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deepthroat: I agree with you - the idea of a Quo forum being "some polite debating society" is indeed laughable.
I used to love debating at school, though, and I'm still all for a good discussion, and it may well be a heated one.
"The Blessed Francis" - I like that.
I agree with you, he shouldn't have called the fans who helped make him what he is now "w*****s". That was a no-go. Maybe he was acting the "insecure little show-off" again when he said that? I think he has since apologised for the remark.
You know, I've honestly never given any thought as to how Quo have been promoted over the years.
I just bought the records I liked and went to their gigs, and I occasionally watched them on telly or on YT and enjoyed their chit-chat, but hardly ever gave it a second thought.
I take it you didn't like the Coles polar bear ad, then...?
I thought it was funny, but that was that.
I'm not sure in how far 'Mr and Mrs Smith' treat Quo like a doormat and left them in a lurch after the covers albums, though. I wasn't there at the time the covers albums came out, you see. Please enlighten me.
And the attempts at humour you've mentioned in your post... Rick and Francis (and the rest of the band) have always taken the mickey out of one another in interviews and hardly ever responded in a no-nonsense manner.
You can go back to interviews they did in the early 70s, and you'll find them fooling around instead of being the hard-boiled musicians people considered them to be.
See the Cardiff Castle 1976 video clip with Rick and John chasing a peacock. No-nonsense rockers, my a**e! But I like it, la-la-like it!