Status Quo are treated unfairly. There, I said it! Maybe the least cool thing I could possibly say here, but it’s the truth. I’m not necessarily saying they’re a GREAT band, or even an excellent band. But I intend to make the case that they have showed that they can be a very good band, and at the very least a respectable band.
And I know all too well that there are people yelling at me right now, not least music writers, complaining that the Quo are awful because they have played the same three chords for their entire career. Oh, really? Well, so have every punk band that has ever existed in the history of the world. What Status Quo do musically is really not all to different than the philosophy taken up by all those DIY punk bands that the likes of Pitchfork and NME fawn over. It’s not all too different from the Motorhead philosophy. It’s not all too different from the AC/DC philosophy. Heads down, no nonsense, mindless boogie. And I am yet to meet a rock fan who does not have a soft spot for AC/DC or respect for Lemmy.
And yet Status Quo are derided. You will never see a Status Quo t-shirt being used as a fashion item in the way that a Ramones or Motorhead t-shirt is. But the way they make their music isn’t all that different. Which suggests what I have always feared: the reason people ridicule Status Quo has little to do with their music, and everything to do with their image.
You see, the heart of Status Quo is a blues-based garage rock band. But, they make media appearances that AC/DC and Motorhead wouldn’t touch with a heavily disinfected barge pole. As a rock & roll band, you can’t go on Coronation Street and hope to get away with it.
…and I can’t imagine Angus Young showing up on Anthony & Declan’s fluffy pap of a Saturday night cringe fest alongside McBusted and David Dickinson…
And the less said about last year’s big screen movie Bula Quo!, the better.
But it wasn’t always this way. At the start of their career, Status Quo were a psychedelic pop band. Their only real hit of the era was Pictures of Matchstick Men. Absolutely the opposite of everything you would expect from Status Quo.
Eventually, they grew tired of pop stardom and decided they wanted something a little more rootsy. What they ended up doing, in their own words, was basing their new sound on the classic Doors track Roadhouse Blues. You know…The Doors…critical darlings and all that. Roadhouse Blues…one of the greatest blues rock jams of all time…? Yeah, that one.
“But their songs are awful!” I hear you proclaim - metaphorically…in my head. Are they? How many do you know? If we agree with the general consensus that Rockin’ All Over The World is their biggest hit, and probably the one you would name first, then you apparently aren’t aware that the song is a cover version of a song written and originally performed by John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival - widely considered one of the finest songwriters of his generation. So, obviously that doesn’t count.
Let’s be fair, then. Let’s listen to a Status Quo song subjectively. Remove the stigma of their image and the popular perception among musos about how awful they supposedly are. This is 1976’s Mystery Song; a classic Quo boogie mixed with a slight progressive edge and lyrics about an encounter with a prostitute.
And, for the hell of it, here’s a song that goes completely against the Status Quo clichés…1979’s Living on an Island…
And while we are at it, listen to Roll Over Lay Down and imagine the late Bon Scott (of AC/DC) singing over that riff. It’s not difficult to imagine.
I’ve maintained for a long time that had Status Quo split up before they decided to release embarrassing music, their 70s catalogue would be much more fondly remembered, and they would likely gain more generations of new fans. When mentioning Status Quo to music fans today, you find that they are judged solely on some of the cringe worthy decisions they have made since the mid-80s. Lots of bands have released embarrassing music. I love Prince more than just about anyone, but he has released some trite. But very rarely have a band gone from this…
…to this almost Black Lace-sounding irritant…
But, had they split up in the early 80s and reunited a few years ago with hilariously named album In Search of the Fourth Chord, things could have been oh so different. I heard a track from that album completely by accident and was surprised at just how much it ROCKED. That’s when I started to look back at Status Quo before they became…well, the band we think of them being today.
I think it’s also worth pointing out that every single year when the musician’s union put together their list of the hardest working acts of the year, Status Quo are always in there. They are probably playing somewhere tonight, be it a festival, a theatre, a club or an arena. They will play anywhere. And, in fairness to them, they are a very reliable live band.
So, people…don’t judge a book by it’s appearance on Coronation Street. At one point in time, Status Quo were a pretty good band. And sometimes they still are. Their fans may have to put up with a lot from them, but there is no arguing that - contrary to what you have been lead to believe all these years - their 70s work rocked with the best of them.
