Australian Rock by Memorable Music

Angus Young's schoolboy image was conceived by his sister, Margaret. It wasn't, however, originally for AC/DC. She had suggested it to two other bands before it was adopted by AC/DC.
Much of the band's publicity in the mid-seventies centred on Angus' stage antics, which included a gradual strip climaxing in a full-rear nude view.
In the song 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' AC/DC sang about calling the telephone number 362 24360. They were sued by a lady in Chicago, USA, who had that number and was plagued by calls from AC/DC fans, all over the world, who rang at all hours asking for a good time, or if lil' Angus was home.
In 1980 AC/DC released a concert feature film, called Let There Be Rock.
Following Bon Scott's death in February 1980, vocalist Brian Johnson joined the band. He had previously been lead singer with British band Geordie who had hits in England with 'Don't Do That', 'All Because Of You', 'Can You Do It', and 'Electric Lady' in the early seventies.
The title of AC/DC's 1980 album, Back In Black, was a respectful tribute to Bon Scott. The album went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide.
The Western Australian rock award, The Bonnie, is named after Bon Scott.
When drummer Phil Rudd quit AC/DC in May, 1983, there were no Australian-born members left in the band. Rudd's place was taken by Englishman Simon Wright. Malcolm and Angus were born in Scotland.
Malcolm and Angus Young's first recording venture (pre-AC/DC) was on the Marcus Hook Roll Band's album, Tales Of Grand-daddy, released in 1973. Marcus Hook Roll Band was the name of older brother George, and Harry Vanda's studio project.
Two of AC/DC's more unusual stage props have included a one ton bell which was struck at the start of 'Hell's Bells', and a massive cannon which was fired during 'For Those About To Rock'.

Billy Adams
Billy Adams caused a sensation when he made his debut on the GO// television show, in 1965, because of his very long bouffant hairstyle. After a flood of viewer complaints, station management insisted that he cut his hair before he would be allowed back on the programme.

Air Supply
In 1976 Air Supply supported Rod Stewart on his Australian tour. Stewart was so impressed with the band that he invited them to tour as his support act on a 1977 American tour.
Air Supply was voted 'Best Group' for 1981 at the American Music Awards held in Los Angeles in January, 1982.
By the end of 1982 Air Supply was the only group in the eighties, to that point, to have had seven singles in the U.S. Top Forty: 'Lost In Love', 'Every Woman In The World', 'All Out Of Love', 'The One That You Love', 'Here I Am', 'Even The Nights Are Better', and 'Sweet Dreams'.

Allen Brothers
The duo were not really brothers at all, but consisted of Peter Allen (actually Peter Woolnough) and Chris Bell.
Peter Allen went on to achieve international stardom as a soloist, whilst Chris retired from show business and is a pilot working in California.

Peter Allen
Peter Allen married Liza Minelli in 1967. The marriage lasted only three years and the couple were divorced in 1970.
Peter Allen's January 1978 hit 'Tenterfield Saddler' was about the small northern New South Wales town of Tenterfield where Peter was born on February 10th, 1942.

Angry Anderson
In 1985 lead singer of Rose Tattoo, Angry Anderson, was chosen to become a regular on the Nine Network's Midday Show With Ray Martin. As youth affairs reporter, Angry gave his views on public affairs and politics.
In 1985, Melbourne based TV Scene magazine held a competition to nominate Angry Anderson's real name. The poll was totally unsucessful, as nobody was able to come up with Anderson's real name of Gary. The nickname Angry was earned during his teenage years when he was a bikie gang member.
Prior to becoming Rose Tattoo's lead singer in late 1976, Angry was a member of Buster Brown. During his time with that band, Angry sported a full head of hair.
Angry Anderson's first solo single was the ballad 'Suddenly' (July, 1987). The song was actually a track from Rose Tattoo's album Beats From A Single Drum (December, 1986), and was later used as background music at the wedding of Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) and Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) in the Ten Network's popular TV soapie Neighbours. Following this, the single went to No. 2 on the national charts and ironically it was kept from the top spot by Kylie Minogue's cover of Locomotion.
Angry Anderson's first solo album was a straight reissue of Rose Tattoo's Beats From A Single Drum (October, 1987). The album had initially sold poorly, but interest was reactivated when Suddenly was a hit.
In 1987, Angry starred in the stage production of Rasputin in the role of Bolshevik leader and first premier of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin.

Greg Anderson

Greg's only hit No Roses For Michael (October 1970) was the theme for a television documentary about a drug addict called Michael.
Greg Anderson was actually better known in show business circles as a trick rider and whip cracker.

Angels

The Angels became famous in the late seventies as one of Australia's premier 'contemporary hard rock' acts. The band actually began as the acoustic-based Moonshine Jug And String Band, then became The Keystone Angels playing fifties style rock and roll, before changing their name to The Angels and adopting a more modern style.
Lead singer Doc Neeson's mother is a descendant of the notorious Australian bushranger Ned Kelly.
Doc Neeson has a Degree in Drama.
Despite the fact that The Angels is renowned for its vital and energetic stage show, lead guitarist Rick Brewster would never move during performances, maintaining a perpetual deadpan expression on his face.
When The Angels' records were released in the United States by CBS Records, the band was forced to change its name to Angel City to avoid confusion with an American band named Angel.
On New Year's Eve 1979, The Angels played to 60,000 people in a concert at the Sydney Opera House. The night ended in a riot, and rock music was banned from
official Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations as a result.
Although the band is specifically known for its aggressive original songs, one of The Angels' biggest latter-day hits was a cover of The Animals We Gotta Get Out Of This Place which reached No. 7 on the national charts in early 1987.

Johnny Ashcroft
Before establishing himself as a popular country and western singer, Johnny Ashcroft worked country New South Wales as a wool classer.
Johnny's biggest hit, 'Little Boy Lost' (April, 1960), was a musical account of the disappearance of Sydney schoolboy Steven Walls, who was subsequently found after a massive police search. The song was covered in England by Tommy Steele. 'Little Boy Lost' was the biggest selling Australian single for 1960.

Doug Ashdown
Doug Ashdown's 1970 L.P., The Age Of Mouse, was the first Australian double studio album.

Atlantics
The four members of the band met in the summer of 1960-61 in a bus returning from the beach to the Sydney suburb of Randwick where the boys all lived.
The Atlantics were the first Australian band to use stereo effects on stage (although none of their records were recorded in stereo). Other gimmicks they used included
playing the guitar with a violin bow and their teeth.
Before disbanding in the late sixties they worked as veteran rocker Johnny Rebb's backing group.

AUSTRALIAN CRAWL
David Reyne, the younger brother of singer James Reyne, was Australian Crawl's original drummer. In 1987 he played with The Chantoozies.
Over the summer of 1982-83, lead singer James Reyne moonlighted with goodtime rock band Party Boys.
In 1983 James Reyne starred in the Ten Network's three-part mini series Return To Eden.
Australian Crawl's second single, 'The Boys Light Up' (March, 1980), came close to being banned from radio airplay due to the explicit nature of some of the lyrics.
Federal Arbitration Court Judge Mr. Justice Robinson co-wrote several songs with Australian Crawl. He is the father of guitarist Brad Robinson.
Australian Crawl's 1982 album, Sons Of Beaches, was recorded in Hawaii with Australian-born producer Mike Chapman (Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Blondie).
Australian Crawl's first No. 1 on the national singles chart was in October 1983, with the 12" E.P. Semantics, which featured the song 'Reckless'.
The title of Australian Crawl's live album Phalanx (December, 1983) is derived from the name for the ancient Greek battle formation where long spears were presented from behind a wall of overlapping spears. Phalanx also refers to a closely ranked group of people, i.e. the audience.
Australian Crawl became the first Australian band to sponsor a surfing competition — the 1984 RipCurl/Australian Crawl Bell's Beach Surfing Festival.

Jimmy Barnes
In the film clip to promote Jimmy Barnes' first solo single 'No Second Prize' (August, 1984), he insisted on doing all his own stunts including being strapped to the side of a moving train. So horrified was his label, Mushroom Records, that they insured Jimmy for $1 million.
The title of Jimmy Barnes' debut solo album, Bodyswerve (September, 1984) is a soccer term referring to the action of appearing to run in one direction, and then swerving with the ball in the opposite direction; i.e. selling a dummy.
Jimmy Barnes' second solo album, For The Working Class Man (December, 1985), debuted on the national album charts at No. 1. The album came packaged as a double (although it was sold for the price of a single album) and as well as containing five new songs, it featured seven remixed versions of songs from his debut album.
The cover photograph for the album, and the film clip for the 'Working Class Man' single (November, 1985) were shot amongst the burning sugar cane fields around Cairns, Northern Queensland.
On Jimmy Barnes' single 'I'd Die To Be With You Tonight' (September, 1985) American singer Kim Carnes featured prominently in the chorus.
In March 1988 Jimmy Barnes became the first Australian musician to be interviewed on current affairs programme 60 Minutes (Channel Nine).
When Jimmy Barnes appeared on the Australian Made tour of December, 1986/January, 1987, only one member of his touring band (keyboards player Peter Kekel) was an Australian musician. The remainder of his band consisted of
Canadian musicians. He had dispensed with his Australian band when he began a full-scale touring schedule of the United States at the end of 1985.
By mid-1987, Jimmy Barnes' album For The Working Class Man had sold over 300,000 copies, thereby making him one of the most domestically successful rock acts alongside Skyhooks, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, INXS, and John Farnham.
Jimmy Barnes named his first-born daughter after legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

Noelene Batley
Petite Noelene Batley was born on Christmas Day in 1944, as was her twin sister, Carol.
Noelene scored her contract with Festival Records after winning a talent quest at Sydney's Ling Nam's Chinese Restaurant.

Bee Gees
Contrary to popular belief, the origin of The Bee Gees' name isn't simply the initials of the Brothers Gibb. Two people who greatly assisted the boys early in their career were disc jockey Bill Gates (then at radio station 4BH in Brisbane) and racing driver Bill Goode. Along with Barry Gibb they all shared the same initials — B.G. It was Bill Gates who actually suggested calling the trio B.G.'s, which was later elongated to The Bee Gees.
Robin and Maurice Gibb are twins.
The song 'I've Gotta Get A Message To You' was originally written for soul singer Percy Sledge; however, it worked so well in The Bee Gees' live act that they decided to record it themselves.
On January 27th, 1968 The Bee Gees made their American concert debut in California at the Anaheim Convention Center. For the two performances they received the then astronomical fee of $50,000 which was identical to the amount received by The Beatles at their first Hollywood Bowl Concert.
The Bee Gees' fourth album was originally titled An American Opera and then Masterpeace (a pun on the U.S. political scene) before they eventually decided to name it Odessa after one of its strongest tracks.
In the late sixties The Bee Gees starred in two novelty-style television specials — Frankie Howerd Meets The Bee Gees (1968) and Cucumber Castle (1969).
Following Robin Gibb's temporary departure from The Bee Gees in 1969 drummer Colin Petersen was fired by manager Robert Stigwood. In one of the most absurd law suits in rock music history Colin sued Barry and Maurice, claiming that they didn't have the right to continue to work as a group using the name The Bee Gees.The judge threw the case out of court.
The title of The Bee Gees' album Two Years On was a direct reference to the length of the split between the brothers which spanned 1969 and 1970.
During the recording of the Main Course album in 1975 The Bee Gees lived at 461 Ocean Boulevard in Miami. The house was made famous by Eric Clapton when he named one of his albums after the address.
In 1978 The Bee Gees created a record by having seven No. 1 hit singles in the U.S. charts in six months. The record they broke was previously set by The Beatles.
In the week ending March 4th, 1978 The Bee Gees and their compositions held the top five chart positions in the U.S.:
1. 'Stayin' Alive' — BEE GEES
2. 'How Deep Is Your Love' — BEE GEES
3. 'Night Fever' — BEE GEES
4. (Love Is) 'Thicker Than Water' — ANDY GIBB (composer)
5. 'Emotion' — SAMANTHA SANG (composer)

Merv Benton
Merv Benton's career began when, unbeknown to him, his friends entered him in a talent quest. When his name was called out it was too late to back out. He won.
Even prior to his first record release Merv had built up a fan club of over 250 members. His real name is Mervyn Benson.

Blackfeather
With the exception of lead singer Neale Johns, the group Blackfeather, which had a hit in 1971 with 'Seasons Of Change', was an entirely different group to the Blackfeather that reached No. 1 with 'Boppin' The Blues' a year later.
During the seventies, over 25 musicians passed through the band's ranks, with the only constant factor being singer Neale Johns (although even he missed out on one line-up). The band broke up and re-formed on six separate occasions with new line-ups, and on two occasions (1971 and 1978) there were two entirely different bands claiming legal right to the Blackfeather name.

Blue Echoes
The Blue Echoes became one of the longest surviving Australian groups, having stayed together in various line-ups for twenty years spanning early 1964 to late 1983.

Bobby & Laurie
Bobby and Laurie were one of the first Australian recording acts to adopt the new long hair image of their British counterparts.
In July, 1966 Bobby and Laurie were given their own TV pop show called It's A Gas. The programme's name was later changed to Dig We Must.

Boom Crash Opera
Boom Crash Opera's lead singer, Dale Ryder, was born in Madras, India.
Boom Crash Opera recorded its debut self-titled album (September, 1987) at Mickie Most's famed RAK Studio in London, with producer Alex Sadkin (Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Thompson Twins). It was Sadkin's last job, as he died in a car accident shortly after completion of the album.
Boom Crash Opera's debut single 'Great Wall' (May, 1986) reached No. 5 on the national singles chart. The song was not about The Great Wall of China, but was inspired by a news report of cracks in the wall of Lake Hume Reservoir, on the Murray River. The song also refers to the fragility of human relationships.

Kevin Borich Express
Kevin Borich Express, usually a trio, boasted twelve different musicians through its ranks over the six year period 1976 to 1982.
Kevin Borich, winner of innumerable 'Best Guitarist' polls, played a fine set with his band at the 1977 Rockarena concert that impressed Carlos Santana (also on the bill) sufficiently to have him call Kevin onstage to participate in his encore.
Kevin Borich Express backed Renee Geyer on her blues tribute album, Blues Licence (June, 1979).
In November, 1981, Kevin Borich Express released a 24 cm (10") mini album entitled Shy Boys/Shy Girls (one of four such mini albums released by Mushroom Records that year).

Ronnie Burns
Ronnie Burns popularity was such that in the 1967 Go-Set Pop Poll he was voted Top Male Vocalist. His popularity was also acknowledged by the ABC who filmed a special documentary The Life Of Ronnie Burns.
Ronnie married dancer Maggie Stewart in 1970. Maggie went on to become choreographer on the Ten Network's top rating Young Talent Time — Ronnie later became a regular judge on the show.
In 1971 Ronnie Burns was banned from performing the track 'Virgin' from his Virgo album on the television show Happening '71.
Ronnie's November, 1972 album We've Only Just Begun featured a cover photo of Ronnie naked except for a fur draped over him.
Both Ronnie Burns and Ted Mulry celebrate their birthday on the same day — September 8th.

Bushwackers

The Bushwackers have published more books than any other Australian group—The Bushwackers' Australian Song Book (1981), The Bushwackers' Dance Book
(1981) and Down There For Dancing (1982).

Debbie Byrne
In 1974 Debbie Byrne was voted Best Teenage Personality at the Logie Awards, as well as Queen Of Pop at the Rock Awards.
Debbie's version of 'He's A Rebel' (June, 1974) was the biggest selling Australian single of 1974.
Debbie Byrne starred in the 1985 Sydney stage production of Cats.
Debbie starred in the 1987 stage production of Les Miserables.

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