Just how big were Roxy?
Hi,
Watching 'The Roxy Music Story' you would think that Roxy were huge back in the 70's. I know they were highly succesful, but were certainly not stadium fillers and other acts were selling more albums and having more & bigger hit singles. In fact Roxy were like Marmite - it seemed you either loved them, or hated them. None of my friends liked them - Bryan's voice particularly was an acquired taste.
I did notice that many non-Roxy/Ferry fans liked 'Love is the Drug and especially 'Let's Stick Together' and their 'sound' became more and more accessible from Manifesto onwards. I would imagine the last 2 studio albums, (both platinum), outsold the others considerably.
Any thoughts, especially from those who can remember back that far!
PS - One thing that Roxy did have was success over a long period. Most groups were sucessful, even huge, for maybe a couple of albums and then faded away.
Watching 'The Roxy Music Story' you would think that Roxy were huge back in the 70's. I know they were highly succesful, but were certainly not stadium fillers and other acts were selling more albums and having more & bigger hit singles. In fact Roxy were like Marmite - it seemed you either loved them, or hated them. None of my friends liked them - Bryan's voice particularly was an acquired taste.
I did notice that many non-Roxy/Ferry fans liked 'Love is the Drug and especially 'Let's Stick Together' and their 'sound' became more and more accessible from Manifesto onwards. I would imagine the last 2 studio albums, (both platinum), outsold the others considerably.
Any thoughts, especially from those who can remember back that far!
PS - One thing that Roxy did have was success over a long period. Most groups were sucessful, even huge, for maybe a couple of albums and then faded away.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dave Frantz on -
I was also too young to remember Roxy in the 70's - I first heard them in 1977 and was hooked ever since , 1979 was a fab year whwn they re- formed and Manifesto was released . Now I have all albums on CD and have seen Roxy and Ferry live and consider myself a huge fan .
I do think they are an aquired taste and feel sad for anyone who doesn't love their music !
In my opinion they are the greatest band since The Beatles .
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Permalink Reply by sharon on -
sadly i am not to young to remember the original Roxy. In the 70's ,especially in the north of England life was dull, my first year at art college had the remnants of the hippie era still sloping around ,when -out of the blue came Roxy!..It felt that overnight a wave of exciting style , music , image suddenly woke a section of young people up.It only being a section added to the appeal- Bryan said early on he hated stadiums and preferred smaller venues, I agree I think mass stadiums with the OTT smoke, lights ,dancing bears are a real turn off. In Leeds, Manchester and of course London the influence of Roxy was very evident to those wishing to escape 70's dross...and what a lots of that there was ! In fact I don't really recognise the 70's portrayed on documentaries -they always omit Roxy ,says it all really,...for me it was the best era ever to be young in thanks to Roxy Music.
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Permalink Reply by newromantic on -
Well, they were an aquired taste. Roxy is one of the few bands I was old enough to follow since day one. A guy at school, who was highly into Procol Harum, strongly recommended their first album, which just had been released. Since then they were regulars in NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. They never appealed to the torch raisers and scarf wavers. Luckily, late Roxy would change that.
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Permalink Reply by Pete on
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Hi, unfortunately i am old enough - my version of events is as follows-
Roxy Music attracted teenagers that wanted to be different -Bowie was a more popular choice of This genre and Roxy were like a sub-group- the kids that wanted to be different to the other kids that wanted to be different - i hope you know what i mean?
Roxy made a deliberate turn towards being more commecially accesible from Siren onwards and in my humble opinion began to lose their original imaginative Art rock status and evolved into the smooth lounge lizards of Avalon.
Also, the "Marmite" comment definately seems to apply to Bryans singing
As far as venues goes -stadium gigs were practically non existent in the UK -Most major bands would tour the UK with end dates climaxing at Hammersmith Odean (now the Apollo) - when they got bigger they would end at Wembley Empire Pool (Arena). The biggest bands would occasionaly play Earls Court type venues but up until Live Aid i don't believe anybody was playing Wembley Stadium (please feel free to correct me)
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Permalink Reply by Jim on -
The Beatles, The stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Led zepplin,Supertramp, Take That, Boyzone, Oasis, The Corrs,Oasis,Simply Red, U2, Simple Minds, Abba,Dire Straits, Wings, Fleetwood Mac, Status quo, Blur, The Verve.
Would all of this lot count as "Huge" or stadium fillers? or the big bands of a decade or 3?
Should Roxy Music be classed as their equal or are they more associated with the "Glam" bands like Slade, The sweet, Gary Glitter etc Would this second lot be classed as the same size as those above?
Some of those I have mentioned have recorded regularly for three decades or more. Some recorded in an era where the marketing of albums etc was completely different than say in the early 70's, and concerts in football stadiums were a far more common and accepted thing than when Roxy started out.
I think the Roxy Music Story sets out to emphasise that Roxy were influential-- The guardian carried an argument that said they were the most influential band since the Beatles--- but not necessarily huge in terms of sales and Stadium appearances.
There are bands up there who have played massive stadiums for almost 2 decades or more--- put more bums on seats than Mr Armitage, Mr Shanks and Mr McEwan put together.
Roxy Music fans don't cite how big they were but more how influential they were-- the style, the sound, the mood-- whether it be early albums or later ones. And of course their recording career spanned just over a decade and no more, which is nothing in comparison to The stones, Queen, Quo etc etc etc. for almost 20 years there was nothing new to bring new fans in,while others continued to record with great success.
Of course everyone knows they didn't play a single note together for 18 years until we got the reunion tour of 2001. I saw them in the Ahoy in Rotterdam. I think it holds about 15,000 which isn't bad for a non "stadium" band who hadn't played a note in almost 2 decades. I'm also not sure how big they were in Holland in their hey day.
Anyway 2001! 18 years since they had toured and almost two decades since Flesh and Blood.
I find myself looking at a book-- the top ten of everything 2001.
I come to that section that says " groups with the most Gold albums in the UK" with the results certified by the BPI.
1. Queen
2.Status Quo
3. The Rolling stones
4.= Abba
4.= Genesis
4.= The Beatles
7. ROXY MUSIC
8. UB40
9. Pink Floyd
10. !0 cc
I think If I hadn't recorded in 18 years or so I would be pretty content with being number 7 with that lot-- Mind you I would be bloody delighted if was Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Eric Stewart, and Graham Gouldman. All the Big bands at the top of the stage were well established by 2001 but many don't get a look in on the Gold albums stakes.
But at the end of the day i would answer the question by saying they were pretty big. Ferry is over 6 feet and Manzanera and Mackay aren't midgets! Eno had to leave because he was too small-- don't believe all that stuff about falling out with Ferry etc and artistic differences , he was just a short arse---and GPT didn't count as he was sitting down;)
Roxy Rule Ok-- A'int that so?
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Permalink Reply by Angela on -
Unfortunately, I too am old enough to remember Roxy in the seventies and totally agree with Pete’s comments.
I do actually think Roxy were big for their ‘Time’ and being avant-garde separated the band from their contemporaries, which attracted a certain type of fan; ‘Kids that wanted to be different from other kids that were different’ sums it up perfectly. You were either in the Bowie or Roxy camp (or like me both).
Thinking back to the Roxy theme nights that were held at the time in the type of places that were cool to be seen in - who ever heard of a ‘Queen or a Slade night’!!! The venues certainly weren’t huge arenas back then. I saw Bowie at the Coventry theatre in ‘73 & Roxy at Bingley Hall in Birmingham in ‘75 and think the band were on a big world tour back then. Lots of bands from that era just faded away. Even when Roxy split again after ‘Avalon’ they still continued to achieve popularity ,continuing through the years and so who really knows how big Roxy could have actually become.
Rolling Stone Magazine cited them on their ‘100 greatest artists of all time list’ so that says it all really!
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Permalink Reply by Terry 'O' on -
HI Sharon
I think Roxy were huge by 1975, although in terms of todays global stars it's hard to compare.
I was also at both nights at Bingley Hall. This was a standing only gig with I guess room for about 4000 people. This was a huge amount people for the time. Very few bands would have attempted to book 2 nights here. The only other places in England bigger were Wembley Arena and Earls Court. But thankfully Roxy still toured the provences, unlike Bowie who only took the Thin White Duke to Earls Court!
Terry
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Permalink Reply by Alan on -
Hi,
An interesting mix of responses. No doubt Roxy are one of the most influential bands of all time and were indeed in the top 10 in 2001 for groups with most UK Gold albums, albeit including 6 compilations, some containing Ferry solo material.
However, the point I was trying to make was 'The Roxy Music Story' and to be fair other documentaries seemed to overstate Roxy's commercial success, especially 1972-1975. They did probably come closest as a live act, although there were acts playing stadiums in the 70's - Elton John played Wembley Stadium in 1975 I believe (though not fair to compare to him of course!) and the likes of David Cassidy filled stadiums over here.
Even comparing to Slade, The Sweet, Gary Glitter, Roxy sold far fewer singles, and for a period maybe less albums than Slade. These Glam acts sold huge numbers of singles and also had many more hits.
I think I'll leave this topic here. I don't seem to have got my point across very well, but at least it stirred debate among fellow fans.
Alan
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Permalink Reply by Jim on
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Alan,
I think You have made your point fairly well. paraphrasing I think the point that you are getting at is that whilst we are devoted fans, and the Roxy Music Story promotes the band as important in terms of all manner of things--there is an argument to say that others sold more singles etc, and others still were playing to stadium crowds where Roxy weren't. This then begs the question-- were they kinda middle of the road or what?
Well people like Mud or Shakin Stevens etc probably had more big hit singles-- but, God forbid, if they went out on tour after 20n years or so what kind of halls would they fill? I am not being disrespectful when I ask that-- it is just that they were of a genre that does not hold a long term following.
Equally there were others-- The Osmonds, come to mind, who were globally bigger but never approached a musical legacy and influence.
I would have said that The WHO were a stadium band from that era, with some great songs and albums, but again lacked the influence and ability to change things.
It is the sign of a great question that produces a disparity of answers.
I think planetpmc hits it on the head with "Kinda"
That implies sort of big, big of a certain Kind and so on.
Put it this way.
Who else was like them?
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Permalink Reply by Alan on
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Great reply Jim,
I agree entirely. Roxy have definitely stood the test of time better than most acts.
Alan
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Permalink Reply by Jim on
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Terry,
When Roxy came to Glasgow they often played two nights at the Apollo which I think was unusual. I also think there was one concert tour where they played 4 nights which was very unusual. They also went out to smaller venues such as Dundee and of Course Edinburgh (everything is smaller in Edinburgh ;).
Jim
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