Together we can rock´n´roll : Status Quo- en studie av ett rockbands karriär

The main purpose of this essay is on one hand to try to find and explain the formula of success of the rock group Status Quo, and on the other to elucidate and explain the foundation and essence in the music made by Status Quo, but also to study how, if and why the foundation and essence have changed over the years. The method of investigation is partly based on a musical analysis of three albums from three different periods: Hello! (1973), Ain´t Complaining (1988) and Heavy Traffic (2002), and partly on a sociological study of the group’s career between 1962 and today, 2005. The first part of the essay concerns the period between 1962-1973 with an analysis of the album Hello!; the second part concerns the period 1974-1988 and the album Ain´t Complaining; finally, the third part concerns the years between 1989-2002 with an intensified analysis of the album Heavy Traffic. In the forth part of the essay I discuss the career of Status Quo from a sociological point of view. I run to the conclusion that the essence of Status Quo is the boogie-woogie comp on Fender guitar by Rick Parfitt, the riff on Francis Rossis´ Fender guitar in combination with the base, the piano and the drums. This has been the essence through all the years, even though it was more difficult to apprehend it during the 1980s. The group’s musical formula seems to be an introduction presented by a riff, a verbal verse and chorus. Then there is a guitar solo, where the song is stripped down to one or two instruments, only to be rebuilt before the last chorus and finally completed with an outroduktion. The simplicity is also a big part of the music of Status Quo and the main parts of the songs are based around three or four chords. I believe these aspects to be the basic foundations in the music made by Status Quo and have, depending on the fluctuations, remained the same during the four decades that Status Quo has been active. Due to lots of touring and heavy marketing Status Quo has become popular, and I believe that this popularity along with the musical foundation is the main formula for their success