It was among the coolest sights in rock’n’roll: Rick Parfitt, Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster in alignment at John Coghlan’s drum riser, legs akimbo and heads down, long hair flailing in time to the beat. From December 1972’s Piledriver to Blue For You four years later, bookended by the seismic concert double album Status Quo Live!, these South Londoners became untouchable at what they did. With a hard-rocking boogie style that was pretty much unique, the so-called Frantic Four ticked all of the boxes: sound, songs, look, banter and attitude, they had it all. Three of those five studio records topped the UK chart, often slamming straight to the top spot.
The phrase ‘band of the people’ is used often, but few deserved it more than Status Quo, worshipped by a legion of denim-clad followers, but in their heyday scorned at every turn by the same media that now considers them cute cultural darlings.
