When you're faced with the question, "What band had the most Top 40 hits in the UK," it's easy to guess The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. But outside of the UK (or Europe and Australia) few would know that the answer is Status Quo! They had 57 Top 40 hit singles, and a bunch of Top 10 and Top 20 albums. So why didn't they catch on here in America? That's a tough question.

Their brand of Rock and Roll certainly fit the times. The fascination with 50's Rock and Roll brought on by American Graffiti, Happy Days, and Grease certainly created a climate that was conducive to the kind of music Status Quo played. They sounded like a combination of Chuck Berry, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Humble Pie, and Foghat. There was occasionally some Proto-Punk thrown into the mix, too! (Not real often, but a handful of songs.) Quo had a bunch of catchy, high energy songs that were just a lot of fun, which explains their big crowds in the UK, Europe, and Australia.

But outside of one Top 40 hit in the U.S. (Pictures of Matchstick Men), they couldn't buy airplay here. It was like radio programmers didn't care that they left the psychedelic stuff in the 60's. The programmers didn't care how good the songs were or how well they fit in. Quo's managment shares some of the blame - they never really pushed the U.S. market as hard as they could. Quo didn't tour here much (a vicious circle - they didn't tour much here because they didn't sell much here, but they didn't sell much here because they didn't tour much here). American audiences didn't really get a chance to see how great of a live band they were. Some of their albums didn't even get released in the American market after the late 70's. No label support pushing the singles, no touring to build a fanbase as a result, so damned few Quo fans in the U.S. is what they got.

In the age of the internet, however, we're starting to see some love for the Quo in America via reaction videos on YouTube that are exposing them to new audiences. It's not a huge number, but more it's likely that people in the U.S. know Quo more now than in the 70's at their peak!

What a fun band they were! Sadly, original Rhythm Guitarist/Vocalist and heart of the band Rick Parfitt died in 2016 at age 66. They carried on without him for several years, but with the music business in a shambles they are not likely to record another album (they did one without him, which was very good, but there isn't any financial incentive to spend months writing, recording, and mixing a new album).

Here are some great examples of the band...

(Surely Fast Eddie was influenced by these guys - same style, almost the same guitar tone as he used 7 years later in Fastway)


Early in their career AC/DC was accused by some critics of being a Status Quo clone band. This song certainly explains why they said that. It's like early AC/DC musically and Sweet vocally...

Like a lot of bands Quo had some semi-dud albums in the 80's and 90's, but they occasionally cranked out a great one with songs like this...

They could still bring it late in their career. Here's an early 70's classic live from 2006. Super high energy level.

I saw them play a concert at Wemby Stadium along with co-headliner Rod Stewart in 1991, I think. It was wild — they were super famous there, everyone singing along, yet I didn’t recognize any of their songs, except a cover of John Fogarty minor hit Rockin’ All Over The World

I first discovered Status Quo by seeing them on The Midnight Special in 1974. I went out and bought Piledriver album. A friend was at my house and saw the album, "Who are these guys?". I told him I saw them on Midnight Special. He looked at me like I was crazy. "You bought this just because you saw them on TV?" Yeah I did. I discovered Montrose the same way. I continued to buy every album they released up through the 1977 Live album. Rebought them all on CD. They were one of the British artists that A&M picked up for US distribution like Nazareth and Humble Pie. The albums were sold just about everywhere but the CDs were import only. They rock, no doubt about it. I can't imagine them ever being it the US Top 40. I never heard them on FM either. "Big Fat Mama" is their best song.
According to Casey Kasem on American Top 40 countdown, Slade had more top 10 hits in the UK than any other artist. Also the most #1s with three. They didn't do albums, just singles and one live album. The were with Polydor. Their first album was Slade?. I heard it playing in a head shop and bought it. That's how I discovered them. Then they signed with WB who released a compilation album of their UK hits called Sladest. It had the original "Cum On Feel The Noize" that Quiet Riot had a hit with.
T Rex was a big deal in the UK with several hits. Frank Sinatra started Reprise Records to combat rock music. Swore the label would never release rock music albums. First person he signed was Dean Martin. The label was failing and they started to distribute T Rex albums starting with Electric Warrior and "Bang A Gong". One hit wonder in the US.

And immortalized forever by Pete Townsend.

In the mid 70's Slade probably did have more hits than Quo, but Quo also had a lot of hits from the late 70's onward. Slade had several albums, they weren't just a singles band. Yes, they did release some non album singles (not uncommon in the UK in the 70's), but they had quite a few albums (I have most of them on CD).



But catching Quo on the Midnight Special must have been cool. They were a ridiculously high energy band and went over really well live. Unfortunately, they didn't play many shows in the U.S. which really hurt them commercially here.

Another fan favorite, myself included...

This is another really good late era album. This track is kind of like AC/DC meets Blue Oyster Cult.

This international recording star had the #1 record in England for more weeks than any singer in history . . . even Elvis or The Beatles!!

The #1 international star in the UK for four years in a row. The singer who sold over 31 million albums.

Uh, huh. That's nice. Now play Love Gun.

We're talking about a Rock band that owned the UK market for 50 years, but couldn't crack the American market at all - despite having a ton of great songs and being a phenomenal live band.

This stuff is absurdly fun and enjoyable.