a New York judge determined that the Bay City Rollers can move forward with their four-year-old lawsuit against Arista Records. Arista had denied responsibility for the majority of the royalties, claiming that the New York statute of limitations, which limits plaintiffs from recovering damages past six years in contract disputes, bars the Rollers' claims for royalties incurred prior to 2001. However, since the Rollers were able to show that Arista had continued to promise them their royalties in writing, the judge ruled that the statute was not applicable.

https://youtu.be/IdUAsLgXV5w





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