"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS" - Status Quo in the year 1979

PYE-Single 'Pictures of Matchstick Men'/'Down the dustpipe' out of PYE's Flash Backs series with yellow vinyl     french cover of the Status Quo single 'Living on an island'     spain Cover of the Status Quo single 'Like a good girl' only released in Spain

concerts, publications, charts, infos

The year 1979 - the year started with a 22-dates german tour. And after the "tax year" Status Quo again on a big UK tour, a very successful sold-out tour. The release of the single "Whatever you want" one of the biggest Quo hits ever. A song, which immediately became well-known all over the world and with its great "eary " tune its still played nowadays at shows and sport events everywhere. The new album with the same name was very successful too, the sound of the albums turned back to the successful Quo sound of the mid-70's. Again a very successful year for Status Quo and in this year the first book publications appeared. The english "Authorised Biography" and in Germany from the Bastei-Lübbe Verlag the pocket-book "Status Quo". All known concerts of 1979: ...more
Pictures: cover of the Flash Backs-Single, french cover of the Status Quo single "Living on an island" and the cover of the spain only single "Like a good girl".

Chronological:

  • 08.01.1979: Charts entry of the single "Accident Prone" in Germany. Highest position No.19 with a total 14 weeks in the german charts.
  • 16.01.1979: Kiel sees the kick-off of the german tour with 22 shows. Very notable 2 gigs: during the song "4500 Times" Francis Rossi fell into the drum kit and hurt himself. The show continued after a 30 minutes break (February 1, Sindelfingen). At the show in Essen Francis Rossi was hurt after the guitar-neck of Rick Parfitt's guitar hit his face.
  • 01.02.1979: in german's Bravo out of the series "Autogrammkarte" this time Status Quo was featured with an autograph card. (Bravo No. 06/79).
  • 11.02.1979: the band is on a small tour through France with 6 shows. 2 concerts in Netherlands finish the first batch of shows in 1979.
  • 06.03.1979: the PYE record company released out of their "Flash Backs Series - Double Hits" the Status Quo single "Pictures of Matchstick Men" / "Down the Dustpipe". The single was issued on yellow vinyl. (later a PRT rerelease came out in black vinyl) (PYE FBS 2).
  • 15.03.1979: the airplay in german radio stations puts the single "Accident Prone" into the german Airplay-Charts, where it reached No.48 with a total 2 weeks in this charts.
  • 22.03.1979: in german's Bravo the report "24 hours with Status Quo" was published (BRAVO No.13/79).
  • 09.05.1979: with the first show in London's Wembley Arena the first UK-tour since November 1977 kicked-off. The ticket demand was that high, that additional shows were added and the whole tour included 33 concerts. All shows were sold-out. The tour was christened the "The Authorised Tour" - because Status Quo were promoting themselves on this tour and to promote hte first Quo publication - the bood "The Authorised Biography".
    But another thing is worthy to mention about this tour: very cleverly the PYE record company chose this tour to promote the release of the PYE album "Just for the records" when the visitors of this UK tour were given a free copy of a QUO flex-single "In my chair" (PYE SFI 4343).
  • May 1979: UK-release of the book "The Authorised Biography" written by John Shearlaw. It was published by Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd. (ISBN No.: 0-283-99401-0).
  • June 1979: PYE Records released the Status Quo comilation album "Just for the Record" (PYE NSPL 18607). The first 10,000 LP's were issued on red vinyl. And the record features a good track selection.
  • 08.06.1979: another Status Quo single released by PYE: "In my chair" / "Gerdundula" (PYE 7P103). The cover is identical with the album cover of "Just for the Records".
  • 13.06.1979: a new Status Quo poster was issued in the german Bravo magazine (No.25/79).
  • 01.07.1979: again a very important festival, which saw Status Quo Headlining at the Dalymount Park stadium in Dublin. 20,000 fans appeared to see Status Quo and Judas Priest, the new british hardrockers. Their trademark was that the singer appeared on stage driving a Harley-Davidson. The following year Judas Priest released an album which set new trends of hard rock, the heavy metal.
  • July 1979: the band spent went into recording sessions for a new album at Windmall Studios in Dublin. Again Pip Williams was producer, and after 2 weak albums the band wanted to go back to a real Quo-ish sound.
  • 14.09.1979: UK release of the new single "Whatever you want". The songs written by Rick Parfitt and Andy Bown and became a big hit. The unique intro was voted for one of the all-time best intros. It became one of the biggest hits for Status Quo. The B-Side is the song "Hard Ride", an Alan Lancaster and Mick Green composition. (Mick Green is formerly known from Jonny and the Priates). RThe single notched up on No.4 of the UK singles charts.
  • 27.09.1979: in the show "Top of the Pops" the promo-video of "Whatever you want" was played. Moderator: Jimmy Savile.
  • 04.10.1979: "Status Quo: zu Besuch bei Rick Parfitt" (a visit to Rick Parfitt) was the head-line of a new Status Quo report in germans youth mag Bravo when a 2-page report at Rick Parfitts home was published.(Bravo No.41/79).
  • 12.10.1979: release of the album "Whatever you want" in UK. 10 songs were included on this album and featured a very nice cover showing known artists. The album itself was really a turn back to the true Quo sound.
  • 15.10.1979: the new single entered the german singles charts peaking up on No.12 and stayed a total of 24 weeks in the charts.
  • 27.10.1979: UK charts entry of the new album. Its highest position was No.4 with 9 weeks in the british album charts.
  • 29.10.1979: "Whatever you want" album entered the german charts and became the 3rd successfulst german Status Quo album ever reaching No.9 of the german album charts. And how successufl Status Quo was in Germany can be seen on the toal charts stay of this album. 29 weeks the album spent in the german charts.
  • 01.11.1979: and another german charts fact: the airplay of the new single was shown on a respectable No.31 in the german airplay-charts with a total of 8 weeks in this charts based on the airplay in german radio stations.
  • 16.11.1979: UK-Release of the single "Living on an island". This for Quo standards very unusual song was written at the "tax year" in 1978 by Rick Parfitt and Bob Young, when "living on the island" Jersey. The song proved that the band not only delivers the usual Quo sound, but also slow acoustic guitar played songs. It reached No.16 and spent a total of 10 weeks in the british singles charts. The b-side is the Rossi Frost composition "Runaway".
  • 29.11.1979: the new single "Living on an island" is played in the show "Top of the Pops" (promo-video). Moderator: Peter Powell.
  • 18.12.1979: Status Quo performed live at "Top of the Pops" with the song "Living on an island". Moderator: Mike Read.
  • Germany: at the BRAVO-Otto-Wahlen Status Quo was voted on No. 7 of the best bands in 1979.
  • in Germany the pocket-book "Status Quo" Bastei/Lübbe-Verlag- ISBN Nr.: 3-404-01366-2 is published (only in german language).
  • Status Quo with the song "Whatever you want" in Ilja Richter's "Disco '79" (Germany).
  • the new english fanclub published its first 2 fanzines.

    UK discography 1979:

  • Single: Pictures of Matchstick Men / Down the Dustpipe (Cat.NO.: PYE FBS 2)
  • Single: Flexi single: In my chair (Cat.No.: SFI 4343)
  • Single: Whatever you want (Vertigo 6360 242)
  • Single: Living on an island (Vertigo 6360 248)
  • LP: Whatever you want (Vertigo 6360 175) (Cassette: 7231 025)
  • LP: Just for the records (PYE NSPL 18607)

    Charts 1979 (UK + Germany only):

  • Accident Prone - No. 19 (D)
  • Whatever you want - No. 4 (UK)
  • Whatever you want - No. 12 (D)
  • LP "Whatever you want" - No. 4 (UK)
  • LP "Whatever you want" - No. 9 (D)

    Sonstiges:
    1. a new unique guitar sound appeared from a british band. Mark Knopfler and his band "Dire Straits" were the sensation of the year.
    2. Hits of the year in UK:
    Singles: 1. YMCA (Village People) 2. Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel) 3. Another Brick in the wall (Pink Floyd)
    Alben: 1. Parallel Lines (Blondie) 2. Greatest Hits Vol.1 (Rod Stewart) 3. Discovery (Electric Light Orchestra)
    3. Football: english champions were FC Liverpool and scottish winners were Celtic Glasgow
    4. Films of the year 1979: Star Wars 2, Amyteville Horror, Aliens, Mad Max, The Life of the Brian, Quadrophenia and 007 - Moonraker