Roxy Music

This article describes the band. For the album of the same name see Roxy Music (album) .

Roxy Music
Roxy Music 1974 in Toronto
General information
Genre (s)	Art rock
founding	1971, 1978, 2001
resolution	1976, 1983
Founding members
Synthesizers , treatments	Brian Eno (until 1974)
Vocals , keyboard , harmonica	Bryan Ferry
Saxophone , oboe	Andy Mackay
Current occupation
Vocals, keyboard, harmonica	Bryan Ferry
Saxophone, oboe	Andy Mackay
guitar	Phil Manzanera (since 1972)
Drums	Paul Thompson (1972–1980, since 2001)
Keyboard	Colin Good (since 2001)
former members
Synthesizer, violin	Eddie Jobson (1973-1976)
bass	Graham Simpson (1971, 1972)
bass	Rik Kenton (1972, 1973)
bass	John Porter (1973)
Bass (live only)	Sal Maida (1973)
bass	John Gustafson † 2014 (1973–1976)
Bass (live only)	John Wetton (1975)
bass	Gary Tibbs (1978-1980)
bass	Alan Spenner (1979-1982)
Keyboard	Paul Carrack (1978-1980)
Drums	Andy Newmark (1980-1982)

Roxy Music on stage during a concert in London, July, 2006

Roxy Music is an influential art rock - band whose style the way for various emerging musical genres such as New Romantic or New Wave , paved. The band was formed in London in 1971 .

history

First phase

Roxy Music was founded in 1971 in London by Bryan Ferry , Andy Mackay and Brian Eno . After the original line-up was expanded to include drummer Paul Thompson and Graham Simpson on bass, Roxy Music found a well-known guitarist in the former member of The Nice , David O'List, who, however, left the band a few months later after tensions with Thompson. His successor was Phil Manzanera , who had previously supported Roxy Music as a road manager. With this line-up, the first album, Roxy Music , produced by Peter Sinfield , was recorded, which was released in June 1972 and already reached number 10 in the British LP charts. A first single, Virginia Plain , reached 4th place in August 1972. Rik Kenton had already replaced Graham Simpson on bass for the recording of this single, but this was his only release with Roxy Music. His successor John Porter worked with the band on the following records, the single Pajamarama and the album For Your Pleasure . Musically, with this album the band expanded their rock 'n' roll nostalgia in the style of the American band Sha Na Na , which had marked the eponymous first album in 1972, soon to include influences from cheesy canzone singing , serial music , jazz , Kurt Weill and Velvet Underground form an extremely idiosyncratic mixture.

In June 1973 Eno left the band in a dispute with Ferry and from then on devoted himself to solo projects. He was succeeded by Eddie Jobson , who not only played synthesizers and keyboards, but also brought another note of color to the band's music with his violin skills. With Jobson and the permanent studio bassist John Gustafson, the albums Stranded (1973), Country Life (1974) and Siren were created with the single hit Love Is the Drug , which reached number 2 in the British charts (1975). According to the authors of the Rock Lexicon, they were melodically less innovative than the previous albums, but rather functioned as a musical vehicle for Ferry's poetry and his mannered, partly recitative , partly staccato- like singing. Ingeborg Schober , on the other hand, certified Roxy Music that she continues to make “extremely differentiated music for people who can enjoy subtleties, details and details of details”. In 1975, however, the German music magazine Sounds stated that the band had lost their innovative strength: "Roxy Music are no longer new."

Interim and second phase

After the release of the album Siren in 1975, no new studio album was to be created for four years. Only the live album Viva! Roxy Music , which combines concert recordings from 1973 to 1975, was released in 1976. In an interview published on June 19, 1976 in the New Musical Express , Bryan Ferry finally announced the end of the collaboration with Roxy Music due to musical differences. In this context, the rock lexicon refers to the band's lack of success on the lucrative American market: The album Siren, for example, only reached number 30 in the US charts in 1975.

In the following years Bryan Ferry released three solo albums, with which he increasingly tried to gain a foothold in the USA. Phil Manzanera had already recorded the album Mainstream with his former band Quiet Sun in 1975 and founded a new formation at 801 , which initially included ex-colleague Brian Eno. As a soloist or with the support of 801 , Manzanera recorded four albums ( Diamond Head , 801 Live , Listen Now , K-Scope ). Andy Mackay was the producer of the British television series Rock Follies , which dropped two commercially successful LPs in 1976 and 1977. In 1978 Mackay toured the People's Republic of China and released the album Resolving Contradictions after the end of this trip .

In late 1978, Ferry, Manzanera and Mackay met at Basing Street Studios in London to record a new album. In the meantime, the popular musical zeitgeist had turned in Great Britain. After the emergence of disco, punk and new wave, bands emerged in Great Britain around 1979 in opposition to the punk movement, who wanted to make music as Roxy Music had produced half a decade earlier. New romantic or new wave bands like Spandau Ballet , The Human League , but also Visage or Blondie repeatedly stated in interviews that Roxy Music was their musical and pop cultural role model.

The new line-up of Roxy Music in late 1978 consisted of Ferry (vocals), Manzanera (guitar), Mackay (saxophone), Paul Thompson (drums), Paul Carrack (keyboards), Gary Tibbs and Alan Spenner (both bass). In spring 1979 the sixth studio album Manifesto was released , which made it to number 23 in the US charts. The two subsequent albums Flesh and Blood (1980) and Avalon (1982) were extremely successful commercially and helped to consolidate their reputation as a style-defining band. They were followed by successful tours. Musically, Roxy Music renounced the bizarre things of the first phase and instead delivered supercooled, perfectly produced pop songs of high discotheque suitability.

In 1981 the band achieved their only number one entry in the British charts with the cover version of Jealous Guy recorded on the occasion of the death of John Lennon .

After finishing their last tour through the USA, Bryan Ferry broke up the band again in late May 1983.

Third phase

After almost 20 years, Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson reunited in 2001. Reinforced by guest musicians like guitarist Chris Spedding , who had already worked with Ferry in 1976/77, Roxy Music went on a world tour. In July 2005 there was also an appearance as part of Live 8 .

Roxy Music make music "for the sake of music", as Ferry explained in an interview. According to Phil Manzanera, 18 tracks have already been recorded for a long-awaited new studio album that is currently in preparation. Brian Eno is also involved again for the first time after the very first albums.

The song Love Is the Drug from the album Siren (1975) was used in the 2010 film Love and Other Drugs - Side Effects Included (starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway ). A cover version appears in the movie Sucker Punch .

style

Unlike other rock bands of their era, Roxy Music placed great emphasis on aesthetics and style from the outset and were thus about ten years ahead of the general zeitgeist. In the early years in particular, the band members performed a cunning transvestite show " dressed in leather, silk, gold lamé and feathers, hung with jewelery, sometimes dyed crimson red or silver-blonde [...] " at their glam rock appearances . Even in later appearances, Ferry used "accessories from the backside", for example with an implied Nazi uniform.

This form of aestheticization was later taken up in New Wave , which is why Roxy Music is considered the classic proto-new wave band to which subsequent artists repeatedly referred. For example, the Duran Duran group insists that their greatest musical role model was Roxy Music. The inner cover of the Duran-Duran album Astronaut (2004) pays homage to Roxy Music, recognizable by the photo in which the band members were photographed like Roxy Music thirty years earlier on For Your Pleasure . In both photos, the band members are similarly standing next to each other with guitar in hand. The band Scissor Sisters was also photographed in a similar pose in early 2006 and then composed some previously unpublished pieces with Roxy Music. Götz Alsmann claims that the great girl he has been wearing since he was 15 was inspired by the hairstyles that Bryan Ferry and Andy Mackay wore in the photos on the inside cover of the first Roxy Music album .

Controversial record covers

Except for the albums Manifesto and Avalon , the record covers of Roxy Music show women in underwear or with low-cut dresses. On For Your Pleasure , Amanda Lear poses with a black, drawn puma. For the album Siren , Jerry Hall poses as a blue-painted mermaid. After the Siren photo session , Hall became Ferry's partner for two years. The 1974 cover of the album Country Life caused a scandal : it showed two women in sheer lace underwear. Because of the implied masturbation and the transparency of the clothes, where the pubic hair of the models can be seen, the album was not allowed to be put in record stores in Ireland with the original cover . The album was also censored in the Netherlands , Spain and the USA . Feminists accused Roxy Music of “sexism” and “use of the female body as a commodity”.

The band is not shown on any cover of the studio albums, but only on the inner parts or on the back. On the album Siren , the illustration of the band is a pencil drawing on the back.

The layout and artistic design of the album sleeves are considered to be groundbreaking designs for the era of New Wave.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1972	Roxy Music	-	-	-	UK10 gold (16 weeks)UK	-
1973	For your pleasure	DE28 (12 weeks) DE	AT9 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK4th gold (27 weeks)UK	US193 (2 weeks) US	396th place in the Rolling Stone 500
	Stranded	DE39 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK1 gold (17 weeks)UK	US186 (4 weeks) US
1974	Country Life	DE38 (4 weeks) DE	AT10 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK3 gold (10 weeks)UK	US37 (15 weeks) US	387th place in the Rolling Stone 500
1975	Siren	-	-	-	UK4th gold (17 weeks)UK	US50 (20 weeks) US	371st place in the Rolling Stone 500
1976	Viva! Roxy Music - The Live Roxy Music Album	DE48 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK6th silver (12 weeks)UK	US81 (7 weeks) US	Live album
1979	Manifesto	DE37 (1 week) DE	AT25 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK7th gold (34 weeks)UK	US23 (16 weeks) US
1980	Flesh + Blood	DE6th gold (65 weeks)DE	AT15 (6 weeks) AT	-	UK1 platinum (60 weeks)UK	US35 (19 weeks) US
1982	Avalon	DE4th gold (32 weeks)DE	AT5 (14 weeks) AT	-	UK1 platinum (57 weeks)UK	US53 platinum (27 weeks)US	307th place in the Rolling Stone 500
1983	The High Road	DE25 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK27 (7 weeks) UK	US67 (22 weeks) US	Four title EP recorded live at the Apollo Theater in Glasgow
2003	live	DE100 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1974: Live at the music store Radio Bremen (released on DVD in 2001)
• 1985: The King Biscuit Flower Hour (with Graham Parker and Simple Minds )
• 1990: Heart Still Beating
• 1997: Psalm
• 1998: Concert Classics
• 2001: Vintage
• 2001: Live at the Apollo (CD and DVD, released 2002)

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1977	Greatest hits	-	-	-	UK20th gold (11 weeks)UK	-
1983	The Atlantic Years 1973-1980	DE62 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK23 gold (25 weeks)UK	US183 (6 weeks) US
1986	Street Life: 20 Great Hits	DE14 (11 weeks) DE	AT23 (2 weeks) AT	CH12 (6 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (77 weeks)UK	US100 (11 weeks) US	as Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
1988	The Ultimate Collection	DE43 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	UK6th × 3 Triple platinum (37 weeks)UK	-	as Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
1995	More Than This - The Best Of	DE91 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK15th platinum (20 weeks)UK	-	as Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
2001	The best of	DE19 (11 weeks) DE	AT27 (7 weeks) AT	CH35 (6 weeks) CH	UK12 platinum (7 weeks)UK	-
2004	The Platinum Collection	-	-	-	UK17th gold (5 weeks)UK	-	as Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
2012	The Complete Studio Recordings	DE20 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	Box with 10 CDs

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More compilations

• 1981: The First 7 Albums (Box, 7 LPs)
• 1982: Roxy Music
• 1983: Musique 1972-1983
• 1989: The Early Years (4 CDs)
• 1989: The Later Years (4 CDs)
• 1992: Collectors' Edition (box, 3 CDs)
• 1995: The Thrill of It All (Box, 4 CDs)
• 1997: Tokyo Joe - The Best of Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
• 1998: The Greatest
• 2000: Slave to Love: The Very Best of the Ballads
• 2002: Reflection (2 CDs)
• 2002: Ladytron
• 2003: Roxy Music / For Your Pleasure
• 2004: The Collection
• 2009: 12 of Their Greatest Hits
• 2011: Essential
• 2011: Avalon / Siren
• 2012: 5 album set (5 CDs)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1972	Virginia Plain Roxy Music (US version)	DE20 (9 weeks) DE	AT16 (4 weeks) AT	-	UK4 (18 weeks) UK	-
1973	Pajamas Greatest Hits	-	-	-	UK10 (12 weeks) UK	-
	Do the Strand For Your Pleasure	DE41 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-
	Street Life Stranded	DE40 (6 weeks) DE	-	-	UK9 (12 weeks) UK	-
1974	All I Want Is You Country Life	-	-	-	UK12 (8 weeks) UK	-
1975	Love Is the Drug Siren	DE39 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 silver (12 weeks)UK	US30 (14 weeks) US
	Both Ends Burning Siren	-	-	-	UK25 (7 weeks) UK	-
1979	Trash Manifesto	-	-	-	UK40 (6 weeks) UK	-
	Dance Away Manifesto	DE30 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 gold (14 weeks)UK	US44 (9 weeks) US
	Angel Eyes Manifesto	-	-	-	UK4th silver (11 weeks)UK	-
1980	Over You Flesh + Blood	DE31 (15 weeks) DE	-	-	UK5 silver (9 weeks)UK	US80 (4 weeks) US
	Oh Yeah (On the Radio) Flesh + Blood	DE14 (20 weeks) DE	-	-	UK5 (8 weeks) UK	-
	The Same Old Scene Flesh + Blood	-	-	-	UK12 (7 weeks) UK	-
1981	Jealous Guy The High Road	DE19 (22 weeks) DE	AT6 (14 weeks) AT	CH4 (9 weeks) CH	UK1 gold (11 weeks)UK	-
1982	More Than This Avalon	DE24 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH6 (9 weeks) CH	UK6th silver (8 weeks)UK	-
	Avalon Avalon	DE45 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH65 (1 week) CH	UK13 (6 weeks) UK	-
	Take a Chance with Me Avalon	DE68 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK26 (6 weeks) UK	-
1990	Love Is a Drug (Live) Heart Still Beating	-	-	-	UK87 (2 weeks) UK	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1974: The Thrill of It All (Promo)
• 1977: Virginia Plain
• 1980: In the Midnight Hour
• 1983: The High Road
• 1988: Let's Stick Together (Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music)
• 1989: The Price of Love (Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music)
• 2006: Remix # 01 (2 × 12inch vinyl)
• 2007: Remix # 02 (1 × 12inch vinyl)
• 2007: Remix # 03 (1 × 12inch vinyl)
• 2010: Glam! The Photography of Mick Rock (box with 7inch single and 128-page photo book)
• 2010: Remixes (Blue) (4 mp3 files)

literature

• Wanda, Jürgen: Re-Make / Re-Model - The Story of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry & Brian Eno , Star-Cluster-Verlag, Balve 1997, ISBN 3-925005-45-5 .
• Buckley, David: Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music - Big cinema for the ears Hannibal-Verlag, ISBN 3-85445-255-1 .

Web links

Commons : Roxy Music  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Roxy Music at Allmusic (English)
• Roxy Music at Discogs (English)
• The story of the band Roxy Music on Schirn Magazin
• More information about the band and its members (English)
• Great cinema for the ears - an inventory

swell

1. ^ Strong, Martin C. - The Great Rock Discography , 7th Edition, 2004. ISBN 1-84195-551-5 .
2. ^ Barry Graves and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos : The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, vol. 2, p. 685 f.
3. ↑ Olaf Benzinger: Rock Hymns. The encyclopedia. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2002, p. 96.
4. ^ Barry Graves and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, Vol. 2, p. 686.
5. ^ Ingeborg Schober: Roxy Music. Stranded. In: Sounds. Plates 66-77 . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 656.
6. ^ Manfred Gillig: Roxy Music. Siren. In: Sounds. Plates 66-77 . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 1139.
7. ^ Barry Graves and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, Vol. 2, p. 686.
8. ↑ Rimmer, Dave, Like Punk Never Happened . London 1985, ISBN 0-571-13739-3 .
9. ^ Barry Graves and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, Vol. 2, p. 687.
10. ↑ Michael Erlewine: All Music Guide to Rock . San Francisco 1995, ISBN 0-87930-376-X .; Paul Gambaccini : The Guinness Book Of Number One Hits 3rd Edition , London 1994, ISBN 0-85112-769-X .
11. ^ The Independent , February 1, 2005
12. ↑ http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2008/cginews.cgi?record=28
13. ^ Barry Graves and Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: The new rock lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, Vol. 2, p. 686.
14. ↑ von Stuckrad-Barre, Benjamin, Deutsches Theater , Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-462-03050-7 .
15. ↑ Like Punk Never Happened
16. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
17. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum databases: DE UK US