Status Quo (band)
Status Quo are a British rock band formed in London in 1962. Beginning with "Pictures of Matchstick Men" in 1968, they have had over 60 chart hits in the UK – more than any other band – with further hits including "Caroline", "Down Down", "Rockin' All Over the World", "Whatever You Want" and "What You're Proposing". 22 of these reached the Top 10 in the UK singles chart, and 57 reached the Top 40. They have released over 100 singles and 33 studio albums. Since reaching number five on the UK albums chart in 1972 with Piledriver, Status Quo have placed 29 consecutive studio albums on the UK charts, including 20 Top 10 studio albums. In 2012, they were announced as the tenth best-selling group of all time on the UK singles chart with 7.2 million singles sales in their homeland alone. As of 2015, they were one of only 50 artists to have achieved more than 500 total weeks on the UK Albums Chart.
In July 1985, Status Quo opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with "Rockin' All Over the World". In 1991, they received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2014, preparing to headline that year's Download Festival, they won the Service to Rock award at the Kerrang! Awards. Status Quo appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops more than any other band. Their success and longevity as well, in part, as their connections to the British Royal Family, including philanthropic work with the Prince's Trust, have seen them frequently described as a "national institution" by the media. The band have sold over 118 million records worldwide.
History
1962–1967: Formative years
Status Quo were formed in 1962 under the name the Paladins by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster at Sedgehill Comprehensive School, Catford, London, along with classmates Jess Jaworski and Alan Key. In 1963, Key was replaced by John Coghlan and the band changed their name to the Spectres. After changing their name, Lancaster's father arranged for the group to perform weekly at a venue called the Samuel Jones Sports Club in Dulwich, London, where they were noticed by Pat Barlow, a gasfitter and budding pop music manager. Barlow became the group's manager and secured them spots at venues around London, such as El Partido in Lewisham and Café des Artistes in Chelsea. In 1965, when Rossi, Lancaster and Jaworski left school, Jaworski opted to leave the band and was replaced by Roy Lynes.During 1965, the band played a summer season residency at Butlins Holiday Camp in Minehead, during which they met Rick Parfitt, who was playing guitar with a cabaret band called the Highlights. By the end of the residency, Rossi and Parfitt – who had become close friends – made a commitment to stay friends and work together at some point in the future. On 18 July 1966, the Spectres signed a five-year deal with Piccadilly Records, releasing two singles that year, "I " and "Hurdy Gurdy Man", and one the next year called " Nothin' Yet". All three singles failed to make an impact on the charts.
In 1967, the group's sound began moving towards psychedelia and they renamed themselves Traffic, but were soon forced to change it to Traffic Jam to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood's new band Traffic, following an argument over who had registered the name first. The band secured an appearance on BBC Radio's Saturday Club, but in June their next single, "Almost But Not Quite There", underperformed. The following month saw Parfitt, at the request of manager Pat Barlow, joining the band as rhythm guitarist and vocalist. Shortly after Parfitt's recruitment, in August 1967, the band officially became the Status Quo.
1968–1970: Breakthrough and development of classic style
In January 1968, the group released the psychedelic-flavoured "Pictures of Matchstick Men". The song hit the UK singles chart, reaching number seven; "Matchstick Men" became the group's only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although Status Quo's albums have been released in the United States throughout their career, they never achieved the same level of success there as they have in Britain. Though the follow-up was the unsuccessful single "Black Veils of Melancholy", they had a hit again the same year with a pop song penned by Marty Wilde and Ronnie Scott, "Ice in the Sun", which climbed to number eight. All three singles were included on the band's first album Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo, released in September 1968. After the breakthrough, the band management hired Bob Young as a roadie and tour manager. Over the years Young became one of the most important songwriting partners for Status Quo, in addition to occasionally playing harmonica with them on stage and on record.After their second album, 1969's Spare Parts, failed commercially, the band's musical direction moved away from psychedelia towards a more hard rock/boogie rock sound. The change in sound also brought a change in image, away from Carnaby Street fashions to faded denims and T-shirts, an image which was to become their trademark throughout the 1970s. The new direction was displayed on the band's third album, 1970's Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon and its preceding single "Down the Dustpipe". Lynes left the band in 1970 with the remaining members continuing as a four-piece, although they were often joined in the studio by guest keyboard players including Jimmy Horowitz, Tom Parker and Andy Bown, the latter an ex-member of the Herd and Judas Jump and part of the Peter Frampton Band. In 1976, Bown also began playing live with the band and was eventually made an official member of Status Quo in 1981.
1970–1981: "Frantic Four" era
The first recording by the four-piece line-up, often referred to as "the Frantic Four", was the late 1970 single "In My Chair", followed by Status Quo's fourth album Dog of Two Head in 1971. In 1972 the band left Pye Records and signed with the heavy rock and progressive label Vertigo Records. Their first album for Vertigo, Piledriver, was released in 1972, reaching number five in the UK. Piledriver heralded an even heavier, self-produced sound. This album was essentially the stylistic template for their next four albums, Hello!, Quo, On the Level and Blue for You. Hello! was the band's first UK number one album, while Quo reached number two and On the Level and Blue for You both also reached number one. In 1976, they signed a pioneering sponsorship deal with Levi's. The following year the group released a double Live! album, which reached number three in the UK.Quo's hit singles from this era, with peak UK chart position and year, include: "In My Chair", "Paper Plane", "Caroline", "Break The Rules", "Down Down", "Roll Over Lay Down", "Rain", "Mystery Song", "Wild Side of Life", "Rockin' All Over the World", "Again and Again", "Whatever You Want", "Living on an Island", "What You're Proposing", the double A-side "Lies" and "Don't Drive My Car", "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like" and "Rock 'n' Roll". "Down Down" topped the UK singles chart in January 1975, becoming their only UK number one single to date.
From 1977 onwards, the band's sound became more polished as they began to employ outside producers. Roger Glover of Deep Purple and Rainbow was the first outside producer to work with Quo since Pye's John Schroeder in the early 1970s, and produced the non-album single "Wild Side of Life" and its B-side "All Through The Night" in 1976. The next three studio albums, Rockin' All Over the World, If You Can't Stand the Heat... and Whatever You Want, were produced by Pip Williams, while the band's first two albums of the 1980s, Just Supposin' and Never Too Late, were produced by John Eden. All five of these albums went Top 5 in the UK. The title track of Rockin' All Over the World, a minor hit for its writer John Fogerty, became one of Status Quo's most enduring anthems. In 1980 the band released a number three charting greatest hits album 12 Gold Bars.
1981–1990: Line-up changes, Live Aid and ''In The Army Now''
Tensions within the band saw Coghlan leaving at the end of 1981. His replacement was Pete Kircher from the 1960s pop band Honeybus, while keyboardist Andy Bown was also made an official member of the band. The new line-up recorded three albums, 1+9+8+2, Live at the N.E.C. and Back to Back. During this period, Rossi and Lancaster's relationship deteriorated over musical differences, with Lancaster feeling Rossi, who now favoured a more pop/soft rock-based sound, was exerting too much control. Another dispute concerned the song "Ol' Rag Blues", the first single from Back to Back. Lancaster co-wrote the song and had recorded a lead vocal for it, but was angered when the producers chose to release a version with Rossi singing the lead vocal instead. Lancaster later cited Rossi's cocaine addiction, which lasted throughout the 1980s, as another major factor in the breakdown of their relationship.Although contracted to record more albums, 1984 saw the band set out on what was intended to be their last tour, dubbed the 'End of the Road'. To coincide with the tour, the band released their second greatest hits album, 12 Gold Bars Vol. 2, for which they recorded a cover of "The Wanderer" by Dion. The song was issued as a single and reached number seven, while the album reached number 12. The last gig of the tour was on 21 July 1984 at the Milton Keynes Bowl. "Everybody was coked-up and hating each other", Rossi recalled, "and I'd started drinking tequila on that tour. I don't remember that show at all – the encores or anything; just falling flat on my back at one point." "Deciding to retire from the road – all that was about was getting Francis a solo career," declared Lancaster. "Nobody on the outside knew it, but he didn't want to work with me or Rick anymore."
Status Quo's final appearance with the Kircher line-up opened the Live Aid charity event at Wembley Stadium in July 1985. That year, Rossi recorded and released two solo singles with long-time writing partner Bernie Frost. Parfitt recorded a solo album, Recorded Delivery, with bass player John "Rhino" Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich. The album remains unreleased, although some tracks were reworked and released sporadically as Quo B-sides until 1987.
In mid-1985, Rossi, Parfitt and Bown, with Edwards and Rich, started work on a new Quo album. Lancaster – by this time more or less settled in Australia – took out a legal injunction to stop the band using the Status Quo name. The injunction also prevented the release of a single, "Naughty Girl", for which a catalogue number was issued by Vertigo. An out-of-court settlement was made in January 1986, giving Rossi and Parfitt the rights to the band's name, enabling the new line-up to continue work on the In the Army Now album, for which "Naughty Girl" was reworked as "Dreamin'". Lancaster remained in Australia, and in 1986 joined an Australian supergroup, the Party Boys, featuring Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo, John Brewster of the Angels and Kevin Borich, but achieved little success outside Australia.
In 1986, Quo supported Queen on the latter's Magic Tour. The commercially successful In the Army Now album was released later that year, peaking at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. Its title track became one of the band's biggest UK singles, reaching No. 2. The following album, 1988's Ain't Complaining, was less successful but produced the No. 5 hit "Burning Bridges". 1989's Perfect Remedy became their first album since 1971's Dog of Two Head not to go Top 20 in the UK. In 1990 the band scored their last UK Top 10 single with "The Anniversary Waltz Part One", a medley of rock and roll classics to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rossi and Parfitt's first meeting. The track was recorded for a new greatest hits album Rocking All Over the Years, which reached No. 2 in the UK, while a follow-up medley "The Anniversary Waltz Part Two" appeared as a single at the end of the year.