Woody, Eric, Alan, Leslie & Derek Quiz

Answer: Pilot

Well... Tam Paton was both Bay City Rollers' and Pilot's manager. Kate Bush liked Pilot well enough to make them her backing band when she did her first tour of Britain. And with such a phenomenally great a song as "Magic" ('Oh ha ha it's magic. You know. Better believe it's not so' - ring any bells?) to their credit who wouldn't adore Pilot?

OK maybe this falls into the category of something not entirely 'Bay City Rollers' and more of a 'Three Degrees Of Kevin Bacon' quiz (it's really more of a Tam Patton question) but this is the question that gave birth to the idea of a Bay City Rollers quiz well over a year ago. It was just quiz gold to me and there is NO WAY I could not resist a question that links the Bay City Rollers with Kate Bush in some way!

Answer: Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe issued this single (the B Side was 'The Rollers Theme') in 1975 under the name 'The Tartan Horde' as the 'band' and under the name 'Terry Modern' as the writer. It's actually a pretty catchy song and a great tribute to the band. Supposedly he recorded this song to annoy his record company.

They must have been steaming in their boots when it went to number one on the Japanese charts!

Answer: Gordon Clark

Honestly: I did not know this up until about 30 minutes ago when a friend emailed me a link with Roller's trivia. I had no idea they had singers before Leslie and I can't find any additional interesting info about this question beyond what I wrote in the actual question! Billy Connolly is my favorite comedian, Feargal was the singer for the Undertones and I made up Hamish, so for all I know he cleans toilets in pubs.

Their original singer Nobby Clarke never recorded with them.

Answer: He went on to start a plumbing business and survive two heart attacks

Yep. He went on to start a plumbing business and survive two heart attacks! I suppose after his Rollers experience he got tired of all the... feces of the music industry and decided it was more worth his while to be a plumber.

Now all that said: I met Eric at the Roxy show in 1981 I think it was. He was completely drunk and high as can be. BUT: He was one of the nicest musicians I have ever met and great fun to talk with.

Answer: Singer Les McKeown, bassist Alan Longmuir and guitarist Stuart Wood (Woody)

They reunited in 2015 with Leslie, Alan, and Stuart. The other ex members apparently had no interest nor did they come to the USA. I have no idea how successful they were musically (the 1980 Elevator tour at Magic Mountain and the Palomino with Duncan was fantastic beyond my wildest expectations, so this tour cold have gone both ways.)

Answer: Keep On Dancing

In September of 1971 the band scored their first top ten single with a cover of a song by the Gentrys entitled 'Keep On Dancing'. It went to number nine. BTW: Eric did not join the band until June 1972. Leslie McKeown and Stuart Wood did not join the band until January 1973.

Answer: The Saxons

They were originally called The Saxons. When they decided to change their name they did so by throwing a dart at a map of the US and it landed on Bay City in Michigan.

Doc Martens are shoes and the Dead End Kids were a band whose album I remember seeing in a cut out bin in Frankfurt, Germany in the Spring of 1978 - I know nothing about them beyond that the cover looked vaguely 'Roller-esque'.

Answer: Ian Mitchell and Pat McGlynn

Alan Longmuir left the band in June 1976 and was replaced by Ian Mitchell (arguably this became the most successful line up of the band in the USA) who in turn left the band after one year and was replaced by Pat McGlynn.

Answer: True

Absolutely true. After Monica says she wants the Bay City Rollers to play at their wedding she stops herself after she said the 'Bay City Rollers' because they were for her sixth grade wedding. Chandler then says "You couldn't get the Rollers anyway as Ian doesn't play any more". I suppose as the lineup with Ian was their best known lineup in the USA if you happened to be a fan of the show AND the Bay City Rollers this would be a funny (and perhaps strange) reference as an inside joke.

Answer: Karen Prosser

According to the internet the version of the band that was touring as "The New Rollers" actually had a girl in the band (and not as some semi hidden background singer either!). Now as hard as this may be to believe, when I saw them last in the Nineties again there was a somewhat strongly featured woman in the band. Now to be perfectly honest here the version of the band that I saw in the second half of the decade... THAT'S the girl I have been killing myself trying to find the name of! For all I know this was the same woman (all the other names have NOTHING to do with the Rollers) - it was already strange for me to see the band with a female as a featured member and somehow I cannot imagine there have been many. But I cannot find that name so instead I'm asking a question about a woman in a version of the band I did NOT see live. Oh well. Like Iggy Pop says on the Stooges Metallic KO album 'You pays your money, you takes your chances'. I somehow managed to find a woman who played with the original boy band AND I just managed to throw in a punk rock reference thusly making us ALL happy. I Think!

Now TRY to do this quiz with no googling. I really wanted to do a Rollers quiz and avoid the 'scandalous' stuff (which would have made it too easy i.m.o. plus I really wanted to avoid that). I really do like the band. On the other hand I also wanted to avoid the obvious questions and challenge the fans a little and make it fun to take the quiz. I hope I achieved that.