"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS" - The Status Quo in the year 1968

(click on the pictures No. 1; 2 and 4 to see them big.)

 The Status Quo in the german BRAVO - the big german youth magazine. You see the backcover of  Bravo No.24 from 1968  Italian single-cover 'Pictures of Matchstickmen'  Tourposter from 9th November 1968 in Leyton Town Baths  Spain single-cover 'Hielo en el sol' = 'Ice in the sun'  Frontcover of the english teenager magazin Fabulous208 from the year 1968

concerts, publications, charts, infos

There are more than 50 concerts known from The Status Quo in the year 1968. Apart from these concerts they were backing band of Madeleine Bell until midst of February. Even the "short" performances during the Gene Pitney Tour are listed, where the band did not play more than 3 or 4 songs. All concerts of 1968: ...more
Pictures above: Single-Cover "Pictures of Matchstickmen" (Italy) and frontcover "Fabulous208" by kind permission Garry Fielding.
Bravo-backcover 1968 by kind permission Günter Röder; Single-Cover "Hielo en el sol" Spain and tourposter from November 9, 1968.

Chronological:

  • 5.1.1968: release of the single "Pictures of Matchstickmen" (Rossi) - Lead-Vocals: Francis Rossi. B-Side: "Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe". Lead-Vocals: Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster. To avoid another flop, Pat Barlow paid the pirate radio station "Radio Caroline" so that the new single was played daily. 'Radio Caroline' was founded in 1965 by an irish businessman and was settled on ships or on air-bases close to the dutch/english boarder. Another pirate radio station at the time was 'Radio Veronica', who regularly broadcasted the dutch TOP40.
  • 16.01.1968: BBC-Session in studio 4 Maide Vale. (Songs: Spicks and Specks, Pictures of Matchstickmen, Judy in Disguise)
  • 22.01.1968: performance in the David Symonds Show in England.
  • 24.01.1968: the permanent airplay of the new single in Radio Carline achieved that the single entered the charts on January 24 and climbed up. The music media took its notice too.
  • 03.02.1968: Frontcover "Chartclimbers" in the New Musical Express. The single notched up at No.7 and stayed a total of 12 weeks in the UK single-charts. Another frontcover appeared on the magazine "Fabulous208", the english teenager mag. (see picture above)
  • 08.02.1968: first time in the BBC-show "Top of the Pops" - no performance.
  • 15.02.1968: the first performance of The Status Quo at "Top of the Pops". Moderator: Jimmy Savile, Dave Cash. Until this time the band played with Madelaine Bell on her tour, but with the own success they retired. Immediately the first own shows were booked.
  • Februar: more chart-success throughout Europe and USA and Australia with "Pictures of Matchstickmen" - USA No 12. Germany No. 7.
  • 18.02.1968: 1. Headline-concert in Ruislip, Middlesex, England. Another shows in Scottland and England.
  • March: soon another single had to be released to ride on the success and the band went into recording sessions. The Rossi-Song "Black Veils of Melancholy" was chosen.
  • 24.03.1968: 2.single-release "Black Veils of Melancholy (Rossi) Lead-Vocals: Francis Rossi. B-Side the song "To be free" written by Roy Lynes. Lead-Vocals: Roy Lynes. But the new single couldn't refer to the success of "Pictures of Matchstickmen" and sank without a trace. The critics talked about a copy of "Pictures of..." and the band was already described as "One-Hit-Wonders".
  • 05.04.1968: the band was signed as supporting act on the Gene Pitney-Tour which included 28 concerts throughout Great Britain. Other support bands have been: Amen Corner and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. In bigger cities additional support was "The Marmelade". While The Status Quo toured with Gene Pitney, Andy Bown played a lot of shows with The Herd in Great Britain.
  • Summer 1968: Bob Young was signed as roadie for The Status Quo. Meanwhile studio recordings started for the next single release. This time a song written by songwriters Ronnie Scott and Marty Wilde (father of Kim Wilde) - "Ice in the sun".
  • 26.07.1968 : 3.single-release "Ice in the Sun" (Scott, Wilde) Lead-Vocals: Ricky Parfitt (and Francis Rossi). B-Side is the first Rossi/Parfitt teamwork "When my mind is not live". Lead-Vocals: Ricky Parfitt.
  • 01.08.1968: The Status Quo in the Show "Top of the Pops" - no performance.
  • 21.08.1968: the new single entered UK-Charts. Highest position No. 8 and spent 12 Weeks in the charts. With the second hit of the year the band again in the spotlights.
  • 14.09.1968: first performance of The Status Quo in german television at the famous Beatclub (Folge 35) with the song "Ice in the sun".
  • 19.09.1968: The Status Quo in the show "Top of the Pops" - song "Ice in the sun".
  • 26.09.1969: The Status Quo in the belgian show "Tienerklanken" with their first video-clip at all. You can see the band walking downstairs and then they are sitting around a gambling table and all are playing roulette and smoking cigars. This clip is from the canadian DVD compilation "Remember 60's Vol.3" and it is very rare. On my research for the year reviews I couldn't find this video clip mentioned elsewhere !!
  • 27.09.1968: 1.album-release "The Picturesque Matchstickable Messages of the Status Quo". The album couldn't chart.
  • 10.10.1968: The Status Quo in "Top of the Pops" - song "Ice in the sun".
  • 26.10.1968: performance at the show "Crackerjack", which was very popular for kids.
  • 08.11.1968: the release of the new single "Technicolor Dreams" was cancelled in last minute by record company PYE. Only some copies are existing and whenever one comes to sell, the price is up to 400 pounds and more.
  • December: the poll of the "Record Mirror" show The Status Quo as number 12 of the most promising bands of the year.

    Discography 1968:

  • Pictures of Matchstickmen (Rossi) / Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe (Young) Cat.No. PYE 7N.17449
  • Black Veils of Melancholy (Rossi) / To be free (Lynes) Cat.No. PYE 7N.17497
  • Ice in the sun (Wilde/Scott) / When my mind is not live (Parfitt) Cat.No. PYE 7N.17581
  • LP "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages of the Status Quo " Cat.No. PYE NPL.18220

    Miscellaneous:
    1. again the Beatles "break the rules". Despite overtime the new single "Hey Jude" was pressed on 7"-vinyl. Usually the songs at the time had a running time of 2 or 3 minutes, "Hey Jude" had a running time of 7 minutes.
    2. the hits of the year 1968 in UK:
    Singles: 1. Hey Jude (Beatles) 2. Those were the days (Mary Poppins) 3. What a wonderful world (Louis Armstrong)
    Albums: 1. The Sound of music (Soundtrack) 2. The Best of the Seekers (The Seekers) 3. This is soul (different artists)
    3. Football: a great moment for Manchester United. They won the European Cup at Wembley after beating Benfica Lisabon 4:1. 10 years after the air disaster in Munich manager Matt Busby lead the team to glory.
    Manchester City won the english championship and again Celtic Glasgow were scottish champions.
    4. Films of the year: "Barbarella" (Raquel Welch) - "Dracula" (Christopher Lee) - "Funny Girl" (Barbara Streisand) - "Rosemarie's Baby" and the Beatles Film "Yellow Submarine".