One of Britain's most consistently popular rock groups, Status Quo was formed in 1962 by school friends Francis Rossi (lead guitar, vocals) and Alan Lancaster (bass guitar, vocals). The classic Quo line-up, which lasted until 1985, was completed with the addition of John Coghlan (drums, percussion) and Rick Parfitt (rhythm guitar, vocals).

After brief flirtations with ProgressiveRock and PsychedelicRock yielded little success, Quo hit on the formula that's sustained them for the past forty years with the 1970 album ''Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon'', the first to feature their [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth straightforward, no frills]], [[BluesRock blues-based]] boogie rock style powered by Rossi and Parfitt's dual Telecasters.

Notably, they were the band that opened Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with their SignatureSong, "Rockin' All Over the World". When they were unavailable to play Live 8 twenty years later, Music/{{Coldplay}} paid tribute with a performance of the song when they opened that show.
* CareerResurrection: PunkRock and tensions within the band prompted the departure of Lancaster and Coghlan, and accusations that they'd grown stale years ago almost finished them off, but the advent of the NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal helped to rejuvenate their fortunes and returned them to the charts.
* FanNickname: If you just say "Quo" people will know who you mean. The classic Rossi/Parfitt/Lancaster/Coghlan line-up also got "The Frantic Four".
* IAmTheBand: Status Quo is Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Potential [[IncrediblyLamePun bad puns]] aside, they've essentially been playing the same style for more than forty years, and any deviations from it don't last very long.
* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Famous for it, so much so that one of their more recent albums was given the name ''In Search Of The Fourth Chord''.
* VocalTagTeam: Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt. Originally, Alan Lancaster sang lead a few times as well.