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In a funny, poignant, and totally original portrait of an era, Sullivan relates her passionate obsession with possibly the most untalented bunch of musicians in the history of rock 'n' roll. 'Bye Bye Baby' is a confessional memoir that invites the reader into some of Sullivan's most excruciatingly embarrassing moments. More than just an uproarious tale of teenage passion, it is also an inspired exploration of the intimate bonds that tie teenage girls.

Bye Bye Baby time-travels to an era when hair was big, John Travolta cut a dash on a dancefloor where disco burned infernally, Andy Warhol presided at Studio 54 and the Bay City Rollers were, well, naff. Rock critic Caroline Sullivan makes no bones about this in her hilarious account of the Rollers' career, her adolescence in New Jersey and the painful collision of the two in a decade that gave little space to taste. Dirty tartan laundry is wrung, scrubbed and hung out to dry in a rollercoasting memoir that smoulders with the obsessional pain and triumphs of growing pains, anguished friendships and the dangers of getting too close to your dreams. Familiar as we are with the likes of Boyzone and East 17 it is easy to forget the Rollers who were probably the first to combine image with minimal talent and according to Sullivan were the finest despite their dazzling ordinariness. They were Take That in tartan minus the dance steps. Sullivan and her teenage friends (not groupies, you see--"special fans") followed the band on their American tours from hotel to chain motel--each a little more seedy--until their heroes ended up temporarily living in the suburban neighbourhood in which Sullivan grew up. This was less to do with thinking them messiahs (our heroine is refreshingly caustic at times)--more a way of dealing with the energies and needs of those hormone-fuelled years. All the while Sullivan was furiously scribbling a diary which forms the basis of her book but also allowed her to develop a prototype style for her subsequent career. Even at her most self-deprecating she reserves a certain pride and affection for the experience that ultimately lends her writing dignity, mixing the then and now into a heady cocktail, pouring it out with a regressive insouciance and washing it down with a Tab. Current trends dictate that the hour of the band's reunion is nigh with a series of comeback concerts scheduled. Will Caroline Sullivan be there? Purely in a professional capacity, I'm sure. --David Vincent

Everybody has a guilty secret--but most people tend to want to keep their skeletons well hidden in the closet. Not so Caroline Sullivan, a noted rock journalist in the U.K. In Bye Bye Baby, Sullivan stands up and shouts, "I was a Bay City Rollers fan." Sullivan readily admits that the Rollers were not musical geniuses. Growing up in Millburn, New Jersey, on a diet of Led Zeppelin, the Who, and Peter Frampton, she recognized skilled musicianship. But she was a fan from the moment she saw BCR on television. "My entire Rollermaniac career was a struggle between knowing they were no Led Zep but loving them anyway." For her obsession, Sullivan lacks even the excuse of extreme youth. Age 15 in 1975, when the Rollers made their first appearance in the U.S., she and her 16-, 17-, and 19-year-old friends--the self-proclaimed "Tacky Tartan Tarts"--were already older than the average Roller fan. But she was no average fan: "I love them desperately. For four years I lived for them. It's not a pretty story." But it is a funny story. Bye Bye Baby tracks the history of the band, from their unassuming beginnings as the Saxons to the top of the U.S. charts with "Saturday Night"--and their inevitable decline. It also traces the antics of a group of dedicated fans who would do anything to get close to their idols--turning up at airports at the crack of dawn, wild car chases through city streets, elaborate subterfuges with hotels, airlines, and PR companies. "We were a bit like those dogs who chase cars--what would they do if they caught one?" In the end, Sullivan did catch one--though only for a brief time (and she's gentlewoman enough never to expressly name which one). And she, her fellow Tarts, and the Rollers all moved on. But in Bye Bye Baby, Caroline Sullivan tells a funny and touching story--and pays homage to the band she once loved. --Sunny Delaney