Check Out This New Band: Roxy Music

I think Americans don’t really realize how influential and edgy Roxy Music were before they made it onto our American radios. I didn’t.

This’ll educate ya:

[Note: There was originally a link to the full film, More Than This: The Story of Roxy Music, but it’s been taken down. Watch it legally.]

Second only to the Beatles in their influence – according to some. The only pre-1977 English band that the early punks didn’t want to lynch.

As a musician, Roxy Music has had an influence on me through their alumni association, including Eddie Jobson, Phil Manzanera, and Brian Eno.

When I was most affected by that second-hand smoke was when I was just starting to compose music. So, by extension, my high school band The Nutrients, is/was influenced by Roxy Music.

And when I looked back at Roxy Music via the artists whose careers were spawned by the band, I saw Bryan Ferry‘s smarmy persona, which always rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t think I understood that, at the time, that smarm was very much against the grain of rock music.

The only pre-1977 American band the early punks didn’t want to lynch was The Velvet Underground. And artist Richard Hamilton sort of was to Roxy Music what Andy Warhol was to The Velvet Underground.

The documentary didn’t make that connection; I made it all by myself. Put that on the fridge, Mom.

And what I didn’t know was that Roxy Music influenced a host of artists who I like, don’t much like, or like but won’t admit that I like: Bono (U2), John Taylor (Duran Duran), Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxie and the Banshees), Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols), Martyn Ware (Human League), and Nile Rogers (Chic), to name a few.

I’m not sure what inspired me to fill in omission of my cultural literacy. I think it was a podcast…

Yes, now that I think of it, it was a podcast that used “Love is the Drug” as interstitial music. Next thing I did was download The Best of Roxy Music, to use for Cliff Notes to and, well, I was off.