Boney M not cool

London, Aug. 11: Forget the Sex Pistols — the biggest rock ’’ roll swindle of the 1970s involved the disco band Boney M who allegedly sold the public the same single twice in a year, reports The Daily Telegraph

The exotically dressed group, who were created by a German music producer, had two hits in 1978 with the Rivers of Babylon and Brown Girl in the Ring.

But according to a documentary the songs, released as singles within months of each other, were on both seven inch records — the music company simply switched the A and B sides.

Millions of fans who bought the first record could have saved themselves the cost of the second by simply flipping over their original record. The sleight of hand has been revealed by a BBC Radio 4 broadcast.

The presenter of the programme, Anthony Barnes, believes the revelation will send thousands of fans scurrying to their lofts to rifle through their old vinyl collections to see if they unwittingly paid twice for the same songs.

“It was probably the greatest rock’’roll swindle of the 1970s,” he said. “Thousands of people bought the single, little realising they already had the track.

“If only more people had taken a little more time and effort to listen to the B-side, they could have saved themselves the 79p they paid at the record counter.”