Legend Credentials:

“The second most influential band to come out of Britain.”

Music critics argue that Roxy Music are the group following behind only The Beatles in the legacy they have left on current pop.

The evidence is compelling: the scale of U2 and Radiohead’s ambitions; the glamour of Spandau Ballet or ABC; the aesthetics of punks and goths; the art-school sharpness of Talking Heads or Blur; the whole of electro-pop as we now know it.

Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno were the creative forces behind a band who changed the rules of pop music. Eno would go on to be one of the most influential record producers ever, while Bryan would set the blueprint for wannabe cool frontmen. Music simply would not be the same without them.

At the peak of their seventies pomp, Roxy Music were a band apart. With the charts dominated by Led Zeppelin at extreme and the Osmonds at the other, they managed to break into the Top 10 with an astonishing mix of futurism, retro rock'n'roll, camp, funny noises, silly outfits, art techniques, film references and oboe solos. "The early 70s," John Peel said, "were kind of boring apart from Roxy Music."

So many of their singles – “Virginia Plain”, “Avalon”, “Love Is The Drug”, “More Than This” – have become classics. Although their fashionability has ebbed and flowed, Roxy Music’s influence has been strikingly consistent.

Only last year Morrissey was asked to name 10 great British albums by the Observer. He said he could only think of one - For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music.

And their frontman has remained impeccably dressed, super cool and a total star. Definitely the most important Ferry in pop music. (Even more so than the one Jerry & The Pacemakers sang about…)

The Original Track:

1973, "Do the Strand" is the first song from the band’s second album ‘For Your Pleasure’. Not released as a single in the UK, the track would become a huge live favourite over the subsequent decades and would rightfully appear on the band’s greatest hits. Like many Roxy Music classics, the track was as catchy as the common cold and with more tunes than a chemists cold remedy shelf.

Classic Clip:

An, as ever, sartorially spot-on Bryan Ferry fronts a 1973 appearance on legendary UK TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Check out the size of those lapels, and less said about Brian Eno’s jacket/ hair the better.