Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men

Status Quo are one of Britain's longest-lived bands, staying together for over 40 years. During much of that time, the band was only successful in the U.K., where it racked up a string of Top Ten singles across the decades.

In America, the Quo were ignored after they abandoned psychedelia for heavy boogie rock in the early '70s. Before that, the band managed to reach number 12 in the U.S. with the psychedelic classic "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (a Top Ten hit in the U.K.).

Following that single, the band suffered a lean period for the next few years, before the band members decided to refashion themselves as a hard rock boogie band in 1970 with their Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon album.

The Quo have basically recycled the same simple boogie on each successive album and single, yet their popularity has never waned in Britain. If anything, their very predictability has ensured the group a large following.

The origins of Status Quo lie in a London-based beat group called the Spectres. Francis Rossi (vocals, guitar) and Alan Lancaster (bass) were the core members of the Spectres from their inception; within a few years, the band had added drummer John Coughlan and organist Roy Lynes.

The Spectres released three unsuccessful singles before changing their style to psychedelia and adopting the name Traffic Jam and releasing the unsuccessful single "Almost But Not Quite There." After it flopped, the group added Rick Parfitt (guitar, vocals), formerly of the cabaret band the Highlights. When Parfitt joined the band in August 1967, the group again changed its name, this time to Status Quo.

They have recorded 28 studio albums from 1969 up to 2007. They have also released 8 compilations and 4 live albums.The band have started to work on their twenty ninth album, provisionally titled Quid Pro Quo.

"Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by Status Quo, released in January 1968. It reached number seven in the British charts, number eight in Canada, and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their only hit single in the United States.

The song opens with a single guitar repeatedly playing a simple four note riff before the rhythm guitar comes in with chords and the drums and lyrics begin. "Pictures of Matchstick Men" is one of a number of songs from the late sixties to feature phasing (the audio effect).