17. Roxy Music – Same Old Scene

Nothing lasts forever, of that I’m sure. Now you’ve made an offer, I’ll take some more.

When I made this list I knew I would have to write about songs that are embarrassing to admit I love. Same Old Scene is one of those songs.

Old-school Roxy Music had arty hits like Love is the Drug, Do The Strand, Virginia Plain. They were fashionable and cool, they wore outrageous outfits and pushed the boundaries of music. Real fans talk about Roxy Music losing it after Brian Eno left. Later on they had big MTV hits with girly soft-pop songs Avalon and More Than This. In the middle was Flesh+Blood, an album that was half arty and half girly. It made it to number one and so was not cool in any way. It was the only Roxy Music album I ever owned until I married Jean under Washington State law and obtained the rights to half of her Roxy Music’s Greatest Hits cd.

Punk came about to rid the world of crap like Roxy Music and here I was playing their record more than any other. I would put on side one and play Same Old Scene on repeat, which meant picking up the needle and moving it to the start of the track every three minutes and fifty-six seconds.

I never saw the video until recently, but Brian Ferry defines cool. He’s got a lighted cigarette and two cups of coffee sitting on his grand piano. It’s his desk.

Gary Tibbs is playing bass. His bass line works well with the song but is a bit too floral for my taste. He bops around in the video and doesn’t exude the laid-back cool of the rest of the band. After working with Roxy Music for this album he moved on to Adam and The Ants after they fired their Antmusic-era bassist. Here’s Gary in the depths-plunging video for Ant Rap. I wonder if he thought it was a good career move at the time?