{"id":627379,"date":"2026-10-11T13:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627379\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:58:11","slug":"how-roxy-music-made-a-glam-rock-classic-inspired-by-the-beatles-and-humphrey-bogart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627379\/","title":{"rendered":"How Roxy Music made a glam rock classic inspired by The Beatles, and Humphrey Bogart"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took weeks to record, with an odd choice of producer and no record label involved. But it kick-started an iconic career. The album was 1972\u2019s self-titled debut by Roxy Music<\/a>, and it contained all the elements that would make them legendary. And for guitarist Phil Manzanera<\/a> it was a hectic time. \u201cI was only officially confirmed in the band on February 14, 1972, and a month later we were in the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manzanera had auditioned the previous October, but lost out to former Nice man David O\u2019List. But when the band played in front of EG Management in early February \u201972, there was a fight between O\u2019List and drummer Paul Thompson. As a result, EG took on the band but insisted on O\u2019List going.<\/p>\n

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So in came Manzanera, joining Thompson, frontman Bryan Ferry, bassist Graham Simpson, synth player Brian Eno and saxophonist Andy Mackay. And, funded by EG, Roxy went to Command Studios in central London on March 14, working with producer Pete Sinfield, best known as the lyricist for King Crimson<\/a>. \u201cEG managed him, so they kept it in the family. I don\u2019t why he was chosen, but the good thing is that Pete let us get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Roxy recorded live in the studio, with few overdubs. But the band had rehearsed so much that they were ready to do it this way. \u201cWe were a band of inspired amateurs back then, who worked very hard and had lots of enthusiasm. And the album has a charm all of its own as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Roxy\n<\/p>\n

Roxy Music in 1972: (from left) Paul Thompson, Brian Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno (Image credit: Gijsbert Hanekroot\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

The songs were written by Ferry, bearing a number of cinematic references, something that delighted Manzanera. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the things the two of us bonded over \u2013 we loved films. And to hear something like 2HB, with its tribute to Humphrey Bogart, or Chance Meeting [inspired by the classic movie Brief Encounter] was just incredible. Bryan had so many ideas, and I always thought the rest of us provided the music for his words.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The opening song, Re-Make\/Re-Model, actually sums up the band\u2019s eclecticism, with nods to The Beatles<\/a>, Duane Eddy and\u2026 Wagner. \u201cWe all got the chance at the end to do our own thing. It\u2019s a mad journey with lots of energy and it\u2019s so exciting. It immediately says who we were \u2013 a band who would try anything.”<\/p>\n

While Roxy had a big hit with Virginia Plain<\/a> later in 1972, reaching No.4 in the chart, this was recorded four months after the album and not included in the track listing. \u201cIn those days, we liked to keep singles separate and not feature them on albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Apart from the music, what immediately stands out is the cover, featuring model Kari-Ann Muller. It set Roxy apart from almost everyone. \u201cThis cover was so striking that we\u2019re going to be using it to promote our January UK tour \u2013 it still looks so good even now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album was eventually released through Island, thanks to a licensing deal done by EG. \u201cWe got \u00a35,000 from the label for a five-year lease. In those days, that was very innovative. I know EG had to fight to persuade some people at Island to put this out. But it did well for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roxy Music reached No.10 in the UK charts, selling over 100,000 copies. As Manzanera concludes: \u201cThis was just the beginning. The rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in Classic Rock issue 150 (March 2010)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took weeks to record, with an odd choice of producer and no record label involved. But it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-627379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}