C 1970/80s. Two/three teens form pop group. Have usual teen problems/attitudes.

[Catherine 'CatBar' UK]

Possibly read this during 1970s or even 1980s.
This book - possibly set in 1970/80s in England, and could be ‘young adult fiction’ - starts with school trip cruise to somewhere northern/Scandinavia.
Then, back home again, three disparate teenagers (a glamorous self-centred blonde?girl, a lively black boy, and one other teen) formed into pop group 'Babes in the Wood/s'.
There's also a fat girl (might’ve been in pop group too? or just envious onlooker?) but she overdoses.
The black boy’s supposed to be ‘at one with the universe’, but, in reality thinks this a lot of ‘f*cking oriental sh*t’. He also mentions some girl with 'lips like a hoover'. And 'maybe I should go blonde'.
There's also a sympathetic? school teacher who relates to all three teenagers and possibly tries to help with their problems, relationships etc.

[Rainbowheart]

The All Electric Amusement Arcade?

[Daisy]

This is a long shot that would only work if you're confusing two different books, but about half your description matches The Drifters.

[Daisy]

Drifters is about six teens, one of whom is from Scandinavia, one is a Black American boy, and one overdoses. The narrator is a much older man who's family friends with most of them, and he plays that teacher/parental role you described.

There's no pop group, though, and no school trip. Still, odd enough to be worth a mention just in case.

[Catherine 'CatBar' UK]

Rainbowheart wrote: "The All Electric Amusement Arcade?"
Rainbowheart, many thanks for your suggestion. I feel pretty sure that, regretfully, this isn't the book I'm searching - but I'll keep on looking into it.

Actually it was really hard to find ANY summary of its storyline; just one very brief paragraph. Nor could I find a 'Look Inside'.

But many thanks, once again!

[Catherine 'CatBar' UK]

Daisy wrote: "Drifters is about six teens, one of whom is from Scandinavia, one is a Black American boy, and one overdoses. The narrator is a much older man who's family friends with most of them, and he plays t..."


Daisy wrote: "Drifters is about six teens, one of whom is from Scandinavia, one is a Black American boy, and one overdoses. The narrator is a much older man who's family friends with most of them, and he plays t..."

Daisy, many thanks for your suggestion. But, regretfully, this isn't the book I'm searching - I could tell the storyline and setting were quite different, despite the details you mentioned. Though actually it sounds quite a good story in its own right.

But many thanks, once again!

[Catherine 'CatBar' UK]

Rainbowheart wrote: "The All Electric Amusement Arcade?"

[Apologies if this got posted twice - I can never see if anything's got posted, and my first reply to you seemed to disappear].

Rainbowheart, many thanks for your suggestion. I feel pretty sure that, regretfully, this isn't the book I'm searching - but I'll keep on looking into it. Actually it was really hard to find ANY details of its storyline; just one very brief summary.

But many thanks, once again!

[Rainbowheart]

It's probably still not the right one, but I did find a detailed summary of a TV show based on the book....

https://nostalgiacentral.com/televisi...

[Catherine 'CatBar' UK]

Interesting website! And thanks that it gave the storyline. But makes me even more certain though that this wasn't the book I'm searching. But I do enjoy 'nostalgia', so might look on this site in its own right.

[Becca]

I think I've found this one - Poor Dear Charlotte by Anabal Donald. The blurb mentions absolutely nothing about the band but from what I can glean, the main character is fired from her job as a teacher and starts working for her brother's record company and in particular the band Babes in the Wood. The quotes that you remember are there - although it's 'lips like a vacuum cleaner', not 'hoover'. Here's a copy on archive.org you can browse / search for keywords: https://archive.org/details/poordearc...