Status Quo – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Status Quo – Pictures of Matchstick Men

I always had a soft spot for this song. It is a swirl of guitar phasing and a droning riff that seems tailor-made for the late 1960s.

Their manager, John Schroeder, who’d worked with Motown acts in the UK, booked studio time at Pye Records’ Marble Arch facility. The Pye studios were initially designed as a service for Pye Records, but also encouraged recording by outside artists. Schroeder not only produced the track but was also the one who encouraged Francis Rossi to push forward with this strange little song he’d written at home.

One of the fascinating things about Pictures of Matchstick Men is that it represents a “what if” moment in Status Quo’s history. Had they continued down this psychedelic path, you wonder how long it would have lasted. Instead, after a few more singles, they turned into a rocking boogie band.

Listening today, the song feels like an anomaly. It’s not representative of the band’s long career, but it’s a classic slice of psychedelic pop that holds its own. It was the first taste of chart success, the beginning of a 50-year run, and yet it’s also the sound of a band that almost became something completely different.

This song’s riff will stick with you. Once the riff is up, it washes over you with a psychedelic feel. The song peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #7 on the UK Charts in 1968. This was their only hit in America. One quirky detail: the inspiration for the lyric came from wallpaper. Rossi was sitting in the bathroom, staring at the bathroom wall, and saw patterns that reminded him of the artist L.S. Lowry’s “Matchstick Men” paintings.

Pictures Of Matchstick Men

When I look up to the skies
I see your eyes a funny kind of yellow
I rush home to bed I soak my head
I see your face underneath my pillow
I wake next morning tired still yawning
See your face come peeking through my window
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you

[guitar intro]

Windows echo your reflection
When I look in their direction gone
When will this haunting stop
Your face it just wont leave me a-lone
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you
You in the sky you with this guy you make men cry you lie
You in the sky you with this guy you make men cry you lie

Pictures of matchstick men, Pictures of matchstick…

Status Quo – Ice in the Sun

This song was on the band’s debut album Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo. I’m just learning about them but they started off with a psychedelic phase with this album. I really admire their career…their discography reads like War and Peace. They released their last album Backbone in 2019. This album was before their shift to boogie music of the 1970s.

Ice in the Sun peaked at #8 in the UK, #29 in Canada, and #70 on the Billboard 100. It charted well in the rest of the world. The song was written by Marty Wilde (a popular British rock and roll singer in the 50s) and Ronnie Scott (a British pop promoter). It’s a cool blend of psychedelic pop and rock. I really love the 1965-1968 era in rock because you had psychedelic, pop, rock, hard rock, folk, Americana, country, and a little bit of everything.

When Pictures of Matchstick Men hit the American charts, the group made the decision to remain in Europe, focusing their efforts on the UK market…they would regret this later on. It paid off in the UK as Status Quo became one of the most popular bands in Britain, charting over 60 singles but they missed out in America. Their only other chart entry here was Ice In The Sun.

The album received positive, especially for its single Pictures of Matchstick Men, which peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart and #12 on the Billboard 100. Ice in the Sun has stuck in their live repertoire through the years.

Status Quo

I’m not a little boyI’ve lived alone and loved so many moreBut when she touches me I’m on the wayI’m underneath the floor

Like ice in the sun I melt awayWhenever she comes I melt awayLike ice in the sun I melt away

I sit down in a chair andRead a book as if I couldn’t thereBut she is in a room andI must look I see her everywhere

Like ice in the sun I melt awayWhenever she comes I melt awayLike ice in the sun I melt away

She opens up her eyes as if to speakShe looks at me and I am weakHer eyes they seem much bigger than beforeI cannot think anymore

Like ice in the sun I melt awayWhenever she comes I melt awayLike ice in the sun I melt away

Like ice in the sun I melt awayWhenever she comes I melt awayLike ice in the sun

…

Status Quo – Down Down

Sometimes a simple cool guitar tone draws me in and this one does. I’ve only posted one Status Quo song and that was their only big hit in America…Pictures of Matchstick Men. I started to listen to their catalog and they were a very good rock and roll boogie band. Some of their songs sound similar but they are a lot of fun. One thing that no one could accuse them of…being pretentious.

They were one of those bands that were huge in the UK but didn’t get played much here. Along with Slade, Faces, T Rex, and others. I’ve talked to some bloggers about it and found that lead guitarist Francis Rossi brought up a good point. He said “Our manager told us we needed management in the U.S. When the idea was presented to me back in about 1971, I didn’t realize the importance of having representation in the States and rejected the suggestion. Unfortunately, what that meant was that whilst we were getting support and promotion during the time we spent in America, we had nobody working for us at all when we weren’t there. I think that happened to a degree for Slade and the Faces as well.

This song was written by Francis Rossi with their road manager and part-time harmonica player Bob Young. The song peaked at #1 in the UK in 1974. It was on the album On The Level which peaked at #1 on the UK Charts in 1975. It’s hard to believe but this is their only #1 hit with all the songs they released.

Rossi wrote the song in Los Angeles while the band was out “exercising their pencils” but he wrote this at a bar next door when Bob Young came by and helped him. They stole a little of the rhythm of the intro from their own song…the hit Pictures of Matchstick Men.

Francis Rossi: “We were in Los Angeles staying in this terrible little travel lodge on Sunset Boulevard, which the time seemed by heaven. Traditionally, I would stay in a room boring and most people would be out. I was sitting with a guitar with a G tuning just messing around with the thing. And I got the entire (thing).”

“Most music you sit on acoustic guitar and you try do harden it up somehow. These things at the time you don’t realize they’re going to be wherever they turn out to be. It was enjoyable to make it. It was quite thunderous at the time and the record. People kept asking me how we’ve got so much bass on the record. But I have no idea why we have so much bass on the record. But people love it, still do.”

Down Down

Get down deeper and downDown down deeper and downDown down deeper and downGet down deeper and down

I want all the world to seeTo see you’re laughing, and you’re laughing at meI can take it all from youAgain again again againAgain again again and deeper and down

Get down deeper and downDown down deeper and downDown down deeper and downGet down deeper and down

I have all the ways you seeTo keep you guessing, stop your messing with meYou’ll be back to find your wayAgain again again againAgain-gain-gain-gain deeper and down

Down down deeper and downGet down

Get down deeper and downDown down deeper and downDown down deeper and downGet down deeper and down

I have found you out you seeI know what you’re doing, what you’re doing to meI’ll keep on and say to youAgain again again againAgain-gain-gain-gain deeper and down

Down down deeper and downGet down

…

The Blues MaGoos – (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet

I remember this song in Easy Rider from the cool bass line. The Blues Magoos were a psychedelic rock band formed in 1964 as the “The Trenchcoats” in the Bronx, New York. This song came off of the album Psychedelic Lollipop (Great name) in 1967. The song peaked at #5 in 1967 in the Billboard 100 and the album peaked at 21 in the same year.

By 1972 the Blues Magoos name was retired, although the group reunited for live shows in the late 2000s

The Spectres…soon to be Status Quo also covered the song in 1967.

From Songfacts

Blues Magoos were a Psychedelic Rock group from The Bronx who was part of a New York City music scene that included The Lovin’ Spoonful and The Youngbloods. “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” was their only hit, reaching its chart peak the first week of 1967. The band, led by lead singer Emil “Peppy Castro” Thielhem, was a huge influence on Syd Barrett and his band Pink Floyd. Thielhem later became the lead singer of the band Balance.

This song occupies an interesting little niche in music history: somewhere between Acid and Punk Rock, with a little Mothers Of Invention “Freak Out” mixed in. The band is quite boastful in the song, declaring, “Nothin’ can hold us and nothin’ can keep us down, and someday our names will be spread all over town.” Of course, they ended a one-hit-wonder, but the arrogance was part of a display that included big, stylish hair and electric blue/flashing light suits. They were hard to miss when they performed the song on various TV shows.

We Aint Got Nothin’ Yet

One day you’re up and the next day you’re down
You can’t face the world with your head to the ground
The grass is always greener on the other side, they say
So don’t worry, boys, life will be sweet some day
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
We made enough mistakes
But you know we got what it takes

Oh, we ain’t got nothin’ yet
No, we ain’t got nothin’ yet

Nothin’ can hold us and nothin’ can keep us down
And someday our names will be spread all over town
We can get in while the getting is good
So make it on your own, yeah, you know that you could
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
We got to make the break
‘Cause we got too much at stake

Oh, we ain’t got nothin’ yet
No, we ain’t got nothin’ yet

We made enough mistakes
But you know we got what it takes

Oh, we ain’t got nothin’ yet
No, we ain’t got nothin’ yet