"Pictures of Matchstick Men" is the first hit single by British rock band The Status Quo.

"Pictures of Matchstick Men" is one of a number of songs from the late 1960s which feature the flanging audio effect.

The band's next single release, "Black Veils of Melancholy", was similar but flopped, which caused a change of musical direction.

[10] Rossi (living in a prefab in Camberwell at the time)[11] later said of the song: I wrote it on the bog.

[12] In 1989, Camper Van Beethoven scored a number 1 hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States with their version from the album Key Lime Pie.