“More Than This” (1982) by Roxy Music is an underrated GEM of a song that should have been a #1 hit

Roxy Music never had a hit single in the US. Happened to a lot of iconic bands.

It's hard to say it's underrated. It may not have soared on the pop charts after its immediate release, but it's been a beloved cult classic for decades among anyone who has even a modicum of musical taste. It was basically a hipster staple right from the jump.

I just feel their sound was a lot more mature and sophisticated and “older” than what most were listening to at the time, outside of some adults.

Listen to “Avalon” or many of their singles. It wasn’t music for young people, which was what dominated by 1982.

It’s such a lush and melancholic song. It moves me every time I hear it.

Too bad Ferry is a rightwing shitstain.

No their best song is this

Re Roxy, ‘Avalon’ era, lovely version of ‘Tara’

I love that song, OP.

This one.

Take A Chance On Me

I'm also partial to this one:

R9, you’re referencing an ABBA song.

It’s Take a Chance with Me, that you meant to type.

I love Roxy Music. I love “2HB”.

From what I remember it got a decent amount of rotation on MTV. Normally that helped a song do well on the charts.

That cover by 10,000 Maniacs, albeit being inferior, sparked a renewed interest in the original. I also recall it being popular again when it was used in the karaoke scene in "Lost In Translation."

More Than This got a little airplay on the Boston stations and I was into it. So lush and mesmerizing. I bought the (vinyl) album in ‘82 and later the CD.

Adding to what R2 wrote... Avalon “flopped” at the outset here in the US, only reaching #53 on the album chart. But then it just kept on being popular for years and years and years. Eventually, Avalon became the band’s only album to reach Platinum status (1M copies sold) in the US.

Roxy Music sounds like New Year’s Eve party music for rich cokeheads in the 70s and 80s.

R16 I can definitely see some of the kids from Less Than Zero liking them

Love ❤️ Is The Drug

Slave

R10 makes me think of the film Times Square.

R18 I like that song.

Avalon is still among my favorite Top 10 albums. In 1982 I was a sophomore in college and had just gotten my own studio apartment and bought a stereo at a garage sale with a cassette deck. I'd hang out at a Tower Records store when I had time because I loved browsing and later on realized that I loved the music playing and the the handsome "man" (like, in his mid-20s) was always there when the music playing appealed to me. I eventually learned his work schedule. He'd let me borrow tapes that he was playing and if I liked the whole record, I'd buy them. Avalon melted my heart as a hopeless romantic. And it was sexy. Others were bands I'd never heard before -- The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby. He once asked me if I'd like to hang out together, at my place, because he lived with his parents. That wasn't unusual for this notoriously expensive city. It only occurred to me years later that he might have wanted to date.

Avalon became my go-to fuck album.

Am sad to learn here that Bryan Ferry turned out to be a "Right-wing shitstain".

OP, are you my favorite brother Mikey? That is where this song takes me - somebody busy with his own interests who is kind to weird kids like me.

As a child of the 90s, Roxy Music were a little before my time and, somehow, I never knew of them when I was younger. I just stay that because, when I was a kid, there was a ton of cross over of 80s music and music videos still getting a ton of airplay. I only 'discovered' them as an adult. And, I agree, OP, More Than This is gorgeous.

I also love that dark song of theirs that was featured prominently in Mindhunter on Netflix. It's kind of spellbinding. I feel like the fabulous Nick Cave almost directly inherited this sound...

Roxy Music was a child of the’90s, r24?

I had the album.

75- 85 was their post-Eno Bryan Ferry peak

The best Roxy Music is mark I with Eno.

The second album For Your Pleasure is fantastic from beginning to end.

Was let's stick together a hit?

R16 you say that like it’s a bad thing.

avalon is THE makeout album of the 80’s.

Siren, Country Life, and For Your Pleasure are all way better than Avalon. Which says a lot about Roxy Music - because Avalon is fantastic.

I think it's their worst actually.

Siren is pretty awful, I'd only put Flesh + Blood below it.

This is their best IMO.

This one is underrated. Both Ends Burning.

Sensation has to be Ferry's most underrated solo track. Dave Gimour plays guitar.

R16 That was some fun.

Agreed, OP. One of my favorite songs of all time.

There was also a terrible Norah Jones cover.

I can remember as a teenager in 1994 staying up all night to watch a Ferry/Roxy Music special. More Than This was one of the last to be played, but it was the one I most wanted to see the video for. It's a gorgeous song. Pity about all the visual references to Christianity.

So many great tracks have already been listed in this thread (love them all), but Over You, Angel Eyes, Oh Yeah, Street Life and Don't Stop The Dance are worth a listen.

The first three tracks on the Sensation album are the title track, Slave to Love and Don't Stop The Dance. Very impressive.

He sang some great lyrics. Dance Away: Loneliness is a crowded room. Tokyo Joe: When you've been around, what's left to do?

It's disappointing to learn that he's a right-wing shitstain. What are the details?

I never knew the band was English.

One of the first concerts I'd ever been to was The Talking Heads, Roxy Music, and King Crimson in the late 70s. It was amazing (and so were the drugs) but their music became more "accessible" or mainstream in the 80s, for the better, I think.

the flesh and blood songs all sounded way better live