Roxy Music Live - S/D

Their work always seemed much more contemporary to the present or "younger" than a lot of big arena acts from the '70s (at least the ones that played arenas in the U.S.), but at the same time, they're not up there with, say, David Bowie in terms of reaching a younger audience.

In the UK I think a part of it is that later smoother Roxy + public-Ferry blot out the pre-hiatus invention, fun, adventure etc - ie it's an effort to see through to a cool that's palatable to the Gen X culture class. Hypothetically - not that audience age is a problem to be solved - a tour with Eno in the line-up would have got more under 50s?

haha photo of under-40 at the Manchester gig:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Ferry

i think a tour with eno would have sold out due to the novelty of it; but it also obviously was not something that would ever happen.

yeah absolutely I meant it more about perceptions of Roxy rather than viability or desirability.

haha photo of under-40 at the Manchester gig:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Ferry

― woof,

he really does have awful children

Fox hunting advocate? Ok.

It always reminds me of that story (I think in the Paul Stump biog) of Jerry Hall inviting Bryan to her family's house in Texas and him just being completely freaked out by the iguanas (or some kind of infestation) in her house.

Notwithstanding his blue collar upbringing, I think Bryan has not-so-secretly always aspired to be an aristocrat.

If it was Texas it was probably geckos. They are everywhere and we leave them along because they eat bugs like roaches (also they look cool and don't bite or otherwise cause trouble).

Cockroaches iirc.

i think Bryan himself has advocated for fox hunting

Notwithstanding his blue collar upbringing, I think Bryan has not-so-secretly always aspired to be an aristocrat.

yeah I take it as the arc of Roxy/Ferry - Ferry creates a fiction which envelops him.

WHy is that kid in wikipedia

Pet Shop Boy Neil says there is ageism in pop music.

HWO CAN WE VERIFY

Would there be any more than a couple of dozen people in any city who would only have bought tickets to see Roxy if Eno were there pretending to turn some dials onstage?

I'd buy a ticket regardless of whether Eno was there, but if Eno showed and just sipped a cup of tea onstage the entire time, I'd still get a kick out of it.

Eno could just send a robot a la Kraftwerk and he coudl appear on ZOOM for three seconds and say "CHEERS DUES!"

i think a tour with eno would have sold out due to the novelty of it

Even if they had, and played the first two Roxy records in full plus Here Come the Warm Jets, I'm sure they would have sold fewer tickets in North America, not more.

Notwithstanding his blue collar upbringing, I think Bryan has not-so-secretly always aspired to be an aristocrat.

Which is probably part of the problem in their attracting younger fans.

"More Than This" is enough of a staple that my students know the song without identifying the singer. He's not attracting younger fans because the traditional modes of image promotion at which Ferry excelled -- the glossy magazine, the poster, the constant video push -- are gone.

Plus, Ferry wasn't writing acoustic guitar hummables. One of those students shocked me last spring when in our newsroom she strummed "Criminal World" after "Life on Mars?" She loved Bowie, learned the song on her guitar from her parents' collection.

The friend I took with me to see them a couple weeks ago considered himself a fan, yet as far as I could tell only knew "More Than This."

Oh boy, it is getting rough
When his old world charm isn't quite enough.

I'm not sure I knew anyone among my peers who ever mentioned Roxy Music. I even recall bringing them up when I was in college on certain occasions and having to explain who they were. I remember when "More Than This" was used in Lost in Translation partially because I don't think I ever heard it anywhere else before, and even afterwards, I can't remember hearing it anywhere. (I don't think classic rock radio in Chicago ever programmed it or any Roxy Music, did they?) Their music in general is something I had to put it on myself.

Its more the idea of Roxymusic that I like than the music

I first heard of Roxy Music through a couple guys in college who were just intimidatingly cool to me. As it should be I guess.

(I don't think classic rock radio in Chicago ever programmed it or any Roxy Music, did they?)

"Classic rock" stations in Chicago never played it, but in addition to "More Than This," I heard all of the following on WXRT with some regularity between 1984 and 1998: "Love Is The Drug," "Do The Strand," "Both Ends Burning," "Out Of The Blue," "The Thrill Of It All," "Avalon," "Over You," "Dance Away," and even "Eight Miles High" once or twice. I have never heard Roxy on any other radio station, in the midwest or northeast, ever.

I remember a DJ back-announcing Roxy on our classic rock station, presumably to help endear them to Van Halen fans: "'Virginia Plain' - one of the many, many women Bryan Ferry has known over the years!"

In the early '90s Ferry and Bowie were wiped off American radio. I heard "Jump They Say" and "I Put a Spell on You" on my college station a couple times, dat's dat. They simply didn't fit the times. By 1997, though, Bowie had reclaimed much of his aura. Ferry, though -- my friends would nod sympathetically when I mentioned or played him, wondered why the 2001 concert DVD I got for Xmas excited me so. I don't know how anyone between 1995 and 2010 discovered Roxy Music; I had to rely on microfiche/microfilm in the uni library.

I don't know how anyone between 1995 and 2010 discovered Roxy Music

Well, Lost In Translation and Velvet Goldmine, plus Virgin's Roxy/Ferry reissue campaign for starters...

It probably came down to the critics. Greg Kot wrote about them in the Tribune when he could - there weren't really any news events to give him reason to, so when he did, it was usually some broad feature related to rock music like one of those user-friendly guides for beginners that mainstream publications would periodically do. I think I mentioned an old list of "100 Greatest CD's" by EW I found that I actually used as a library loan guide. IIRC Avalon was on there, so that was my first exposure to them, but the occasional Trib article and The New Rolling Stone Album Guide pointed me to the rest. IIRC The RS guide was really big on Siren and Kot preferred the two Eno albums.

*the critics too

Plus the Roxy reunion tour in 2001. It probably didn't make them brand-new fans, but it kept their hat in the ring. They didn't seem like underdogs at the show I saw.

I think I mentioned an old list of "100 Greatest CD's" by EW I found that I actually used as a library loan guide. IIRC Avalon was on there, so that was my first exposure to them, but the occasional Trib article and The New Rolling Stone Album Guide pointed me to the rest. IIRC The RS guide was really big on Siren and Kot preferred the two Eno albums.

In the miserable desert of the early '90s I remember these appearances (and used former ILM poster Mark Coleman's RS guide), but these are critics. I meant, like, fans. I was going to mention Velvet Goldmine but it and 10,000 Maniacs' somnolent hit cover of "More Than This," but both were too early.

I do remember Velvet Goldmine but I didn't bother seeing it for a long time due to poor word of mouth (like "too bad he couldn't use Bowie songs like he originally planned"). I didn't realize they used Roxy Music's songs, but the movie was a flop so I doubt it made that many new fans.

it's terrible

(it is better than that Stardust movie that recently came out though).

there was a daniel craig movie several years back called "Flashbacks of a Fool" which has roxy and ferry as major plot points, even dressing craig up as ferry. but it didn't do very well I suppose.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/4e9d6465fb46296ad8b916cf2da6ce80/tumblr_pa6123LPAE1wbvw5fo2_400.gif

oh I guess it was the actor who plays Craig's character when younger. anyway here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f09xX7-Kos

In the early '90s Ferry and Bowie were wiped off American radio. I heard "Jump They Say" and "I Put a Spell on You" on my college station a couple times, dat's dat.

I still heard Bowie on Chicago “classic rock” stations in the early ‘90s, but usually just “Changes” or “Suffragette City.” “Jump They Say” got heavy airplay on the northeast “alternative” station I listened to — that is, I listened to the station mainly in the hopes they’d play “Jump They Say,” and they fortunately delivered.

Heart's Filthy Lesson and I'm Afraid of Americans were legitimate alternative radio hits. Nothing much after that though (I also stopped listening to commercial radio by the late 90's, for the most part).

Tuesday's Child definitely got PR push and had a video (as did other things on Hours) but the album was so poorly received I don't recall any of it really getting much traction, and then of course Bowie stopped doing videos for Heathen, I don't think he did any for Reality, and neither of those really had 'singles' songs and radio had completely changed by then.

As for Roxy: I certainly remember Avalon on the radio at the time of release, I never know who did that song until fairly late in the 80's. My parents around 79/80/81 listened to a lot of contemporary and 'crossover country' and I swear Avalon got play on those stations so I honestly never associated it with a British band. By the time of the 90's no, I don't remember Ferry or Roxy fairing very well radiowise in the US. I was into Ferry heavily in the early 90's and was one of like three people I knew who were into that but it was an extension of interest in art rock, Japan/Sylvian/Mick Karn stuff, etc, ie we were called art fags.

Same, though I discovered Japan/Sylvian and New Pop in the '90s through Ferry.

I was a consistent college radio listener through 1999 and never once heard "Heart's..." or "I'm Afraid of Americans." Guess it depended on region.

The MuchMusic channel in Canada was still showing videos like "Mamouna" or "Thursday's Child", not in frequent rotation, but enough that I knew they existed without seeking them out.

Roxy I recall hearing (three or four or five songs) a pretty good deal on WMMR in Philly growing up. but I got into Roxy by way of Eno (though always saw "Avalon" on audiophile lists); I don't recall listening to solo Ferry until "Mamouna," and again I think that was due to Eno, who was in his imperial '90s phase and all over that album. Stuff like Sylvian I got into by way of Fripp. Bowie I likely got into by way of both, Fripp and Eno.

By the '90s I was in Chicago and recall hearing "Earthing" stuff a lot on XRT, though don't recall hearing much "Outside" stuff on the radio.

Did any of Bowie's '90s videos get much airplay? I remember getting that DVD set and thinking that I had never seen any of them before. (Which is a shame for many reasons - they clearly put in a lot of work into each of them.)

"Jump They Say" is top five Bowie videoe.

*Video

within my friendgroup roxy was kind of like a record nerd band. juts like the eno records. seeing them in the uk this tour seems like they were more like fleetwood mac are over here or something. the whole crowd knew every word from every song. also billy idol sat near me which i might have already said!

Hearing it in the wild today, I'm reminded what a different world this have been if Ferry had taken the "Don't You (Forget About Me)" assignment.

Also, re: '90s Radio & Bowie: Classic Rock radio never forgot "Fame", "Rebel Rebel" and "Let's Dance".

...and "Changes" too!

A song that was never a hit in the US was Life on Mars. It’s odd how well known it is now.