Customer Reviews

Bye Bye Baby: My Tragic Love Affair with The Bay City Rollers

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As a non-gay, young male teenage fan of the Rollers back in the 70s, I was quite intrigued to read this book - especially in light of recent press about Courtney Love purchasing the rights to this for film (and reports of Ewan McGregor playing BCR singer Les McKeown, despite McKeown's protestations that it should be Keanu Reeves). What I found was a mildly entertaining story of obsession - but obsession with what? Clearly it really wasn't the Bay City Rollers. What emerges is a rather negative and downer read, based mostly on teen rivalry, boredom and fanaticism, with the Rollers themselves (and their music) as a non-essential peripheral excuse for the whole shang-a-lang. Actually, this so-called "fan" makes continued slams on the band themselves, mostly their music. She offers very little in the way of information about the group, other than what everyone already knows from numerous press releases and stories already on the net. Aye, a wee number of personal observations, of course, but these are peppered with less-than-accurate negative critiques of their music, looks, style, decisions, etc. This book is more the tale of a loser with nothing better to do than compete with other losers for "stalking rights" for a band she cares almost nothing about musically...which begs the question "what is the point"? This book, actually, could have ANY teenie band substituted for the Rollers (i.e Westlife, Boyzone, Osmonds, etc.) It reads a tad like American Psycho, but instead of murder, it very blandly tells of endless waits in hotel corridors, and the occasional angry spat if one of the band members was seen walking with another girl. Jeesh. One wonders how on earth a film could be squeezed out of these boring pages...I had hoped for a true memory of those days (I didn't necessarily need an apologetic and nostalgic look at Rollermania, but this is a completely dull opposite), but what we get is a rather pathetic portrait of life as an American school leaver obsessed with a band she didn't actually care for, and, from these pages, a band with an image, music, musicianship, style, etc. she actually disliked. What's the point? Rollermaniacs, or those interested in the whole subject: avoid - this really offers nothing; not even a glimmer of the fun and excitement we all felt back when we had acne and funny tartan clothes.

I am not a Bay City rollers fan. I'm not even old enough to know about the hysteria they caused and to be really honest I have never really cared. So why then this is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while?

It tells the account of a young fans obsession with the 70's answer to today's N*SYNC or the like, and charts the impact they made on her life as she was growing up. The goings-on of her and her fellow fans (the tacky tartan tarts) whenever 'the rollers' were in her country will either amaze you or be painstakingly similar to your own boy band experiences.

Bye bye baby is a fab book for anyone who has been part of the boy band experience and the great thing about this book is that you will be able to relate to it whether you're an ex tacky tartan tart aged 40+ or a 16-year-old drooling over your n-sync posters.

Ardent Bay city Rollers fans may feel a little uncomfortable in how the Bay City Rollers music was discussed in the book, but don't take it too seriously. This is an honest book and with boy bands more often than not the looks and personality's of a band are always put before their music.

This is a light-hearted tale that will entertain you right till the last page.

I'm much chagrined to admit that before an accidental viewing of one of VH1s seemingly never-ending repeats of a teen idol retrospective, I had never heard of the Bay City Rollers. Born in 1976, my own musical awakening didn't come until the era of Van Halen and Micheal Jackson.

Having got this out in the open at the beginning, I feel completely comfortable recommending this book without reservation. Sure it's about a band, but way more importantly, it's about a fan. Having lived through a tragic "love affair" of my own, Sullivan's words ring incredibly true. She says the things that I haven't sufficiently grown up to phrase, but she said them exactly as I feel them.

Bye Bye Baby should be required reading for passionate fans of any persuasion (be it for Nsync or, for God's sake, the cast of Rent or the Chicago Bulls). The sentiments and the sharing, the friendships these people formed and the goofy things they lived through, and occasionally lived for, make the book worth the read.

And if you're not down with that, it's a fascinating sociological recounting of American pop culture in the 70s, spattered with Tab and Sid and Nancy and Elvis and Lennon.

I knew I HAD to get this book as soon as I found out what the subject matter was. The Bay City Rollers were my first favorite group, and I will always have a soft spot in my heart (some would say my head!) for them.

If only I had been old enough to travel around the country after them (I was 11 years old when I became a fan). Ms. Sullivan takes you into the world of single-minded obsession that flares at its brightest during the teen years. I know how it is to want something (and someone!) so badly, even though you ask yourself WHY you felt this way years later...

But I must say (for those who don't know the Rollers)...the BCR's music is not QUITE as bad as Ms. Sullivan describes it. I recently bought "The Definitive Collection" ... and it's tons ahead of the slop that passes for pop on today's radio...

The American press release for this book says it all (and you figure the author "authorized" it!): "Bye, Bye Baby is the true tale of a passionate obsession with possibly the most untalented bunch of musicians in the history of rock and roll." The inaccuracies are too many, the tone too nasty and the research obviously lacking in detail. The Smithereens are quoted, uncredited, and "Wayne's World" is quoted, but miscredited. And that's just the non-Roller-related, um, "mistakes". Shabby, very shabby. Apart from that, it is witty, at times, but turns more mean-spirited as it wears on. Often, it seems, she never even listened to the music - she's too busy mocking the lyrics and even Eric's moustache and weight, for example, to utter even ONE word about how the song "Elevator" actually SOUNDED! And that "update" on the guys, towards the end, is just so littered with hearsay and, frankly, non-factual events, that it reads like something you'd expect to see in The Sun. And after all that, one can't help but wonder if the so-called first accounts of the story aren't just as sketchy. Overall it's a messy, quickie, hack-job written by an ex-groupie. How seriously can we take that?

Caroline Sullivan was obsessed. Sadly, her obsession was with the Bay City Rollers and it lasted four long years. Tortured by her love for the band (and their dismissal of her), she eagerly collects clippings (and on at least one occasion, a discarded cigarette butt), follows them on tour, and stalkishly hunts for information regarding their whereabouts. The Rollers provide high highs and even lower lows for Sullivan and her friends (they call themselves the Tacky Tartan Tarts), but they can't get enough. This memoir will make anyone who's ever been a fan cringe in recognition (even those with less embarrassing taste in music). The ultimate guilty pleasure and a really enjoyable read.

The music business is filled with former fans. It's the love of the music and the love of the people who make it that makes it magic. To say I empathize with Caroline Sullivan's teen years would be an understatement, since I had my own love affair with a different British band, not unanimously favored by the press and I pulled many (though not all) of the same shenanigins to get where I needed to be. Read: CLOSE. I think the most important point of this story is Caroline's love of the music business, her understanding of the road and her knowledge of the music being released at that time. Read and accept this book as a snapshot. It is not meant to be more or less. Photographs don't lie, they don't embellish and they are rarely flattering. For this I thank her. It brought back that roller coaster ride (no pun intended) filled with the highs and lows of my own teenage madness. My affair started in the late sixties and ended in the mid seventies, Caroline and I (remarkably) crossed paths on many occasions but never met. What wrenched at my heartstrings and brought back the most painful and vivid feelings were her accounts the moments after she had finally achieved the intimacy she had fantasized about. Those first moments of elation followed by the terrible crash. Life on the road was a life of fantasy. When the band went home to their loved ones life seemed so colorless. One touch of hands, one encouraging word could feed a year of dreams until the next tour. Thank you Caroline for writing your book, I enjoyed it enormously. Not in the classic "is this fun or what" way, but in the "at least I wasn't alone" way.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but once I got a couple of chapters into it, I had an epiphany. Caroline Sullivan and her Tacky Tartan Tarts could have been me and my friends had we had the means to follow any of the teen idols we adored. That's when for me the story stopped being about the BCR and started being about a slightly tilted mirror image of myself. If you go into to this thinking you're getting great insight into Leslie, Eric, Woody, Derek, Alan et al, then this isn't the book for you. If you want to remember the pure joy you experienced in loving these guys, and you're not afraid of taking off the blinders and seeing how they saw you in return, then get this book. Thanks, Caroline, for the memories and sharing the mirror!

This is the book to read if you ever thought you'd found the rock star that you were meant to love for life! Fantastic tale of obsession and fear and joy and fun and desperation. Kudos for this honest and grand story.

I bought this book and totally loved it! It is so refreshing to read something that comes from the fan perspective. Caroline tells her story very well. Being a "Rollermaniac" myself, I dreamed of running after the Rollers, but unfortunately I never even got to see them live in their short lived careers. Caroline and friends live out every Roller fan's fantasy and that WAS to get physically close to the Rollers! The only thing that the book was missing was some pictures of the Tacky Tartan Tarts(!) and pictures of some of their adventures. I did love the Roller's music however and Derek (sigh:), two things that Caroline does not seem to embrace. Pretty sure that Mr. Roller is Woody, but after what she says in the book about Derek, I thought it would have been hysterical if that would have been her Roller!(He certainly could have been mine!) At any rate, its a good read for any person who considers themselves to be a FANatic!