Adolescent Adoration and Adult Music Taste

Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers was such a handsome man in the 70s, and still is, really. 

Even when I was ten and had just discovered boys, I leaned toward older boys who had a more MAN look to them than that pretty adolescent boy stage where they could just as easily be a girl. For instance, all my friends wanted to marry Luke Skywalker. I wanted me some Han Solo. Han looks like a MAN, not a teenage girl.

And Eric always looked like a MAN. So did Alan, but Alan did not have those Eric EYES or that heart shaped face, or that strong jaw and amazing and infectious smile.

So I've been Eric's girl since I was ten, and that's fifty years now, and all my friends loved Les or Stuart Woody Wood, but the vast majority of them are ashamed to mention the Rollers now, which is sad, because they really were an incredibly good pop band. And once Woody and Eric took over their songwriting, they stopped being shallow and started actually saying some things. Subtly, but it was there, and then they fired that prick Tam Paton, and went in the direction THEY wanted to go, but their fans were not ready for a more hard rock serious BCR, and the fans started finding other interests. 

I got to see them live. October 1 or 2, 1976, I forget which, at the Boston Music Hall with my sister's friend Sue. The tickets cost my Dad $6 each, and another 5 got me a program and another 8 got Sue a tee shirt. They played for 45 minutes. Four girls rushed the stage and nearly strangled them. They came back for two one song encores. As girls from 10 to about 14, this was the first concert for most of us. We had no idea that that was a pretty short concert by most people's definition. Even so, it was the time of my life. I had almost climbed the stage when some man in the crowd pulled me off it, stood me on my feet, shook his finger at me, and went and kept an eye on another girl who looked like she wanted to strangle Ian Mitchell.

I saw an interview with Stuart Woody Wood tonight where he said that he went from playing 10-20,000 person halls to playing pubs and dance halls.

Eric still makes music, but on a much smaller scale than Woody, even. After surviving a bout with encephalitus that nearly killed him, Eric's focus is on getting 100% better. Before he got sick, he was playing left wing political rallies, festivals, and the occasional pub, as well as recording.

Fifty years later, I have very broad music interests. I love jazz fusion like Herbie Hancock and Return To Forever. Give me lots of Mozart and Beethoven. Tantalize me with a SMALL amount of opera. Play me some metal, some classic, some oldies, some techno, some punk, some new wave, some country... you probably get the picture. 

But my point is, I have broad tastes, and the BCR feature high up on my list of good music. Because they were GOOD. Their music makes you feel, and it often makes you dance, or sigh, or yearn, or celebrate.

And isn't that what music is supposed to do?