In 1979 AD, the geeks inherited the Earth. It was the year in which The Clash released London Calling, widely acclaimed as one of the most influential rock albums of all time. But it was another English rock group – one that was the very antithesis of The Clash’s last-gang-in-town cool – that dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Supertramp were one of the geekiest band of that time – or any other. Four
of the five band members had beards; their co-leader Roger Hodgson sang at chipmunk frequency; their scholarly soft rock was lovingly crafted in complete denial of the punk explosion of two years earlier. But in commercial terms, Supertramp murdered The Clash, their 1979 album Breakfast In America selling four million copies in the USA to London Calling’s two million.
Breakfast In America was the pinnacle of Supertramp’s career. But it was no overnight success.
Supertramp formed in London in 1969 after Hodgson answered an ad in Melody Maker by vocalist/keyboard player Rick Davies (it promised: ‘Genuine opportunity!’). They took their name from WH Davies’ vagabond journal The Autobiography Of A Super-Tramp, they were bankrolled by Dutch millionaire Stanley Miesegaes, and they were one of the first acts signed to the A&M label. But when their first two albums tanked, Miesegaes pulled the plug and Supertramp were reduced to just Hodgson and Davies.
Nevertheless, the pair vowed to carry on, and with a new line-up (including bassist Dougie Thomson, saxophonist John Helliwell and American drummer Bob Siebenberg, aka Bob C Benberg) they recorded a third album, Crime Of The Century. It reached No.4 in the UK in 1974 and established Supertramp as one of Britain’s leading progressive rock groups.
In the late 70s the band relocated to the US. The move paid off handsomely when the FM radio-friendly Breakfast In America topped the chart there for six weeks. But in the wake of that success the relationship between Hodgson and Davies broke down, and after one more album, prophetically titled Famous Last Words, Hodgson quit.
Since then, Davies has recorded four studio albums with various line-ups of Supertramp, and Hodgson has worked as a solo artist, but neither men has matched what they once achieved together.
...and one to avoid
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