At the age of 15, going on 16, one of the things that attracted me to Roxy Music were the LP covers as they featured stunning looking ladies in various states of undress. You have to remember folks that semi-nude women were a real rarity in those days outwith pornographic mags or X-rated movies, and having a bit of a baby face and being a bit of a short-arse, I could neither buy such mags nor get into such movies.
The music however proved to be pften be rather good, but then again by this stage in my life they were a band who had come and gone, leaving behind a lead singer with a solo career that had sometimes caught my attention but at other times left me stone cold, although there was no denying he had a distinctive and alluring vocal delivery.
The thing is, in the late 70s I just didn’t ‘do’ old bands……but then it turned out that after after a four-year hiatus Roxy Music announced they were going to reform. I found myself attracted to their slightly strange-sounding and incredibly short comeback single which I heard getting played on Radio 1 a few times. I bought it on its release, and was disgusted to find just a few weeks later that it was in countless bargain bins as it had been a flop, peaking at just #40 in the charts. Records were relatively expensive in those days and given I was reliant completely on the proceeds of a paper round to pay for them, it didn’t do to find you could have bought something for less than half the price if you had shown some patience.
mp3 : Roxy Music – Trash
mp3 : Roxy Music – Trash 2
It’s a single that has been largely forgotten about as the two follow-ups, Dance Away and Angel Eyes were given the disco treatment, including extended mixes, which helped make them Top 5 hits and at the same time change the way that Roxy Music went about their business, with every release thereafter aimed very much at the pop rather than art end of the market, culminating with a rather appalling #1 in 1981, the cover of Jealous Guy, released in tribute to the recently murdered John Lennon.
In other words, for me, Trash was their last great and essential bit of plastic in the 45 form.
All of which is a precursor to say that I recently picked up some original Bryan Ferry solo LPs from the 70s and may well burn some tracks and feature them here in the coming weeks and months. Or is he too much of a twat nowadays to give time to?**
Enjoy.
** I know…..the irony of me asking that question when this blog has and will no doubt continue to rely on the work of Morrissey for postings……
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I think what you actually meant to say in that first para after “short-arse” was…
“and being a fine, upstanding, responsible chap in a great relationship with a beautiful class-mate (well, almost – I did fancy someone, but she was out of my league), then I had no interest in these sordid and tawdry exploitative means of masturbation.”
As an aside, funnily enough, I recall Disco Roxy Music always being a winner for a slow dance in those days. More appealing to the opposite sex at my school than Orgasm Addict or Holiday in Cambodia, I regret to say. Needs must.
Yes he’s a twat now, but (rather annoyingly) he did make some good music back in the day that is still worth listening to.
I love the fact that over thirty years later you still remember seeing this record in the bargain bin after you bought it full price – bit scary how much you remind me of me! My memory is shite, but that’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t forget either!
Pretty spot on JC. Roxy Music certainly knew the direction of the musical winds and it helped sustain them for quite a while. They would rebound towards the end of their career. The only thing is that by the end they were being equaled or surpassed by those bands they influenced.
I agree with JC’s post and all the comments about Roxy’s decline but, to his credit, Ferry KILLED IT at Coachella in 2014. It’s probably on the web somewhere.
Rather good track, had never heard it before. Absolutely love Same Old Scene by Roxy, since first hearing it in a movie soundtrack which might have been Christiane F? Could be ring about that though.
Alex – Naw. The “Christiane F.” OST was all Bowie. Honest mistake. “Same Old Scene” was on the “Times Square” OST. Now “Same Old Scene…” There’s a late int he game Roxy classic [at least to me]. “Trash” is a jaunty little New Wave excursion that has its charms; just ask Duran Duran who pillaged it brilliantly, albeit wholesale for their flop single “The Violence Of Summer.” The audacity of their theft was the only thing that saved that single for me.
Time Square! Yes, thanks for reminding me. Agree too that Duran Durans intentions ie influences are best thing about them.