HOW SCOTS HAVE DANCED THROUGH DECADES
before and £500 all those years ago was probably about £15,000 a night now. It was the start of a real frenzy and girls were going absolutely crazy for the band. “There weren’t enough bouncers to hold them back and we had to use men from St John Ambulance as back-up. “One of the guys turned to me and shouted, ‘Andi, what’s happening?’ I replied, Love Island narrator Iain Stirling explores Scotland’s love affair with the dancefloor in special Hogmanay programme for BBC ‘Don’t worry, it’s only Beatlemania’. That was the start of it. The phrase was used worldwide but actually it was born in Dundee.”
For Iain, from Edinburgh, the birth of The Beatles and iconic dances such as The Twist makes the 60s stand out from any other decade.
He says: “It just seems like such an exciting time. Finding out that Beatlemania was created in Dundee is pretty special.
“Slow dancing fell away and the introduction of rock music and the invention of The Twist really shook things up.
“Before that, you had to partner with someone else and it’s incredible to think folk didn’t start dancing alone until the mid-60s.”
By the 70s, Scotland’s Saturday nights out had moved inside as people took to entertaining and house parties became the “in thing”.
Hostesses laid on drinks and nibbles for a glamorous evening made complete with a cheese and pineapple hedgehog.
But not everyone was content to spend their big night on the sofa sharing small talk and canapes.
On Skye, Pauline Ergamont had been gripped by the emerging sound of disco and decided to, quite literally, take her love of this fresh new sound to the islanders. She sparked fury among locals by launching a mobile discotech, with some even claiming it was the work of the devil himself.
Pauline said: “I remember sitting in the van in the street one day and two crofters knocked on the window.
“They looked at me and said, ‘Can we look inside the van, we’ve never see a discotheque before?’ I leapt out and opened the doors and one turned to the other and said, ‘There’s not much room for dancing in there’.
“Apart from the local community hall which was used for traditional Scottish dance, there wasn’t much to do and the youngsters wanted to hear some pop music.”
However, some Skye residents believed that Pauline’s mobile disco was sending out the wrong message.
Iain said: “It’s incredible now to think that pop music could cause such an uproar, but the Free Presbyterian church in particular was quite against it.
“They wrote a letter saying the music was leading others to transgress, when in fact folk were just having a good time.
“It was just harmless fun but it caused outrage at the time.”
Getting into the 80s spirit, Iain dons kneepads and tries his hand at a roller disco at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom, before visiting Brechin – home to the hottest nightclub in the country at the time, Flicks.
He hears the real story of the rave scene that swept Scotland in the 90s and finds out how we rediscovered flares, donkey jackets and floppy hair as indie music took over. Iain, who is also known for narrating Love Island, said: “The roller disco was an experience I will never forget – I almost broke my neck. “Dancing while skating isn’t an easy thing to master and I’m not sure it’s the best way to impress the ladies.” He added: “I’m too young to remember the rave scene of the 90s, but it looked fantastic. “Watching archive footage gave me a better understanding of dancing with glow sticks. The moves are pretty bad though, up there with dad dancing in my book.” Iain is planning to spend Hogmanay back home in Edinburgh with his family and friends. He added: “We’ll be watching the show at home and I’m sure it will bring back a lot of memories for my folks. “It’s the kind of programme that any age group will be able to enjoy. “Nights out have changed a lot over the years and the biggest difference is that people went from going out dancing as a couple to going out with groups of friends. “Revisiting the 50s was a bit of a culture shock, but it gave me a better understanding of what the older generations classed as fun. “I’d have to say my favourite era was the 90s but everyone will have a different opinion.” ● Scotland’s Big Night Out will be screened on BBC One Scotland tomorrow night at 10pm.
Finding out that Beatleman was in create Dundee is pretty special IAIN STIRLING