Roller Girls: Disco-Era Magazine Cover Girls on Skates

To say they got a bit carried away with roller skating in the 1970s would be an understatement. Nothing was in moderation during the 70s. Like the disco fad, rollermania saturated everything under the sun, from lunch boxes to album covers (see Roller-Vinyl! 20 Records from the Roller Skating Craze of the 1970s-80s).

This time around, let’s have a look at Roller-Periodicals.  Those magazines that featured some girl wearing roller skates – a brilliant marketing combination of both “sex sells” and capitalization on the runaway roller-obsession.

1979 roller skating magazine cover

Union magazine – October 1979

Rollermania!

Diana Ross and Olivia Newton-John get in on the Rollermania action.

roller girl magazine (2)

Skate magazine 1977

1977 editions of Skate magazine

for men only cover

“My Sex Life as a Skating Derby Hustler”

roller girl magazine (4)

And let’s not forget how popular roller-derby was – even inspiring a major motion picture (“Kansas City Bomber” starring Raquel).

1973 magazine cover roller skates

From 1973 – a few years before Rollermania kicked in – hence the old-school skates.

1988 roller skating girl magazine cover

1988 – the fad is over, but magazines still deliver the roller-girls

vintage roller skating magazine

With amazing covers like this (from June 1979), who wouldn’t want to roller disco?

Dazzler #35 (January 1985)

Who can forget the disco super-heroine, Dazzler?  That’s the Marvel movie I’m waiting for.

roller magazine

This next one looks a little familiar…

roller girl magazine (8)

archie comics roller skating (1)

As you might expect, there were a million Archie comics featuring roller skating.

archie comics roller skating (2)

skating reporter magazine 1969

Proud champions on the cover of a 1969 issue of Skating Reporter

roller girl magazine (1)

Chic magazine – March 1979 featuring the Pulitzer prize-winning article: “Bitches: How to Survive Them”

roller skating vintage covers

roller skating vintage magazine covers

roller skating magazine cover (4)

The best roller-covers definitely come from late-seventies issues of Roller Skating magazine

roller skating magazine cover (3)

roller skating magazine cover (2)

“New York City: Advanced Disco Fever Epidemic”

roller skating magazine cover (1)

This cover would fit in nicely with The Seven Year Itch Scene and Its Legion of Blowing-Dress Imitators

roller girl magazine (2)

 

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