ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the way in which the musical styling of Status Quo began to bifurcate from 1973 onwards to incorporate techniques more aligned with country and pop than hard-rock. The 1976 Levi Strauss campaign associated with the photo shoot for Blue for You marked a major cultural shift for the band, a change mirrored musically with the release of Rockin’ All Over the World, produced by Pip Williams in 1977. This chapter traces the origins of those changes and explores some of the standard arguments surrounding definitions of pop and rock. Following on from that discussion, a number of key track expositions taken from the albums Hello!, Quo, On the Level and Blue for You demonstrate the various ways in which Status Quo used pop music techniques to inform, colour and structure their compositions. Whereas some recordings were pure pop and represented a return to their pre-rock days, such numbers were often eclectic in nature, mixing elements of pop and hard-rock in unusual and inventive ways and also marked by such distinct forms as countryrock, pop-rock, pop ‘n’ roll and boogie-pop.
