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MILESTONES AND MEMORIES
This week in 1968, at the end of their Australian tour, The Who and the Small Faces were removed from their plane at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport after drinking and swearing on the flight. Prime Minister John Gorton sent the bands a telegram, telling them not to come back to Australia. The Who’s Pete Townshend vowed never to return (but the band would tour Australia 36 years later).
The first Sunbury festival – “the Rock Happening of 1972” – started this week in 1972. Madder Lake were the opening act. A three-day ticket cost $6.
Sunbury ’74 started this week. Queen got a bad response from the crowd, and Freddie Mercury vowed that they wouldn’t return to Australia until they were the biggest band in the world. Meanwhile, Skyhooks singer Steve Hill quit the band after seeing the TV coverage of their performance.
The final Sunbury started this week in 1975. Deep Purple were the headliners. AC/DC were on the bill, but they did not play following a fight with Deep Purple’s roadies.
Fifty years ago this week, Billy Thorpe’s It’s Almost Summer entered the Top 40.
This week in 1983, Men At Work had the number one single (Down Under) and album (Business As Usual) in the US and UK. They were the first act to achieve simultaneous US and UK chart-toppers since Rod Stewart in 1971.
James Reyne and Brad Robinson helped organise the EAT Concert, at Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl this week in 1985 to raise money for East African famine relief.
Australian Crawl played their final Melbourne show, at the Myer Music Bowl, this week in 1986. A live album, The Final Wave, was released in October.
Forty years ago this week, Venetians’ So Much For Love entered the Top 40.
The first Big Day Out was held in Sydney this week in 1992, headlined by Violent Femmes and Nirvana.
Thirty years ago this week, Kylie performed Where The Wild Roses Grow with Nick Cave at the Big Day Out across Australia.
Savage Garden scored their second number one single in the US this week in 2000 when I Knew I Loved You topped the charts.
Midnight Oil re-formed to play at the WaveAid concert in Sydney this week in 2005, to raise money for victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami.
Leo Sayer became an Australian citizen this week in 2009.
AC/DC won their first Grammy this week in 2010 when War Machine took the trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Happy Birthday to 5 Seconds of Summer’s Calum Hood who is 30 on January 25. Producer and LRB guitarist David Briggs is 75 on January 26. He wrote Lonesome Loser, a Top 10 hit in the US. Michael Paynter is 40 on January 28. The great Ian “Molly” Meldrum is 83 on January 29. And Ella Hooper is 43 on January 30.
And we remember Stevie Plunder from The Whitlams, who died, aged 32, 30 years ago this week. He was a founding member of The Plunderers and The Whitlams. And rock writer Andrew McMillan died of bowel cancer, aged 54, this week in 2012. He started his career at RAM, and his first book, Strict Rules, was published in 1988 after he toured with Midnight Oil and the Warumpi Band.
CHART WATCH
For the third week in a row, ARIA’s Top 40 fails to feature a single Australian song.
There are four Aussie albums in the Top 40.
Before I Forget THE KID LAROI (number 12)
Hickey ROYEL OTIS (32)
Deadbeat TAME IMPALA (33)
Love Balloon OCEAN ALLEY (34)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
No Word From China STEPHEN CUMMINGS
High Line GORDI
Melbourne HOWLING BELLS
Carry On ICECREAM HANDS
Growing Up Is Hard To Do ELLA HOOPER
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