Obviously I do not think that Men at Work were the 5th greatest band in history, ahead of The Beatles, The Stones, Kinks and others. But seeing as this list is about who’s music has been most important to me, MAW needs to be up here. I have no argument for them being one of the greatest bands (because they were not), but I can argue that they were a great band. Singer/leader Colin Hay possesses my favorite set of pipes in the business. He’s got a quirky delivery and an impressive range, as he sings most of his songs with a wink and a smile. Greg Ham offered some interesting sonic textures with his prominent flute and sax parts, while guitarist Ron Strykert was quite underrated. John Rees and Jerry Speiser were a rock solid rhythm section.
Part of it is timing. If you want to go way back to the foggy beginnings of Dez’s musical development, you’d start with some soundtracks. After the children’s songs, the next thing that caught my attention as a little listener were the soundtracks to films. The soundtrack composed by John Williams for Star Wars was crucial, I wore that thing out. Now I know that he was fairly derivative of Holst and other composers, but at the time the Star Wars music was it for me. It was such visual music, I could put on those records and replay the film in my mind. I still think that was one of the greatest film scores ever.
The first rock band for me was KISS. Falling victim to their brilliant mid and late-70’s marketing campaign of KISS dolls, lunch boxes, cartoons and everything else, they got me. But in the process my parents also bought me some KISS records. God bless ‘em, buying a six year old a record with pictures like this on the cover…
I have a strong memory of sitting in my room listening to the song “Strutter.” My Dad came in to check up on me, and I asked him, “Dad, what’s a strutter?” He then attempted to demonstrate to me how to strut across the room. Now that was funny. While I did enjoy the music of KISS, at that age it was just as much about the image, toys and visuals. There are still photos circulating amongst my family of a seven year old Ace Frehley on Christmas morning. My parents had bought me a KISS make-up kit, and my sister made me up as my favorite KISS member just in time for the family gathering.
Fast forward a few years, the very first 45 record I owned was “Our House” by Madness. That is still a great song. After that was “Electric Avenue” by Eddie Grant. For perhaps my 9th or 10th birthday, my friend Benjamin gave me two records. After the soundtracks and KISS records, I count these as my first real rock/pop albums that I owned. One was Duran Duran’s debut, Duran Duran. The second was Men At Work’s Business As Usual. I really enjoyed all of my early music, but no record captured my attention like Business As Usual. I believe that was the first record (beyond the soundtrack music) that I really dove into wholeheartedly, listening to every note. I know that record backwards and forwards probably better than any other.
Business As Usual was huge at the time. Going multi-platinum, they won the Grammy for Best New Artist that year, with the record spawning two #1 hits (“Who Can It Be Now?” and, of course, the unofficial Australian anthem, “Down Under”). So, what is this vegemite sandwich? I did some research, and it appears to be a nasty looking vegetable spread that was popular down there. The line “He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich” became such a catchphrase at the time that McDonald’s started offering the McVegemite Sandwich for a brief time. Really.
ABOVE: a vegemite sandwich
ABOVE: Colin Hay doing a great acoustic version of MAW's signature tune, "Down Under"
I got to see and meet Colin Hay around 2000 when he came through Austin touring as a solo acoustic act. Hay has forged a respectable, if low key, solo career that has gained momentum over the decades. He now has a respectable following in his own right. Anyway, this show was not promoted very well, and I arrived at this little club where there were maybe ten people in the audience. I am not kidding. But Colin gave a great show anyway, chatting between tunes and telling humorous anecdotes about his Men At Work days. He also played a devastating version of “Overkill,” MAW’s finest song. It was such a great experience meeting him afterwards. I got to shake the man’s hand and tell him that his music has been a huge part of my life since I was a little kid. He just smiled broadly, with one eye fixed on me and that lazy eye of his looking off in another direction, and said “awight, at’s great!” in that thick mix of a Scottish/Australian accent of his. He then signed some CD covers for me and was off.
What To Listen To:
Men At Work shown brightly, but they were a shortlived act. They only put out three studio records. Business As Usual is essential 80’s, one of the most charming pop records of the early part of the decade, with almost every song having substantial merit. It was huge and you can hear why. Follow-up Cargo was more uneven, but had some peaks at least as high as what was on Business As Usual, with “Overkill” and “It’s a Mistake” being two of their best tunes. There were also some throwaways, though, making it not quite as great as the debut. Colin Hay and flautist/sax player/keyboardist Greg Ham reunited in the 90’s as Men At Work for some touring with some crack session players and released a surprisingly strong live record, Brazil. There are quite a few budget compilations out there, and none of them hit the mark. I guess Contraband is the best of them. I would recommend Colin Hay’s solo work as well. I really enjoy the solo acoustic outings the best, Peaks and Valleys and Going Somewhere.
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