Song of the Day 2/22: Bay City Rollers, “Saturday Night”

This pop earworm hit No. 1 in America late in 1975, earning the band, which marketed the Edinburgh quintet as tartan-clad teen idols despite the band having been around for a decade by then. Even if you hated the tune, written by the veteran British songwriting team of Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, the hooks stayed with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkNoWIho_M

The song was chosen to launch the Rollers in the U.S., but it had to be recorded anew because its original release from 1973 featured lead singer Nobby Clark, who left the band just before their popularity skyrocketed. The production isn’t as slick, and Clark’s voice lacks Les McKeown’s brighter timbre, but it’s virtually the same song. Yet it failed to chart at all when it was released as a single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUyNxbRy88A

British teenagers, perhaps missing the fun they had in the ’60s, had turned the band into a sensation by then, adopting a distinctive fashion sense (mid-calf tartan pants featured heavily) and generally annoying anyone who had seen teen pop bands come and go. Nick Lowe, looking to get out of a recording contract, wrote a snarky tune he thought would do the trick, but “Bay City Rollers, We Love You” — credited to the Tartan Horde, the nickname for the band’s fans — became a hit in Japan.

That led to a catchier encore, “Rollers Show.” It, too, was credited to the Tartan Horde, but it showed up on Lowe’s breakthrough LP, “Jesus of Cool,” known as “Pure Pop for Now People” in the U.S.