TeachRock

With roots in Britain's Glam and Art Rock movements, Roxy Music's flamboyant mix of pop hooks and avant-garde adventurousness has exercised a significant influence on multiple generations of bands, who emulated Roxy Music's distinctive sound as well as its glamorous pop-art sensibility. The band’s influence ran particularly deep among bands associated with the New Wave movement of the late 70s and early 80s, especially “New Romantic” acts such as Spandau Ballet and Ultravox.

The band's 1972 debut, Roxy Music, and its followup, For Your Pleasure, were driven largely by the creative tension between suave singer Bryan Ferry and experimentally inclined keyboardist Brian Eno. Eno departed after For Your Pleasure, but his influence lingered on such subsequent LPs as Stranded, Country Life and Siren. 

After returning from an extended hiatus with 1978's Manifesto, Roxy Music moved in a smoothly sophisticated dance-pop direction, culminating in 1982's Avalon. The album became the band's biggest commercial success yet, launching the singles “More Than This” and the title track, but was also its last new studio effort, setting the stage for Ferry's successful solo career. Ferry reunited with guitarist Phil Manzanera, saxophonist Andy Mackay and drummer Paul Thompson for a 2001 Roxy Music tour, but subsequent plans for a reunion album with Eno were cancelled when old creative differences reasserted themselves.