"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS" - Status Quo in the year 1971

 german cover of the Status Quo single 'In my chair'  Programme of Weeley Festival 1971  german cover of the Status Quo single 'Tune to the music'

concerts, publications, charts, infos

The year 1971 - Status Quo split with their manager Pat Barlow and Joe Bunce and in March Colin Johnson became manager. The new image of the band wasn't recognised yet. The record company didn't like their musical change and sometimes they begged for gigs. The critics called them "the poor copy of Canned Heat". But nevertheless the band played in 1971 almost 100 live-shows and began to settle their image as live-band. "Roadhouse Blues" and "Bye Bye Johnny" made their entry to the set-list. Excellent performances such as the one played at the Weeley-Festival earned the band good promotion. Or the Swedish Radio Session in Stockholm in perfect sound quality proved how good the band developed their live-performances. With the "Dog of two Head" album the band recorded their first "rock" album, but it wasn't the big breakthrough. The album failed as the new single failed. All known shows of 1971: ...more
Pictures: single-cover "In my chair" (Germany) - "Tune to the Music" (Germany) - Festival programme Weeley Festival 1971 (by kind permission Weeley)

chronological:

  • 04.01.1971: the Status Quo song "In my chair" was played in the TV-Show "Top of the Pops" but only from disc, no performance. Moderator: Tony Blackburn.
  • 11.01.1971: Germany - the single "In my chair" entered the german charts for one week at No.38.
  • January 1971: the gap between the band and the management became deeper. They corresponded via letters. Eventually they split from their manager Pat Barlow and Joe Bunce. Soon after Nigel Thomas became manager.
  • 02.02.1971: Status Quo at the Royal Albert Hall as support band of the american keyboard-player Leon Russel, who was managed by Nigel Thomas too. Quo's performance ended in a disaster. Nigel Thomas got the sack and he became shortest lived Quo manager for only 2 weeks.
  • March 1971: Colin Johnson became new Status Quo manager and with his agency, Acron Artists, Status Quo were in one of the biggest agencies in Britain at the time. Colin knew how to handle with the band and he knew how to offer the new band image in the music business whether it was getting gigs or with the record company. The band was free with how to do their live-shows and with their recordings. A formula which worked very well over the years. Soon they played live the "Roadhouse Blues" and even in 1971 the Status Quo shows ended with Chuck Berry's "Bye bye Johnny".
  • 13.06.1971: the band appeared at the Pop and Blues-Sunday Festival in Berlin; headlined by Alexis Corner and Atomic Rooster. A couple of this festival followed soon after.
  • 18.06.1971: 1. single-release of the year - "Tune to the Music" (Rossi/Young) Lead-Vocals: Francis Rossi. The first Status Quo instrumental song "Good thinking" (Status Quo) became the B-Side. Surprisingly the single couldn't chart and didn't make any success.
  • 14.08.1971: first appearance in the german TV show in Ilja Richter's DISCO '71 with the song "Tune to the music".
  • 27.08.1971: Status Quo played at the Weeley Festival of Progessive Music in England. The 3-day-event was held non-stop with the unusual kick-off at midnight of the 27th August! More than 100.000 people attended this festival and at 6 o'clock in the morning they saw Status Quo's performance. People who have been there later told: Who wasn't awaken at that time, was awaken after Status Quo's stunning show. A milestone in the bands live history, they were one of the winners of that festival. There's a bootleg of this 45-minutes show. Setlist: Junior's Wailing, Someone's Learning, Umleitung, In my chair, Is it really me/Gotta go home, Mean Girl, Bye bye Johnny. Notable, they played 4 unreleased songs. And by the way, the same day they played in Switzerland.
  • September/October 1971: whilst the band played more shows the main thing was the ending contract with PYE. The record comnpany didn't like the way the band was going but with the change in the management within the PYE company they achieved another contract for one year.
  • 31.10.1971: a very memorable gig at The Greyhound in Croydon. This venue was very popular and all bands liked to play there. It was kind of a tradition that the audience entered the stage at the last song of a show and they danced and bopped together. Surely an amazing moment. But when Quo played on the 31st October something unsual happened. When the support band "Nazareth" played, the Quo fans entered the stage so that "Nazareth" couldn't play. All the fans have come to see QUO such was the image of QUO in the beginning 70'ies.
  • 05.11.1971: release of the album "Dog of two head". All songs were self-penned. But the album failed to chart and it wasn't the break-through.
  • 24.11.1971: "The Swedish Radio Session" took place in Stockholm. Recorded in perfect sound quality. These songs were played: Junior's Wailing - Someone's Learning - Umleitung - In my chair - Railroad - Roadhouse blues - Spinning Wheel Blues - (April) spring, summer & Wednesday - Is it really me? / Gotta go home

    Discography 1971:

  • Single: Tune to the music (Rossi/Young) / Good Thinking (Status Quo) Cat.No.: PYE 7N.45077
  • LP: Dog of two head (PYE NSPL 18.371) Cassette (ZCP.18371) 8-track cartridge (8YP.18371)

    Miscellaneous:

  • 1.: Milestones of rock history - Deep Purple with "Deep Purple in Rock" and Led Zeppelin's "IV" with the outstanding song "Stairway to heaven", for many the best song ever.
  • 2.: a selection of other '71-albums - Jethro Tull "Aqualung" - Black Sabbath "Master of reality" - John Lennon "Imagine" - Genesis "Nursery Crime" - Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers"
  • 3.: hits of the year 1971 in UK:
    albums: 1. Bridge over troubled water (Simon & Garfunkel) 2. Every picture tells a story (Rod Stewart) 3. Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
    singles: 1. My sweet lord (George Harrison) 2. Hot love (T.Rex) 3. Maggie Mae (Rod Stewart)
    4.: football: Arsenal London became english champions and (guess who?) Celtic Glasgow again won the Scottish championship.
    5.: films in the cinema: "Clockwerk Orange" - "Dirty Harry" - "Get Carter" - "Harold & Maude" and a new Bond "007 - Diamonds are forever".