compare and contrast
same boogie-Berry chug, same pallid slightly-cissy vocals
the Quo do for, well, down-to-earthness what the Wind do for traversing the space-time continuum
one thing i dig about 70s hard rock is the proximity--the lack really of much significant distance between Groundhogs, Budgie, Free, Sweet, Mott the Hoople, Thin Lizzy Eddie & The Hot Rods, Tom Robinson Band et al
some are a little bit more bluesy, some are little bit more playerly, some go for a bit more structural convolution, others just do heads down no nonsense mindless boogie
at the time the differences would have been much more significant
it is all, in the grand scheme of things, looking back, much of a glorious muchness
the differences are mostly cosmetic, to do with lyrics or scene solidarities or some kink in presentation
this is the Carduccian view really
with punk as the decisive break, where the rhythm flattens into a unswinging bludgeon
(but then again: X Ray Spex, the Ruts - the music does swing, it's great hard rock, plus with both those bands, Poly RIP and Malcolm RIP, they'd been hippies before punk. iirc, Malcolm and other main Ruts dude were bumming around in a Welsh commune or something like during '76's Summer of Punk!)
the only thing I would add to the Carduccian view is that there is also less distance from black music at that point, which was small-band music too
especially so in America where the distance between James Gang "Funk #49" (1970) and the Meters's "Stay Away" (1972) is teensy
Find more The Meters songs at Myspace Music