Francis Rossi Status Quo - Quo in the USA

[@dannybenair]

Saw all of their California dates. They stayed at Sunset and La Brea, they were super nice and the gigs were great.

[@Shell6424]

Very honest account of the tough US music industry. I’m glad they came back to Britain.

[@bryemycaz]

Slade tried it and it just about destroyed them.

[@UnofficialStatusQuo]

There's silent 8mm footage of the band playing at the 'Academy of Music' in New York, 23rd June 1973

[@hankwedelmusic9965]

Wonderful I watched both parts of this dive into "Quo in The USA"… I've always wondered how Quo felt about The USA… Listening to and watching Francis is informative and instructive in many ways… I have a theory about why Quo never “cracked” The USA and it has to do with what he talks about here in terms of cost and effort but it also has to do with the fact that, as 60s Britpop psych merchants they never played "The Ed Sullivan Show" and/or "Monterey Pop" like The Who or Hendrix and unlike, say, The Moody Blues, they weren't invited to take acid with The Beatles and Timothy Leary .... (although they WERE as a band in attendance at The Beatles "Yellow Submarine "movie premiere in London in 1968...FACT! Someone should ask Francis does he recall THAT night!!! ) Also, as aside, it was interesting to hear "Matchsticks Men" featured in "Men In Black 3" as if their publishing company FINALLY placed them in the public consciousness they had ALL always hoped for... Crucially, The Quo “transition” from ‘60’s Britpop Psych merchants to 12bar boogie hawkers, their disappearance from the mainstream precluded them from playing any of the enormous festivals like IOW or Woodstock in 1969-70… Those festivals made huge stars out of other Brit Rockers like “Ten Years After” and Joe Cocker… Quo missed all the connections that those festivals provided… I also believe that their 1977 cover of John Fogerty’s “Rockin’ All Over The World” was a serious last ditch attempt to “crack” The USA, so to speak... a great "American" song, well produced for global radio, it was a mega hit everywhere... except The USA… That they opened "Live Aid" with it will remain, perhaps, their greatest moment.... In artistic terms, they were the first to really do glorious vocals they way they did over that hard driving boogie... and it was COMPLETELY a British thing of THEIR making whereas bands like Led Zep, The Faces and Deep Purple displayed a funk that the Yanks could relate to… THOSE bands also had a solid lead guitar/lead singer focus, too… Hard to tell who the leader of Quo was… was it the good looking blond dude? or the lippy, cheeky chappie with the ponytail? But it’s no great shame... Queen, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, TRex, Humble Pie and Slade are also said to have “failed to crack” The US market despite having worked incredibly hard at it and even having “hits” Just discovered this channel I''m looking forward to going Down Down, Deeper and Down...indeed... Thanks!

[@jondalrymple4758]

Seen Quo at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania around 73 I’m thinking with Rory Gallagher what a fantastic show, also seen Montrose being special guest for Peter Frampton at the same place around the same time as well

[@jamesedwards2237]

I would have loved to have seen them when I lived in SoCal. My first concert experience was Shawn Phillips and the Moody Blues in 74 at the Forum. I've probably got more albums from Status Quo than any other rock band.

[@jackx4311]

What Frank was saying about seeing the elderly German couple dancing; I know EXACTLY what he means. I was at some sort of social function, once, and a young girl asked the band if they could play a tune which was her great grand parents favourite when they were courting. The band played the intro, the old folk's faces lit up - but they had to be *helped* out of their seats! They tottered onto the dance floor, put their arms round each other, the music started, and off they went, floating round the floor as light as a couple of feathers! It was spooky to watch; they looked like a couple who'd been disguised to look like old people, but who were actually in their 20s! I've never forgotten that dance, nor have I ever underestimated the power of music since.

[@anne-louiseholmberg8194]

Francis can be very funny😂❤

[@garywood5882]

I remember seeing an early review of ZZ Top in the music papers saying that Quo should watch out. They had nothing to worry about though.

[@stephenrice4554]

Best description of the system I've heard for a long time

[@carlosdeno]

Trapeze were huge in the states and almost unknown in the UK, Slade also couldn’t conquer America. I was told by a friend recently that on a Friday night on the strip in Hollywood, over a 100 bands will play, hard to imagine. How many huge names started there and cut their teeth there, GnR, Motley Crue. I’m not bothered for either to be honest, I’d take the Quo any day of the week.

[@davidglow3]

Queen never made it across the pond..Their reputation grew after they disbanded because of Freddy

[@pauljones9061]

Queen were huge in America selling 85m records, they never understood the video to " I want to break free " .

[@josephbuckley5961]

Band named foghart I believe were big America too. Never made it in Europe or Britain

[@chriscampbell9191]

America couldn't really understand Quo's music, which was one of the problems for the band. A lot of rock fans here (and radio programmers) were used to the slickly overproduced US recordings, whereas Quo's 70's LPs (Piledriver and On The Level would be classic examples) were more rawly delivered, and in your face. AC/DC had the same problem until '79 when Highway To Hell came out. In fact, Atlantic was going to drop AC/DC in '77 except their manager was able to convince the record company that technically, despite the low sales of High Voltage, they actually made money. Today those AC/DC albums are considered classics, but in 1975 and 76 radio wouldn't touch them, and a lot of musicians couldn't stand them, and I think with Quo's music of that period it was the same situation -- the raw, gritty recordings and simple, blues based punchy drum rhythms just turned them off. The average American rock fan didn't really get it until after Back In Black broke and then US rock radio began playing AC/DC's backlog, and people began to see the light. Unfortunately, despite the acceptance of raw, bluesy rock after 1980, Quo got lost in the shuffle over here. Great to see at least one rendition of the band still going, though.

[@johanburger4454]

Very sad hey, yanks would die for bands like that now.

[@QUEENAHIDEKINGFISHER]

The Bay City Rollers went to the USA in September 1975 for the first time ever,a few months after, they had a number 1 single on the Billboard chart.And that's before they even toured there.Status Quo weren't good enough to have more than one top 10 hit over there!

[@garywood5882]

Quo pissed over the Rollers though.

[@QUEENAHIDEKINGFISHER]

@garywood5882 🤣🤣🤣🤣