YMMV / Supertramp

• Epic Riff:
  • Usually on an electric piano. "Dreamer", "Bloody Well Right", "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", and "Cannonball".
  • "Cannonball" in particular, where it features a house piano riff. In 1985.
  • "Give A Little Bit" has one on acoustic 12-string guitar.
  • The end section of "Fool’s Overture" has a riff that continues for most of that section, and picks things up musically. As it was used for Canadian news show "W5" it is familiar to many Canadians.
• Funny Moments: Roger Hodgson unleashed a Mind Screw on a whole orchestra by inviting them to record a part for "Fool's Overture". When the conductor tapped the baton to silence the orchestra, Roger got all that he needed (just the soundscape of them preparing to tune) and sent them on their way.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Not so successful in their native UK as in North America, especially in Canada.
• Growing the Beard: Crime of the Century, which was Supertramp's first critical and commercial success after their first two albums didn't do very well.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • One of Roger Hodgson's bandmates in his pre-Supertramp band Argosy was a piano player named Reginald Dwight, who later changed his name to Elton John. Perhaps you've heard of him.
  • Early guitarist Richard Palmer-James would later write lyrics for King Crimson.
• Sampled Up:
  • Gym Class Heroes sampled "Breakfast in America" in "Cupid's Chokehold". The quality of the sampling (actually a newly recorded cover of the first few lines by Patrick Stump) is... debatable.
  • Same goes for Scooter's sampling of "The Logical Song".
  • Childish Gambino's 2011 deep cut "Untouchable" runs on a sample of the intro to "Child of Vision".
  • Within the band's own output, "Dreamer" is sampled in "Fool's Overture".
• Sequel Displacement: They broke out with their third album, Crime of the Century (the first two were so unsuccessful that Davies and Hodgson fired everyone else and hired new members).
• Signature Song: "Give a Little Bit", whose Pop Culture Osmosis has been so widespread, that it's been used extensively for advertisements. Runners-up include "The Logical Song", "Dreamer", "Breakfast in America", "Bloody Well Right", "Take the Long Way Home" or "Goodbye Stranger". And also "School", which, despite not being one of their biggest hits on the charts, is by far their most popular album track and widely considered as a classic and one of their best songs.
• Tear Jerker: "The Logical Song". Growing Up Sucks, indeed.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Roger Hodgson hardly sounds it when singing, but he is most definitely a guy, folks.

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