“Pictures of Matchstick Men” is the first hit single by Status Quo, released in November 1967. 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 bass, rhythm guitar, drums, and lyrics begin. “Pictures of Matchstick Men” is one of a number of songs from the late sixties to feature the audio effect phasing. The song is an example of bubblegum psychedelia. The “matchstick men” of the song refers to the paintings of L.S. Lowry. (More from Wikipedia)
Unbeknownst to most of us, some bands stayed together for decades: Status Quo is known in America only for their 1967 psychedelic hit “Pictures of Matchstick Men”; but over the course of their career, they have released 60 songs that charted in the U.K. (the most recent in 2010) – more than any other rock group – and 23 of these were Top 10 hits. One of my long-time favorites, the Dutch band Shocking Blue released a huge hit in 1970, “Venus”. Featuring striking lead singer Mariska Veres (though she was not an original member), the band released 25 singles and 11 albums, though I had to go to Europe to find their albums.
(April 2014)
* * *
At about the same time as “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by the Electric Prunes but on the opposite coast, a Bronx, New York band called Blues Magoos had a hit single with “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” that reached #5 on the Billboard charts. Almost immediately after the song’s original release, in February 1967, a British band called the Spectres released their own version of “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet”. By the end of that year, the band had changed its name to the Status Quo (dropping “the” in 1969 to become Status Quo). In January 1968, they released a psychedelic single of their own, “Pictures of Matchstick Men”, which was a #12 hit in the US and a #7 hit in the UK.
(July 2015)
