Status Quo

Status Quo is a British rock band that has managed to survive for decades thanks to its recognizable sound, heard on albums such as On The Level and Blue For You.

Status Quo's success story had a long history. Singer and guitarist Francis Rossi and bassist Alan Lancaster had been playing together since the early 1960s in groups like The Scorpions, The Spectres, Traffic, and Traffic Jam. In 1967, the name was changed to The Status Quo, later shortened to simply Status Quo. Shortly before that, singer-guitarist Rick Parfitt had joined the band. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the band introduced psychedelic pop, as heard on their debut album, Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo (1968), which included the worldwide hit "Pictures Of Matchstick Men."

The musical times were rapidly changing, forcing Status Quo to alter its sound. Albums like Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon (1970) and Dog of Two Head (1971) clearly indicated the direction the band was heading: simple, hypnotic rock. Status Quo broke through with Piledriver (1972), which included the hit "Paper Plane." The band maintained the top spot with Hello! (1973), Quo (1974), On the Level (1975), and Blue for You (1976) – all albums full of irresistible hard rock. The energetic live album Live! (1977) marked the end of that early youth. The band wanted to broaden its musical horizons, including finally gaining a foothold in America.

The result was a more melodic approach with Rockin' All Over The World (1977), If You Can't Stand The Heat... (1978), Whatever You Want (1979), Just Supposin' (1980), and Never Too Late (1981). The diehard fans of yesteryear mourned, but for the time being, it did generate a new, large pop audience—though still not in America. After a few lean years, during which the line-up also fizzled out, Status Quo scored a hit out of nowhere in 1986 with "In The Army Now," a song written by the Dutch duo Bolland & Bolland, taken from the album of the same name. In the eighties and nineties, the band often seemed to have lost its way, losing itself in musical experiments and albums full of covers and duets.

Heavy Traffic (2002) was the first album to demonstrate artistic recovery. This continued on albums like The Party Ain't Over Yet (2005) and In Search Of The Fourth Chord (2007). Bula Quo! (2013) proved to be the soundtrack for a madcap comedy starring Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi. The veterans demonstrated that their repertoire lends itself perfectly to stripped-down performances with Aquostic: Stripped Bare (2014) and Aquostic II: That's A Fact (2016). To the delight of longtime fans, Status Quo toured again in 2014 with the classic lineup of Rick Parfitt, Francis Rossi, bassist Alan Lancaster, and drummer John Coghlan. This resulted in several live albums, including Back 2 SQ.1 - The Frantic Four Reunion. It proved to be one of Rick Parfitt's final acts. In 2016, he was forced to stop performing due to health problems, and he died on December 24 of that same year. The album Backbone (2019), the first without the popular singer-guitarist, proved that there was a future for Status Quo even after his much-lamented death.

At Platenzaak.nl we have a lot of Status Quo CDs and LPs, including exclusive versions.