From the archive, 2 January 1976: Rollers at bay
Teenage fans of the Bay City Rollers tell a story of unrequited love
The Bay City Rollers, November 1975. Photograph: PA
Of all the books written in 1975, few could have been more moving than a 50,000 word story of unrequited love, told by Melody Quinn, aged 18, and Elaine Oldfield, aged 17.
They are two of that tartan-clad horde of teenage girls who scream, faint and have hysterics whenever they see the pop group, the Bay City Rollers. Their book "Bay City Blues, or How you don't catch a Roller by really trying", was written with the help of Elaine's mother, Mrs Eva Oldfield. It is emotion recollected in tranquility, a story of how they travelled 4,500 miles, spent more than £500, and were battered, bruised and insulted, all in an unsuccessful attempt to meet the Rollers.
"I offered to take crates of empty bottles down into the pub cellar," Melody wrote. "Halfway down the steps I threw some bottles to the bottom, kicked a few more over, screamed, ran down the stairs, and sat on the floor."
The landlord carried her upstairs and went to get a coldwater bandage. While he was gone Melody banged her leg against the wall in the hope of getting a bruise or two to add weight to her story. The landlord helped her into his car and drove her home.
The next day, Melody was in the queue at Hull when a Yorkshire Television camera crew arrived. She covered her face with a tartan scarf and pulled a floppy hat over her eyes, but all was lost when the reporter gave her a chance of declaring her love for the Rollers.
The face of Melody Quinn loomed up on millions of television screens, including the pub at Ossett. "Dear Miss Quinn," the landlord wrote in a letter to her home. "You are in line for an Oscar. Your little bit of acting was most convincing. Consider yourself unemployed, as from now." "Great," said Melody. "That gives me more time to queue for the Preston concert."
The girls had their finest hour when they went to Copenhagen for a Rollers concert. They brushed aside the bouncers ("Little, elderly fellers") guarding the stage, and Elaine heaved Melody up so that she could run to the Rollers, kissing each in turn.
Elaine was rewarded by holding the hand of Les, and kissing him outside the theatre. Melody, a practical young lady, said: "If I can't have Eric, I'll have some of his hair." So she yanked out a tuft from the unfortunate guitarist's head (apparently hair comes out easily when they're all hot and sweaty).
Mrs Oldfield, who has played a heroic part in this hopeless love affair by giving logistic support, described the two girls in the book as being not the slightest bit interested in boys who were far more accessible. "They are very pretty, well adjusted girls – well adjusted, that is, until the subject of the Bay City Rollers crops up."
Their book, even if it is never published, will still help them to shed a gentle tear of remembered happiness, when they are middle aged and have still not met the Rollers - at least not in a proper way - after more than two years of trying. Perhaps Jane Austen said it all in her novel Persuasion, when she had Anna Elliot saying: "All the privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone."
They are two of that tartan-clad horde of teenage girls who scream, faint and have hysterics whenever they see the pop group, the Bay City Rollers. Their book "Bay City Blues, or How you don't catch a Roller by really trying", was written with the help of Elaine's mother, Mrs Eva Oldfield. It is emotion recollected in tranquility, a story of how they travelled 4,500 miles, spent more than £500, and were battered, bruised and insulted, all in an unsuccessful attempt to meet the Rollers.
People who know about pop music say that the Rollers are simply a brilliant commercial exploitation of the boy-next-door ideal, a group with not one tenth of the talent of the Beatles. No matter. Elaine still wants to marry Les, the lead singer (as would at least 100,000 other girls), and Melody, along with 50,000 other girls, wants to marry Eric, the lead guitarist.
To this end they have slept in the street, for three or four nights when queuing to get tickets. Once, when tickets were on sale in Hull, Melody decided that even her job as a barmaid at a pub in their hometown of Ossett, West Yorkshire, would not keep her away. Let the book take up the story:"I offered to take crates of empty bottles down into the pub cellar," Melody wrote. "Halfway down the steps I threw some bottles to the bottom, kicked a few more over, screamed, ran down the stairs, and sat on the floor."
The landlord carried her upstairs and went to get a coldwater bandage. While he was gone Melody banged her leg against the wall in the hope of getting a bruise or two to add weight to her story. The landlord helped her into his car and drove her home.
The next day, Melody was in the queue at Hull when a Yorkshire Television camera crew arrived. She covered her face with a tartan scarf and pulled a floppy hat over her eyes, but all was lost when the reporter gave her a chance of declaring her love for the Rollers.
The face of Melody Quinn loomed up on millions of television screens, including the pub at Ossett. "Dear Miss Quinn," the landlord wrote in a letter to her home. "You are in line for an Oscar. Your little bit of acting was most convincing. Consider yourself unemployed, as from now." "Great," said Melody. "That gives me more time to queue for the Preston concert."
The girls had their finest hour when they went to Copenhagen for a Rollers concert. They brushed aside the bouncers ("Little, elderly fellers") guarding the stage, and Elaine heaved Melody up so that she could run to the Rollers, kissing each in turn.
Elaine was rewarded by holding the hand of Les, and kissing him outside the theatre. Melody, a practical young lady, said: "If I can't have Eric, I'll have some of his hair." So she yanked out a tuft from the unfortunate guitarist's head (apparently hair comes out easily when they're all hot and sweaty).
Mrs Oldfield, who has played a heroic part in this hopeless love affair by giving logistic support, described the two girls in the book as being not the slightest bit interested in boys who were far more accessible. "They are very pretty, well adjusted girls – well adjusted, that is, until the subject of the Bay City Rollers crops up."
Their book, even if it is never published, will still help them to shed a gentle tear of remembered happiness, when they are middle aged and have still not met the Rollers - at least not in a proper way - after more than two years of trying. Perhaps Jane Austen said it all in her novel Persuasion, when she had Anna Elliot saying: "All the privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone."
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