WHERE WILL WE BE IN 50 YEARS?

By Jeff Jenkins
So when did Australian rock ‘n’ roll start? Perhaps it was 50 years ago this week when Johnny O’Keefe released his debut single, (You Hit The Wrong Note) Billy Goat. To mark 50 years of Australian rock (and its 50^th issue), Australian Musician magazine has just released a special issue covering the “50 Most Significant Moments In Australian Pop/Rock”.Jeff Jenkins was part of the selection panel, which placed the meeting of Harry Vanda and George Young at Sydney’s Villawood migrant hostel in 1964 as our most significant moment.

To celebrate the 50 years, here are my  50 most significant moments:

1. Start of Countdown (1974). The start of the modern industry. It created stars and made young kids all over Australia want to be stars.
2. Release of Skyhooks’ Living In The 70s (1974). Suddenly a pursuit that had been a glorified hobby became big business with a multi platinum monster.
3. The Beatles tour (1964). It put music on the front pages and kids all across the land were inspired to start a band.
4. Johnny O’Keefe releases Wild One (1958). Our first rock anthem.
5. Sunbury (1972). Our Woodstock.
6. The end of Countdown (1987).The end of an era.                                                              7. The start of Mushroom Records (1972). Record labels come and go, but this label survived, promoting Australian talent, from Skyhooks to Kylie.
8. JJJ goes national (1990s). Suddenly kids in the country got to hear alternative music.
9. Men At Work hit number one in the US (1982). They had two number one singles plus a debut album that spent 15 weeks at number one in the US.
10. The start of Go-Set (1966). The paper that introduced Molly, and was the forerunner of Juke, RAM and today’s street press.
11. The Easybeats release Friday On My Mind (1966).Our first international rock anthem, loved by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Gene Simmons and David Bowie.
12. 2UE starts Top 40 radio (1958). Melbourne’s Stan Rofe was “The Man”, but Top 40 radio started in Sydney in March 1958.
13. The first national chart (1966).Ed Nimmervoll, the doyen of Australian music journalists, pioneered the first national chart in Go-Set in October 1966.

14. Col Joye discovers the Bee Gees (1961). Col took them to Sydney, got them on Bandstand, and convinced Festival Records to sign them. And then they conquered the world.
15. The death of Bon Scott (1980). On the verge of AC/DC’s greatest success, we lost a rock god.
16. Normie Rowe goes to Vietnam (1969). Pop meets politics. Our first pop king is conscripted.
17. The Big Day Out (1992). The Sunbury for Generations X and Y.
18. The Seekers go to number one in the UK (1965). The first Australian-based act to go to number one in the UK.
19. The Innocent Criminals/Silverchair win SBS’ nomad competition (1994). Teen sensations who inspired teens everywhere to start a band.
20. The start of Australian Idol (2003). Love it or loathe it, it has created stars.
21. Johnny Farnham releases Sadie (1967).

The novelty song that launched a phenomenon.
22. John Farnham releases Whispering Jack (1986). The greatest Australian comeback ever.
23. Kylie releases Locomotion (1987). The birth of an international icon.
24. The first ARIA Awards (1987). Serious, legitimate awards recognising purely local talent.
25. The Saints release (I’m) Stranded (1976). In the same month that Sherbet’s Howzat entered the UK charts, and the Bee Gees’ You Should Be Dancing went to number one in the US, this Brisbane band pioneered punk.
26. Helen Reddy releases I Am Woman (1972). The world’s feminist anthem was written by a woman who became the first Australian to win a Grammy (where she thanked God, “because She makes everything possible”).
27. Skyhooks versus Sherbet (1975). Our version of the Stones versus The Beatles.
28. The death of Michael Hutchence (1997). He was our first international rock god.
29. Daddy Cool release Eagle Rock (1971). “Now listen!” A timeless song.
30. The start of Popstars (2000). The forerunner to Idol.

31. INXS release Kick (1987). The album that featured four US Top 10 singles.

32. Cold Chisel trash the Countdown set (1981) It ranks alongside Iggy Pop’s appearance and Molly’s Prince Charles interview as Countdown’s greatest live moment.

33. Russell Morris releases The Real Thing (1969). Molly’s landmark production still sounds great.

34. Olivia Newton-John stars in Grease (1978). In 1978, every young girl wanted to be Olivia Newton-John.

35. Savage Garden go to number one in America (1998). Only two Australian-based acts (Men At Work and Savage Garden) have had two number one singles in the US.

36. Joe Dolce releases Shaddap You Face (1980). The biggest-sellinng Australian single of all time.

37. Yothu Yindi hit the Top 10 with Treaty (1991). Like Michael Long in the AFL, Yothu Yindi’s success meant more than just chart statistics.

38. Lillian Roxon releases her rock encyclopedia (1969). The world’s first rock encyclopedia was written by an Australian woman.

39. Sister Janet Mead releases The Lord’s Prayer (1974). Our first million-seller in the US.

40. The “changing of the guard” at the 1994 ARIA Awards, with The Cruel Sea and You Am I. “Alternative” music had arrived.

41. Midnight Oil’s “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony (2000). Has there been a more powerful statement made on a big stage?

42. Australian Made tour (1987). It wasn’t a huge success, but it showed that an all-Australian festival could work.

43. Powderfinger’s radio breakthrough with Pick You Up (1996). The ’finger’s first album bombed. They desperately needed a hit and they got it.

44. Johnny O’Keefe’s first US tour (1959). It didn’t work, but J O’K was a trailblazer who believed that Australian rock was good enough to conquer the world.

45. The start of Bandstand (1958). Sure, it was a little “square”, but it helped break acts such as Col Joye and the Bee Gees.

46. Delta Goodrem releases the Innocent Eyes album (2003). The first album by a local woman to sell one million copies in Australia.

47. Cold Chisel release Khe Sanh (1978). Never a Top 40 hit, but an unofficial national anthem.

48. Missy Higgins debuts at number one with Scar (2004). A star is born.

49. Peter Garrett runs for Parliament (1984). The Oils showed that pop and politics could mix. And 20 years before he entered parliament, Peter Garrett was almost elected to the Senate, representing the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

50. Hey Hey It’s Saturday moves to Saturday nights (1984). It was a comedy show, but it also sold lots of records.