18 October 1986
The early reference to Uncle Sam clarifies that this isn’t the British Army or ‘You’re In The Black And Tans Now’. You’d have liked to see the Quo style out that one on their Irish tour.
I remember ‘In The Army Now’ being a massive radio hit at the time. It stalled at number two in the UK behind Nick Berry’s ‘Every Loser Wins’ but, interestingly, got to number one in Germany. Rather than any sudden interest in Status Quo or double denim, I put its success down to the mid-’80s pop-cultural fascination with US military action in Vietnam and its aftermath. Like Paul Hardcastle’s ’19’, this isn’t an anti-war track; there’s the same relish of combat action and of a doomed glamour in facing death: the same old lie.
‘In The Army Now’ counts as an ever-so-slight change in sound for the Quo. Instead of their standard-issue feelgood blues-rock chugger, this is a dour, heavy slog through muddy riffing, stodgy bass and a song that is essentially the same verse repeated over and over. The band do their best to look dutifully sombre in the video (below). Our plunge into the nightmarish hell of war is represented by a key change.
Status Quo re-recorded this song in 2010 as a benefit for UK charities helping British service personnel wounded in duty, removing that Uncle Sam reference and changing the line “Nobody knows that you’re gone for good” to “Counting the days till you’re back for good”. Words fail me.
