Suzi Quatro: Leather Forever
In 1971, British music producer Mickie Most was in Detroit when he discovered singer/songwriter Suzi Quatro, who, at the time was in a band called Cradle. Most invited Quatro to come to England to make an album, and the hard-rocking, leather-wearing musician eventually became a popular star. Everywhere, it seems, except for in her home country.
Although Quatro's music was popular in the UK, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Japan, and Australia, Americans might better recognize her as Leather Tuscadero, a featured role on the sitcom "Happy Days." Even though she graced the cover of Rolling Stone in 1975, for her hard-rocking, leather-wearing ways that paved the way for future female rockers, her music wasn'tt as successful in this country.
However, American popularity doesn't necessarily equal success, as shown in "Suzi Quatro: Leather Forever," a movie of a Quatro show performed in Stuttgart, Germany in 2003. She plays to a packed house, wearing her signature leather pants. Interspersed throughout the concert, which seems to be edited for the A.D.D. set, are snippets of her from performances earlier in her career, where she's rocking leather jumpsuits and strumming away on her bass guitar.
Those not familiar with Quatro's music might find her music to be almost a little quaint these days. The set backdrop proudly proclaims, "Porsche Oldies Night," and for the most part, the songs actually do sound like oldies. Oldies that are slightly edgier, but they sound like oldies nonetheless. Quatro herself still provides a lot of showmanship, and a great ability to pump up an audience, and she can still sport leather pants like few woman can.
Even though this movie was a taping of a performance, and not an actual documentary, as I thought it would be, it was still somewhat enjoyable to someone who didn't know anything about Quatro's career. She's managed to have a successful career that's spanned many decades, and she's still creating. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie was in the last few minutes, where she's on the phone, discussing the recent passing of Mickie Most, and in that conversation, she starts composing a song in honor of him. Seeing the genesis of an idea play out was really fascinating and showed exactly how Quatro's maintained her longevity and popularity.