New peso coin specifications; Argentina, 1974

In 1974, Argentina came out with a new peso coin (the peso leya).

It was 2mm thick, weighed 5 g, and was made of aluminum-bronze. It was generally described as round, and had a narrower rim than the 1976 peso coin. In addition, the sun on the 1976 peso coin was larger than on the 1974 peso coin. The edge was milled. Lettering on the coin read: REPUBLIC ARGENTINA on one side and 1 PESO on the other.

This was a period of high inflation in Argentina. It took 11.90 pesos to buy one American dollar at the start of the year, and by February it had jumped to an exchange rate of 12.30 pesos. There was little change in March, but in April it jumped to 13.30 pesos. By the end of May it took 14.40 pesos to purchase one American dollar. There was again only a modest increase for one month, but by the end of July the exchange rate was 16.60 pesos to one American dollar. In August the exchange rate increased to 17.55 pesos per American dollar. By the end of September the exchnage rate was 18.70 pesos, and by the end of October it had risen to 20.05 pesos. November saw a minor increase to 20.90 pesos, and by the end of December you would need 22.00 Argentinian pesos to purchase $1US.

Meanwhile, also in early 1974,  in the UK  Les McKeown was hastily re-recording lead vocals on the Bay City Rollers’ forthcoming single, “Remember (Sha La La La)”. It was the break the Edinburgh pop/rock/pop rock/bubblegum pop/glam rock quintet needed as it became a sizable hit and a lead-in to a series of UK chart hits.

Bassist Alan Longmuir, his younger brother Derek Longmuir, a drummer, along with schoolfriend, lead singerGordon “Nobby” Clark founded the group in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1966, as The Saxons. Shortly afterwards, they chose a new name found at random by throwing a dart at a map of the United States. It landed near the community of Bay City, Michigan.

The Bay City Rollers were managed from early on by Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader. Short-term members from this period included David Paton (member 1969-1970) and Billy Lyall (member 1969-1971), who went on to be founding members of another successful Edinburgh band, Pilot.

After signing with Bell Records, the band’s first hit was “Keep on Dancing” (UK #9, 1971), a cover of a 1965 hit byThe Gentrys, recorded at the suggestion of record producer Jonathan King. Clark was backed on vocals on “Keep on Dancing” by King doing multi-tracked singing. Upon this release’s success, they made appearances on BBC One’s Top of the Pops. The group then won a Radio Luxembourg-sponsored song contest with the tune “Mañana”, which was later popular in parts of Europe and in Israel.

Several non-charting singles were released over the following two years. This period saw the addition of long term members Eric Faulkner and Stuart “Woody” Wood. In mid-1973 they narrowly missed the UK Singles Chartwith the fourth single, “Saturday Night”, one of many songs written and produced for the band by the songwriting duo of Scotsman Bill Martin and Irishman Phil Coulter.

At the peak of their popularity in the UK, comparisons were made to The Beatles. Also by this time, Bay City Roller fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were calf-length tartan trousersand tartan scarves. A popular playground chant of the time went (to the tune of “This Old Man”):

B-A-Y, B-A-Y,
B-A-Y, C-I-T-Y,
With an R-O-double-L, E-R-S,
Bay City Rollers are the best!
Eric, Derek, Woody too,
Alan, Leslie, we love you,
With an R-O-double-L, E-R-S,
Bay City Rollers are the best!

Tomorrow: 1976 - World impact