photo4life
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 40 
Favourite Quo Album: Blue For You
Favourite other bands.: Rush, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Genesis, Blue Öyster Cult
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Post by photo4life on Jul 11, 2020 12:13:27 GMT
I have always loved this song, and its intricate guitars, and the lyrics speaking of change of some kind. I remember playing this to a friend, who was into Metallica and such bands, one day on our way home from school (early 90s) and he remarked, "is this some kind of speed metal?" This perplexed me, as I have never seen Quo as anything metal. Maybe a few riffs here and there, but this is true boogie rock, hard rock, so his remark made me think, and it has stuck with me all these years.
Today, this very day, I listened to it, and Alan is playing a galloping bass underneath. Not the Geddy Lee/Steve Harris kind, but a bit like it, and the guitars are like those of Iron Maiden many years later. Was there some truth to my friend's remark?
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Post by fretbuzzzzz on Jul 11, 2020 12:25:42 GMT
I have always loved this song, and its intricate guitars, and the lyrics speaking of change of some kind. I remember playing this to a friend, who was into Metallica and such bands, one day on our way home from school (early 90s) and he remarked, "is this some kind of speed metal?" This perplexed me, as I have never seen Quo as anything metal. Maybe a few riffs here and there, but this is true boogie rock, hard rock, so his remark made me think, and it has stuck with me all these years.
Today, this very day, I listened to it, and Alan is playing a galloping bass underneath. Not the Geddy Lee/Steve Harris kind, but a bit like it, and the guitars are like those of Iron Maiden many years later. Was there some truth to my friend's remark?
Your mate definitely got the speed bit right!  I imagine Iron Maiden were Quo fans in their youth, with quotes such as this "they made me deaf when I was 17" (Steve Harris) |
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Post by railroad007 on Jul 11, 2020 14:23:33 GMT
"they made me deaf when I was 17" it the thing that makes you go blind you need to worry about.
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Post by paradiseflats on Jul 11, 2020 15:04:05 GMT
To say Status Quo wasn’t an influence on NWOBHM would be silly. For pretty much a decade they were one of the biggest rock bands of the 1970s.
I’m sure many a musician growing up in Britain must have been influenced by their music. Especially live.
However I would say it depends who you are talking about as like all movements, they covered a range of styles.
As for Maiden I’m sure there was some influence.
However not as much as Sabbath, Purple,Zeppelin, Priest and UFO as well as a very proggy underbelly.
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Post by MrWaistcoat on Jul 11, 2020 16:18:41 GMT
Feels very ironic to say now, but Quo's biggest contribution to the scene (man!) was image. Piledriver. Insanely influential album cover. So many NWOBHM bands had somebody wearing a waistcoat! And of course the headbanging. The likes of Purple and Sabbath of course had much more influence on the music. In fact, I can't think of any band (other than Spider) that sound particularly Quo-ish.
Back to the OP, I doubt the song in question was influential. More, it was Quo being influenced by the emerging punk scene and the taking of speed
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Post by fretbuzzzzz on Jul 12, 2020 13:16:06 GMT
Feels very ironic to say now, but Quo's biggest contribution to the scene (man!) was image. Piledriver. Insanely influential album cover. So many NWOBHM bands had somebody wearing a waistcoat! And of course the headbanging. The likes of Purple and Sabbath of course had much more influence on the music. In fact, I can't think of any band (other than Spider) that sound particularly Quo-ish. Back to the OP, I doubt the song in question was influential. More, it was Quo being influenced by the emerging punk scene and the taking of speed I'm sure you're right, Quo were 'street' in the early/mid 70s, before punk came along. Perhaps that image made a more significant impact than the actual records, as such. I think I'm right in saying John Lydon had a sneaking admiration for Quo. Quo's street image seemed to have a relevance to a younger generation as long as the band in question were not over 25 years old! Paul Weller was a Quo fan of course but as Rossi said later on, Weller couldn't actually say that at the time of 'The Jam' or say that he learned his first guitar chords from Rick as Quo were no longer relevant to another generation of Punks/New Wavers etc and some of them would have been very happy to see a few of the older bands fired!! On that note of punk bands being worried about their punk image. Steve Jones from The Pistols is another one who said, much later, that he was influenced by the band Boston. Conversely, not influenced by their image but he loved the guitar sound created by Tom Scholz. He couldn't say that back in '76-'77! I think Quo were fairly anti punk at the time. Rossi especially. Always wondered if the lyrics to 'Hold You Back' were aimed at the new kids on the block? |
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mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,861
Favourite Quo Album: Hello!
Favourite other bands.: Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Gary Numan, Alabama 3, ZZ Top, Paul van Dyk, Jeff Beck, Bowie, Gerry Rafferty, Band of Skulls, UFO, S.A.H.B
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Post by mortified on Jul 13, 2020 8:00:18 GMT
Never really thought of it as anything other than just a fast Quo song. And, to be fair, it pre-dated the rise of the punk movement by quite a bit. Released in early '76 but more than likely written and recorded the year before. As already mentioned, Quo probably had some influence on the NWOBHM scene. They were part of it after all, albeit by accident rather than design. But bands that had been around for ages like Priest, Lizzy and UFO simply came to greater prominence. Newer bands such as Def Leppard and Iron Maiden were the main acts to benefit. But also, as already mentioned, no one really sounded like Quo. Only Spider who sort of rode that wave, although they cited Eddie & The Hot Rods as their main influence. Yeah, right. Have a listen to All The Time  Incidentally, I believe Ring Of A Change was in the live set early on. Never ever heard a bootleg of it but I wonder how it went down or how they coped. Get Out Of Denver is the only thing that's ever come close live. |
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Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on Jul 13, 2020 13:35:39 GMT
I just think of it as a fast song. I always liked fast songs. Down Down is a fast song (despite the stops and starts) and it doesn't really sound like anything else I know. The N-WOBHMs Weren't notorious for playing fast music (and in any case would always be topped by the Ramones). In fact I had no idea why Metallica were called a thrash metal band - still not, actually. I felt I must have missed something somewhere (but didn't mind enough to go looking :-)) ROAC is a great song (with those slightly strange lyrics that they used to do in the classic days, which I always liked). Also, the YouTube one I was playing was followed straight on by the full Mystery Song :-)
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Post by MrWaistcoat on Jul 13, 2020 16:28:52 GMT
I just think of it as a fast song. I always liked fast songs. Down Down is a fast song (despite the stops and starts) and it doesn't really sound like anything else I know. The N-WOBHMs Weren't notorious for playing fast music (and in any case would always be topped by the Ramones). In fact I had no idea why Metallica were called a thrash metal band - still not, actually. I felt I must have missed something somewhere (but didn't mind enough to go looking :-)) ROAC is a great song (with those slightly strange lyrics that they used to do in the classic days, which I always liked). Also, the YouTube one I was playing was followed straight on by the full Mystery Song :-) Lots of stuff from the first three Metallica albums sounds very thrashy to me ! But yes, the nwobhm wasn't particular fast, except for the odd track here, many of which Metallica later covered eg You are right about Down Down. Nothing else like it. I wonder if they tried to re-write it? Rick's lonesome road borrows from it a bit |
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