Why should every Bass Player worship Status Quo?

[mikel]

20 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Therein lies the problem for cover bands that have that opinion, which is is why there are so many terrible cover band performances of Quo songs.

There are often interesting things going on, which are missed, things like use of octaves, inversions, chordal voicings, etc. It's the same with other bands thought of as 'basic' like AC/DC.

So called easy or primitive songs are often the most difficult to nail. The micro timing and push and pull between the instruments are often what gives a simple song its magic. Quo were noted for doing lots of live takes in the studio, and picking the one that sounded best regardless of errors. Its all about feel.

[TJ1]

42 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

To be fair AC/DC did that as well, but managed to be good.

Sorry but in terms of consistent, marathon like, endurance: spanning multiple classic epochs, Quo far outclass AC/DC, and I mean show them the red lights.

[ezbass]

Oh goody, another "Yes it is," "No it isn't," BC thread. 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, TJ1 said:

To use an analogy, for whatever reason the entire literary community does 'worship' William Shakespeare. That's a fact, partly because he altered the English language in a Game-Changing way..

It's ironic that you should choose to use a literary analogy. I think even in Shakespeare's era, using capital letters for the city of London was commonplace.

Unlike when using capital letters for the words 'Bass' and 'Player' in a sentence like 'Why should every Bass Player worship Status Quo?

Or indeed using capital letters for the word 'Game-Changing'.

While we're at it, is that a guitar in your avatar? Off to The Tower with you 😂

P.S. I can use capitals for that as it refers distinctly to The Tower of London which is a large building historically used for incarcerating ne'er-do-wells, probably somewhere in your vicinity.

P.S.S. As much as I loathe myself for chiming in on the subject matter of this very odd thread, I've always been of the mind that love them or hate them, anyone who dismisses Status Quo out of hand as 'three chord wonders' really....................need a good talking to!

[drTStingray]

To add to HKH’s post, there’s nothing wrong with bass players being able to play a 12 bar with consistent root 8th notes at metronomic tempo. Or Rock and roll bass parts similarly. 

I once learned the bass part to Pictures of Matchstick Men - and then realised it was the very early use of phase on the bass which created that ‘psychedelic’ feel (along with the way the group had been dressed when they appeared on TOTP). Not a bad bass part as well!!

Funny how musical snobbery can result in quite interesting things being totally overlooked - I also agree they were a great rock and roll band - I have on vinyl Down The Dustpipe (single) and Piledriver (album) from their first release.

They were also trendsetters for a lot of shuffle rhythm based music in the 70s - like it or not, from Abba (Waterloo) to Wizzard (various), to Mud, Suzy Quattro, The Sweet etc etc. 

I suspect worshipping them is a tad too far in my book but they have a lot of fans that do!!! 
 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by drTStingray

[ezbass]

Interesting fact, Down The Dustpipe was originally demoed by The Man Band, pretty much as we know it today. The story is that the demo was played to Quo who were probably looking to shed their psychedelia image and sound and the rest is history. I learnt this from Deke Leonard’s book, Rhinos Winos & Lunatics, so it’s all those Welsh boys’ fault.

Apropos of nothing, Francis Rossi lives just down the road from my old house in Sarf Lunnon.

Edited May 3, 2021 by ezbass

[Passinwind]

14 hours ago, TJ1 said:

I realize that not everyone has a shared interest for MOR rock.

I know I am right.

Indeed.

[TJ1]

1 hour ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

 

While we're at it, is that a guitar in your avatar? Off to The Tower with you 😂

 

 

Indeed. And it is precisely because my main interest is in the guitar that I may be lucky enough to achieve the objective realization that is necessary to state that Status Quo's bassist is probably the Rembrandt of his respective era and genre.

[skankdelvar]

2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

There are often interesting things going on, which are missed, things like use of octaves, inversions, chordal voicings, etc. It's the same with other bands thought of as 'basic' like AC/DC.

1 hour ago, mikel said:

So called easy or primitive songs are often the most difficult to nail. The micro timing and push and pull between the instruments are often what gives a simple song its magic. Quo were noted for doing lots of live takes in the studio, and picking the one that sounded best regardless of errors. Its all about feel.

Quite so. There's a lot going on that the inexperienced ear will miss, especially in the majestic run of albums from Piledriver to Live!

Thereafter, the material and production went sharply downhill. It was never quite the same after changing fashions and pressing financial issues forced the band to re-invent themselves as a 'naughty-but-nice', cheeky-chappie act given to the worst of gimmicky promotional initiatives. 

Opinion is sharply divided in respect of the band's lowest point. Was it Rossi and Parfitt's appearance on Coronation Street 'as themselves' or the lamentable action-comedy movie (spoiler: no action, no comedy) Hello Quo? 

Never mind. We will always have those 6 albums from 1971 - 1978 and that is enough

 

[Barking Spiders]

Thing about the AD/DC vs SQ thing going on here is that AC/DC are estimated to have sold 200 million albums worldwide with BiB doing 25 million alone in the US.  SQ have hadn't any album go platinum in the UK while they're virtually unheard of in the US. Both bands have gone 40 years plus without ever breaking their formula yet one is one of the biggest selling acts in music history and the other is some way off that. Odd that.

[SteveXFR]

I'd never really listened to Status Quo until I saw them at Glastonbury. Now I'm a big fan of old punk rock and even I thought they could have used a few more notes. I'm guessing the guitarists a bassist must have two very worn frets and the rest are like new.

[fretmeister]

2 hours ago, TJ1 said:

Sorry but in terms of consistent, marathon like, endurance: spanning multiple classic epochs, Quo far outclass AC/DC, and I mean show them the red lights.

Your opinion is not a fact. 
I get it.  You’re a Quo fanboi. That’s ok. But the rest of us don’t have to agree.

You won’t change anyone’s mind.

 

[Nail Soup]

I've seen a few Basschatters praising the basswork on a the early Quo albums, so that validates the OP's point.......... to a degree.

Not, however, to the degree of universal worship amongst the entire bass-playing population !

[Nail Soup]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Apropos of nothing, Francis Rossi lives just down the road from my old house in Sarf Lunnon.

*pedant alert*

I wouldn't say it was "apropos of nothing", as your comment was reasonably pertinent the the topic of discussion"

*end of pedantry*

[Muzz]

*Extreme pedant alert*

Apropos does not require the word 'of' to follow it. Oh, and there's three speech marks* in the above sentence. Ahem. 😐🙂

*End of extreme pedantry* 😉

 

* Quotation marks, inverted commas...just so I haven't missed anything out. 🙂

Edited May 3, 2021 by Muzz

[skankdelvar]

If nothing else, every bass player should worship Status Quo for their persistence in the face of (almost) universal opprobium, their unbending refusal to shut up and go away, and their* shameless mastery of squeezing every last penny out of any commercial transaction into which they enter.

* Death and departures mean that Status Quo is now solely embodied in the corporeal form of Mr Francis Rossi so 'their' should really be rendered as 'his

Edited May 3, 2021 by skankdelvar

[Hellzero]

*Pedantic extremely pedant alert*

You should write it this way as it's French : à propos. So in two words and followed by "of" in English or, better, "de" in French.

*Fin de la pedantic extremely pedant alert*

[SH73]

I never paid attention to bass in SQ until the above video link. To me SQ was like ...And Justice for All album......

[odysseus]

Loved them when I was 11 to 12 years old, then I discovered Maiden and Sabbath, and the Quo were dispensed with. Got me into rock though.... 🙂

[Stub Mandrel]

First a question... can you clarify which Status Quo bass player is meant? Or are they all better than everyone else?

Second, it's well know that Rhino Edwards' choice of tone woods is above reproach.

[mikel]

4 hours ago, ezbass said:

Oh goody, another "Yes it is," "No it isn't," BC thread. 

No it isn't.

[Waddo Soqable]

13 minutes ago, mikel said:

No it isn't.

It's behind youuu.....

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, mikel said:

No it isn't.

 

[StickyDBRmf]

Status Quo. I don't understand this post, but that sounds like a good name for a band. And if it were ironic, it would in turn be more ironic.

If this is about religion, I'm a humanist bassist, yet the irony remains.

[Judo Chop]

3 hours ago, StickyDBRmf said:

Status Quo. I don't understand this post, but that sounds like a good name for a band. And if it were ironic, it would in turn be more ironic.

If this is about religion, I'm a humanist bassist, yet the irony remains.

It's a religion to some, they worship the gods of double denim