Saturday, February 13, 2010

Staus Quo: Establishment chaps

It's not actually news that Status Quo are ardent royalists and tend to fawn when they stand down wind from anything from a Duchess upwards. But seldom has Francis Rossi been quite so explicit about it:

Rossi, dressed in a dark pinstriped suit, said: ''This is the most exceptional moment of our careers. There's no two ways about it.

''Live Aid was contrastingly very different and important and there was a great euphoric feeling on the day but nothing can make you forget this.

''It's part of the establishment which is everything that's been around us since we were little and it's something to aspire to.

''Whether you're a royalist or not you cannot take away what the Queen and the Royal Family do for us.''

... before knuckling his forelock and walking backwards in a half-crouch.

I suppose it's true. Even if you're not a royalist, you can't escape the millions wasted on keeping one family in total luxury and undermining the whole principle of democracy by having government carried on in the name of the monarch instead of the people. I expect that's what Rossi meant.

There's something a little odd in the Telegraph's piece:
Status Quo launched the first Prince's Trust concert in 1982 and three years later they opened the original Live Aid concert with Rockin' All Over The World.

The original Live Aid concert? How many have there been since, then?


2 comments:

Robin Carmody said...

By sheer coincidence, last night I was re-reading the following priceless passage from The Tatler (!!!!!!) in 1984, written by Craig Brown about the then-twentysomething Old Etonian MP Henry Bellingham:

"These are some of the words he said as we were driving through the outskirts of King's Lynn that morning: 'Streamline ... Economic efficiency ... Overall growth ... Incentives ... Work Ethic ... Conciliatory ... Streamline ... Economic Efficiency ... Overall growth ...' I can't remember saying anything myself. My eye had caught sight of a cassette he had taped himself. He had written the contents on the outside cover. They included 'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan and I sat pondering the choice. 'Strategy ... Job Creation ... Tax Thresholds ...' he continued."

Somehow, these words - from the most unlikely writer in the most unlikely publication at the most unlikely time - now stand as the ultimate epitaph for rock music.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Pre-echoing Cameron choosing The Jam on Desert Island Discs...

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