How did you get into Quo?

Can't really remember.

WYP was what really got me hooked and was the first record of theirs that I owned, although I had been aware of and liked them for a few years prior to that.

"born"..? I heard you were the result of a chemical spillage off Deptford high street ?... well, ya live n learn I suppose

It happened when I heard Caroline for the very first time all those years ago. The guitars in the intro, the build-up, then the drums going wham! You just couldn't keep still. And then that slightly nasal voice, so strange and yet so captivating.
Every time I listened to the song I was mesmerized.
A little while later I saw the band perform Caroline on some music show on telly and I was hooked.
When I found the Hello! album and Roll Over Lay Down and 4500 Times, I was beyond recovery.

After hearing the singles Caroline,Down Down,Paper Plane etc and then the `lads` at school getting into them and swapping albums with me in the mid 1970s, the rest is history!

Andrew Hetherington was off school sick - must have been 1975. Biff and me went round to see him. Biff brought On The Level. Hello! (No, On The Level).

Saw them live for the first time at Reading '78.

I was with my dad, saturday evening in April 2004, I was 13. There was a german television show called "50 years of Rock". First band that went on looked pretty cool. A blonde bloke with a white guitar, a grey-haired bloke with a ponytail and a green guitar and three others. The song instantly got to me and I realised my dad was surprised but very happily watching them. I really liked this song and asked him who it was. He said: "Status Quo - Rockin' all over the world. They used to be my favourite band in the 70's, when I was your age, but lost interest in them in the early 80s. I didn't know they were still around"
He then told me the story of when I was around 5, 6 years old he would listen to his old Hello LP loudly in the living room. Guess who ran away crying and complainig about the awful music? And guess what my favourite album is today ;-)

Fast forward to the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005. We went to the football stadium to watch my favourite team (VfB Stuttgart) play his (Borussia Dortmund). We do this every year to this day and go for some other matches as well. I don't know why I realised earlier, but on this day in 2004 (or 2005) the song that gets played everytime our mascot comes on just hit me like a freight-train. I asked dad again who that was. He grinned and said: "Well, remember that TV show we watched where my favourite band from the 70s appeared? It's the same band. The song's called Whatever You Want".

It was clear to me that I needed a CD of them to start to listening to other songs.
I went online days or weeks later and bought XS all Areas, their then newest Greatest Hits CD of ebay for my Easter present.

When dad picked me up I said look at this new CD I got. We then played a game in the car. He bet that he would recognise every song within the first 5 seconds. He managed to do so with every single song on CD1 except for, of course, All Stand Up, as this was a recent song. CD2 wasn't that good except for the old ones, POMM, WSOL etc. I was very well impressed with him. We then listened to the CD all of the weekend and he showed me his old vinyls with hand-written lyrics by him inside.

I continued listening to the CD all day and all night, day in, day out, month in, month out. By then I knew that this was my favourite band ever. I just loved every song, I could all sing them by heart.
Then, one day I went online and wanted to look eventim just for fun if Quo still played live over here. Of course they did.
5 days before my 15th birthday they played in Aalen (about 60km from here).
I instantly phoned dad, he said yes, bought us two standing tickets and for the next 2 months or so I could hardly sleep. The release of TPAOY album increased my excitement. I loved it. And still do to this very day.

October 4th, 2005. I had school til 5:30PM and was friggin' nervous. Dad picked me up at school and we drove to Aalen right away. He still likes to tell how nervous I was, screaming and yelling at every traffic light, and every other drivers on the streets. Then there were friggin' roadworks. It seems I was an absolute nightmare :-D But I was afraid of missing my heroes.

Of course everything went well and there we stood. About 8 rows back right in the middle. In the car my dad told me he didn't have the chance to see them in the 70s because of money and interdictions by his parents. When he could they released shitty albums and he got to know my mum, so that was that :-D

So here we are, dad and I, about to witness our very first Quo gig together. My heartbeat was at 180, I was sweating like mad and soooo nervous. The drone set in, on they came, Ricky blasted out the intro to Caroline - I was in 7th heaven. My heroes. Right in front of me. Played for 2 hours. It was one of the best moments of my live to seeing them live. And what it must've felt like for dad who was waiting for this moment 33 years - and he didn't even know he would sometime finally see them.
Back in the car we were both nearly deaf and could hardly understand each other - but we agreed that this was one hell of a gig - and not our last. From that moment on I really see myself as a fan. Quo were, as I said above, my favourite band ever. And they were dad's favourite band again!

Over the last 10 years (my God, time flies) I went to 46 concerts (including 2 acoustic performances and 7 FF gigs) and at least once a year dad comes with me. He stands at 15 or something like that. We enjoy them every time they come close to here, went to Zürich every 2 years, saw the FF at Hammy and Dublin together.

Last but not least. Here's the TV performance I mentioned at the beginning (if anyone can still remember, I know it's quite a lot to read :-D
Never mind the subtitles, e.g. "25 years" in 2004?? But the atmosphere was amazing. As I said, they came on first and blew the roof of the building. They got so much of cheers and applause like no other band that night. Just like every TV show they do. I love the Quo. And will do so forever.

Great story, Nino!