The pressure of fame was also starting to take its toll on their families.
Boyzone is by far the biggest teen pop sensation ever to emerge from the
Emmerald Isle, but the success was proving to be a burden for the families
who were left to continue their normal lives. Being pursued by fans went
with the territoryj for Ronan and the others, but their parents and brothers
and sisters were finding it hard to addept; they had to keep changing their
phone numbers,& their homes were beseiged by dedicated fans even when
the boys werer abroad. How were they supposed to relax after a day at work
when they had 20 or more young girls patrolling the pavement outside, gazing
through the windows and ringing on the doorbell every few minutes? Even
when they were told the boyz were away, the fans still insisted on staying.
These fans obviously felt happier being near a place directly associated
with, say, Ronan or Steve, rather than left staring at poster on their
bedroom walls.
There were rare moments when being under siegehad its advantages. One
day, Steve's mum, Margaret, told fans outside her house that she couldn't
talk to them because she had to do the washing up. The girls promptly offered
to do it for her - and she accepted!
More often than not, it was inconvenient having fans on the doorstep
and the situation worried the boys. Keith said, "The fans are always
knocking on the door saying, "When is Keith coming home?" But
this is our life and I don't feel our families should have to put up with
such behaviour. It happens at all times of he day and they inundate us
with phone calls. Even if we change numbers, they manage to find the new
ones. Our families get fed up with the hassle."
Attention from fans and the public in general was now assured wherever
BZ went, but their popularity also brought a new kind of follower - the
merchandising pirates. It hadn't taken long for salesmen to work out that
wherever BZ went, the fans went, and where there were fans, there was money
to be made. The illegal sale of poor quality, rip-off merchandise had first
been noticed during the UK tour. Now, Louis Walsh and the bous were furious
to discover that a highly organized underground industry of unofficial
Boyzone good had sprung up and was shadowing their every step. The itemjs
that angered the band most were the second-rate T-shirts and shoddy posters,
which were cheap imitations geared to maximize profits, without a thought
for giving the fans value for money. But what the bootleggers lacked in
quality goods, they made up for in skilled organization. Thousands of posters
and t-shirts and posters were made and sold to gangs which followed the
band to every city around the UK. Wherever BZ performed a gig, or were
booked for a signing session at a record store, the bootleggers lined the
routes to the venues and made sure thousands of fans spent their money
on the fake goods, not the official merchandise. BZ lost in 2 ways: they
missed out the revenue from from selling their own soubernirs and were
upset their fans were being ripped off. Louis was angry with the situation.
He said, "Thousands of really bad quality T-shirts are being put out
by the bootleggers. One wash and they are finished. It has got to the stage
where these people are flaunting themselves everywhere we go. They are
selling copies of everything, including headbands, calendars and key rings.
They are taking the money and are certainly not paying us anything. It
is costing us a fortune and the lads are really fed up with it. Apart from
lost revenue to us, the fans are being sold inferior merchandise."
Despite the problems with the merchandising pirates, the tour was a
fantastic success, with a fantastic last night at the Albert Hall. As the
roadies packed up the stage equipment for the last time, the bous headed
back to Ireland for a well-earned rest. They only had a few days with their
feet up, however, before they were back on the relentless treadmill of
promotion. Although they had a solid fan base in Europe, they had to devote
time and effort to keep those foundations firm. So, after all the work
in Britain, they headed for the Continent for a whistle-pop promotion your
of Holland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. They performed for dozens
of TV and radio stations, gave countless interviews, and appeared at special
signing sessions in each city. Working days on such tours are rarely less
than 14 hours, with hardly enough time for a substantial meal or a good
night's sleep before they would have to move on to the next city or country.
By now, however, the lads in BZ were gradually becoming hardened veterans
of life on the road.
They returned to Ireland briefly to shoot the video for the next single,
their cover version of Cat Stevens' classic, "Father and Son",
and when that was completed, they were off again. This time the destination
was the Far East, where, apart from Thailand, they were virtual unknowns.
It was essential they put in some ground work before future releases, so,
in a few mad, jet-lagged weeks, the lads crammed in visits to Thailand,
Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Japan before returning to the UK for the
release of "Father and Son."
If they had been a little upset by their relative annonymity in the
Far East, their confidence was boosted when Father and Son, with Ro on
lead vocals, went No. 2 in the UK charts. The success of the single was
all the more poignant for Ronan because it was 1 of the songs he had sung
nervously at the auditions for Boyzone 18 months earlier. That day, the
song had helped change his life by working its magic on the discedrning
would-be pop manager who was watching him closely. Now, Ro's emotional
rendition of "F & S" was casting its spell over the fans
and had given the band yet another hit. Few, if any, of the young Boyzone
fans would have heard of Cat Stevens, or his original song, but that was
irrelevant. All that mattered was that they loved the group's hit and the
boys were pleased to hear that Cat Stevens liked it, too. Boyzone met the
singer - now known as Yusuf Islam having converted to Islam - and he praised
their cover version.
"Father & Son" staued om the charts for 14 weeks and,
while it was still in the top ten, BZ were honoured by having their hands
cast in The Wall of Hands at the Rock Circus, in London's Picadilly. The
honour ranked them alongside music legends including Michael Jackson, Eric
Clapton, Phil Collins and Gloria Estefan. Those honoured have their hands
moulded into 3-dimensional bronze replicas, which fans can touch when they
visit the display. The press photo call was kept secret from fans, but
more than 50 found out anyway and were waiting outside before BZ arrived.
The manager of Rock Circus made an exception and invited the fans in to
watch the ceremony from a balcony. Before the plaster had barely dried
in the noulds, BX were on the move again with the Smash Hits Roadshow.
It was this annual even which had been responsible for making "Love
me for A Reason" such a huge hit a year earlier. Bach then, they had
been boted Best Band on the Road and, if there was any section of their
fans they had to thank for their success in the UK, it was the Smash Hits
readers.With that in mind, the band sang their hearts out for them, and
their efforts were rewarded, again, when they won the Best Album award
and Steve was voted Best Dressed Man of 1995 at the Smash Hits Poll Winners'
Party.
In the VIP audience that day were the four lads fdrom Take That, who
picked up their mandatory bulk af awards to hysterical screams. It had
been a tough six months for them sice losing Robbie, but they had emerged
as strong as ever. However, few people could have guessed what went through
Gary Barlow's mind at the party that day. He would reveal a few months
later that he had said to himself, "We cannot be here next year".
Deep down, Gary knew Take That had peaked. They had gone as far as they
could and, for him, there was nowhere else for them to go. It would be
several months before they would finally break up, but that day, the seeds
were sown which would end Take That and leave the future wide open for
Boyzone.
Boyzone had 1 last public appearance in London before returning to
Ireland for Christmas. They joined stars and fans for the MTV Christmas
Party and entered in to the festive spirit by donning Santa hats and singing
carols with the youngsters. Even when they were finally back in Dublin,
they could not enjoy their own private Christmas until they had done a
few more live gigs and TV slots. One of their last appearances that year
was on Gay Byrne's Late Late Show. Gay is Ireland's top chat show host
and was the mad who had given them invaluable exposure a day or so after
Boyzone had formed in 1994. On that occasion, they had been raw novices,
who barely knew each other. It had been a scary baptism, but on this appearance
they were cool and skillful professionals, and Gay was proud of them that
he invited their parents on to the show, too!
At last, BZ were allowed to relax and enjoy Christmas with their families.
As the festive season went on and the New Year approached, they looked
back on an incredible 12 months. They had begun 1995 with many critics
writing them off as one-hit wonders, but they had finished the year triumphant
with thousands of fans and even the cynics on their side. They had notched
up 3 more top 3 hits and a No. 1 UK had been a success and they had jetted
across the world to more than a dozen countries. Life as pop stars was
most definitely a crazy rollercoaster. Little did BZ know, but the magical
ride was just getting warmed up.