Status Quo.

Well, you may have read the yodel blog, now comes one other musical love of my life: The Mighty Quo.

I probably heard their psychedelic stuff as a bit of background music but it really took off with my regular visits to an older relative. There, I would spin the odd LP and try to see what all the fuss was about.

I had probably just started secondary school and the peer pressure was already forcing others to follow Sabbath, Zep and Purple. They were OK, I suppose, but even back then I was on the lookout for a nice tune, a foot tapper as it were. If my memory serves me correctly, foottapper became headbanger; I was being drawn to either Nazareth or Quo, Razamanaz or Piledriver. Well, if you have heard either album you will know what a tight contest it was. Quo won though.

I have never looked back, although there has been the odd occasion when I have listened to a Quo album and thought (in family-friendly terms) Hmm?! I mean, trumpets and backing singers?

Now, like loads of Quo fans, I have had to put up with the "3 chord" jibe since then but, hey, what the heck? It might have bugged me when I was a teen, now I just shake my head. Quo have been on the go for yonks, and, to my ears, nothing quite hits the spot like a good old 3 chord 12 bar. It was around long before Quo and it will be around after they have long gone.

Quo have gone through some changes since the early days but the chugga chugga chugga, heads down no-nonsense mindless boogie is still there.

The Quo site to visit is the official one at www.statusquo.co.uk. but better would be to get your readies out and get along pronto to see them - I guarantee you will not be disappointed. From the classic Caroline, which could open anything, to the best version of Bye Bye Johnny you will ever hear, they are the bee's knees, the dog's bollocks, the whole kit'n'caboodle.

In essence - they cannot be beaten.

As always, feel free to throw your hat in the ring with your comments.