Photo: By AVRO (Beeld En Geluid Wiki – Gallerie: Toppop 1973) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Roxy Music released their first album in 1972 entitled Roxy Music
. A year later in 1973, the band released two albums entitled For Your Pleasure
and Stranded
. In 1974, Roxy Music released the record, Country Life
. Siren was released in 1975 and the end of the decade in 1979 saw the issue of the Manifesto album. The band released two more albums in the 1980’s, the first being Flesh and Blood in 1980 and their final album in 1982 entitled Avalon
.
Our Top 10 Roxy Music Songs list presents a wide selection of great songs from the band’s fabulous ten year recording period between 1972 and 1982.
# 10 – LadyTron
We open our top 10 Roxy Music songs list with the song “Ladytron,” The song was released in the band’s album simply entitled Roxy Music For those of you who may argue against Roxy Music being labeled as Progressive Rock. Take a listen!
# 9 – Mother Of Pearl
The Roxy Music song “Mother of Pearl,” was released on the Stranded album. The album was released in 1973. The album featured musicians, Bryan Ferry on vocals and keyboards. John Gustafson on bass guitar, Eddie Jobson on synthesizers, keyboards, and electric violin, Andy Mackay on oboe and saxophone, Phil Manzanera on guitar, and Paul Thompson on drums.
# 8 – The Thrill Of It All
The great song “The Thrill of it All,” was released on the band’s 1974 album Country Life. This was the first Roxy Music album I ever owned as a young kid. I have to admit that it was not the music that originally enticed me to buy the record when I was 13 years old and browsing through the Sam Goody Record store in the mall trying to find some interesting music. It was one of those albums I kept hidden from mom.
# 7 – The Bogus Man
Another great album cover and another great Roxy Music album featuring the killer track “The Bogus Man.” The album cover that defined the Roxy Music pop art experience were influenced by the band’s own experiences in the art field. Roxy Music was not just a band, but an entire artistic experience in so many ways.
# 6 – Do The Strand
Two in a row from the same great album, For Your Pleasure
. The dynamic For Your Pleasure album was released in 1973. It was the band’s second album release. The song “Do The Strand,” was the album’s opening cut.
# 5 – Oh Yeah!
As we enter the second half of our Top 10 Roxy Music songs list we turn to the Flesh and Blood record. The Flesh and Blood
album was released in 1980. The song “Oh Yeah,” was the second single released from the album. It was tough to choose between “Oh Yeah,” and “Over You,” which was the album’s debut single, but there was something we liked just a little bit more in the song “Oh Yeah.” This is all subjective anyway and we could change our mind tomorrow.
# 4 – Same Old Scene
The third single from the great Flesh and Blood album was actually our favorite song from the record. We are surprised that the “Same Old Scene,” was not released as the first single because it is such a great piece of music and one of our favorite Roxy Music songs of all time.
# 3 – Avalon
If you just know the hits and have never listened to the albums, than you would not recognize the progressive rock roots of the band Roxy Music. Songs like “Avalon,” were so perfectly written that they disguised the substance deep within the music, if that makes any sense.
# 2 – Love Is The Drug
The legendary Roxy Music song “Love is the Drug,” was released on the band’s fifth studio album entitled Siren. The Siren album was released in 1975.“Love is the Drug,” was the album’s opening cut and the first single released from the album. The song reached the number two position on the United Kingdom music charts in 1975. It reached the same position in Canada. In the United States it was not as successful but still made a mark on the charts reaching the number 30 position.
# 1 – More Than This
Landing in the number one position on our humble Top 10 Roxy Music songs list is the beautiful Roxy Music song “More Than This.” The song was released on the Avalon album. The Avalon record was the band’s final album. It was released in 1982. “More Than This,” was the album’s opening track.
The song was also released as the first single from that album. It was actually released as a single before the album was released. It’s the perfect Roxy Music song. It was a fitting way to end the band’s wonderful ten years of album releases and set the transition for Bryan Ferry’s solo career.
Updated July 19 2021
Top 10 Top 10 Roxy Music Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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![Rob De Luca of Spread Eagle, Sebastian Bach & UFO: 10 Albums That Changed My Life From humble East Coast origins to grandest stages worldwide, veteran bassist Rob De Luca has seen and done it all. De Luca first hit the local Boston rock and metal scene in the late 80s after meeting guitarist Paul DiBartolo, bonding over Van Halen before forming Bang. Regional success came quickly, but eventually, the members of Bang went their separate ways, with De Luca and drummer Tommi Gallo heading to NYC and hooking up with Ray West and, later, DiBartolo to form Spread Eagle. By 1990, Spread Eagle was on the fast track, with a contract through MCA Records and a self-titled debut album poised to crush skulls. But poor timing and MCA's sad indifference left Spead Eagle out in the cold despite being a hard-boiled answer to Guns N' Roses's West Coast sleaze. Spread Eagle's first chapter came to an end in '95. 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However, I was at the right place at the right time for this one. Steve Ostromogilsky had a Berklee College of Music lunch card and used to sneak out sandwiches for me. One day, he invited me to hang out at his place and listen to music. As we got off the train, he put Sony Walkman headphones on my ears and said, "Hey, check out this brand-new group." A song like "It's So Easy" was so different from the popular Sunset Strip sound at that time. Me and about 499 other informed rockers were lucky enough to see them on their first East Coast tour at the sold-out Paradise on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston (the same street Aerosmith started on). I saw Gn'R every tour after until I took a break when Buckethead joined. Gn'R is the band I've been lucky enough to see the most times live, almost 100! Everyone on this album is just stellar. Axl [Rose] had the tones, power, melodic sensibilities, and foresight to do what no other singer did then. Slash's playing was beyond memorable. 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When my mother heard the content, she turned off the album and said I had to exchange it. My mom was cool, but I was young and knew much more about life than she suspected. Anyway, the next day, she drove me back to the store. In the music section, promoted on an "endcap" was a Kiss Alive! display. I had never heard of Kiss, but that cover picture told me I had to have it! My first foray into hard rock. Check out “Strutter.” I went through my Kiss phase very quickly, I believe in a matter of months because I discovered the previous entry, Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic. 2) Honky Chateau by Elton John (1972) When I was a wee lad, my parents bought a used Volkswagen camper van from my uncle Ozzie. My favorite Elton John album is Yellow Brick Road, but Honky Chateau is great and easily one of his best. It sent me down a lifelong rabbit hole of loving everything about the 1970s partnership between Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin. 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