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Abstract
The 1960s was a time of considerable musical change that largely established the shape of the Australian popular music industry until the beginning of the digital era. This article explores seismic shifts in Melbourne's music scene that resulted equally from changes in the local industry and musical developments occurring overseas, and the extent to which careers could be built beyond the brief cycle of commercial success, with extensive interviews documenting the varying fortunes of Melbourne and Melbourne-based musicians of the period. Performers' ability to cross over between commercial genres and fringe styles including country, jazz and folk, and the shifting commercial fortunes of these movements towards the end of the decade, are also discussed.
Notes
2 Straw, ‘Systems of Articulation’, 373.
1 Andy Bennett and Richard A. Peterson (eds), Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004); Sara Cohen, Rock Culture in Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1991); John Connell and Chris Gibson, Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place (London: Routledge, 2002); Barry Shank, Dissonant Identities: The Rock ‘n’ roll Scene in Austin, Texas (London: Wesleyan University Press, 1994); and Will Straw, ‘Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music’, Cultural Studies 5/3 (1991), 368–88.
3 Bennett and Peterson, Music Scenes, 8.
4 Tony Mitchell, Popular Music and Local Identity: Rock, Pop and Rap In Europe and Oceania (London: Leicester University Press, 1996), 11
5 All chart references (unless otherwise noted) come from a detailed compilation of Melbourne radio charts: Thomas J. Guest, Thirty Years of Hits 1960–1990 (Craigieburn, Vic.: M.J. Maloney, 1991). There was no national sales chart of single record sales until Go-Set started compiling its own from 1966. There was no official national sales chart of albums until 1974.
6 Philip H. Ennis, The Seventh Stream: The Emergence of Rocknroll in American Popular Music (Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press 1992), 277.
7 ‘The Story of Maton Guitars’ (accessed 9 November 2009), http://www.historyofcountrymusic.com.au/matonstory.html
8 Ennis, The Seventh Stream, 277–9.
9 Geoff King, ‘Radio—After Television’, in Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, ed John Whiteoak and Aline Scott-Maxwell (Sydney: Currency House 2003), 559.
12 Peter Doyle, Amaze Your Friends (Milson's Point Sydney: Random House, 1998), 239.
10 In the USA, baby boomers aged forty-five and older currently make up 33.7 per cent of music buyers. See RIAA.com (accessed 3 June 2009), http://76.74.24.142/8EF388DA-8FD3-7A4E-C208-CDF1ADE8B179.pdf
11 Charlie Gillett, The Sound of the City (London: Sphere, 1971). Gillett argues that Rock ‘n’ roll became rock and roll in 1958, when the first wave of the original period (from 1954) was watered down. He uses ‘rock’ to distinguish the post-beat boom period of 1964 onwards. This article will use the more commonly accepted rock’ n'roll to denote the 1954 period onwards and rock for the post-beat boom unless an author quoted says otherwise.
13 Billy Thorpe, Sex and Thugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll (Sydney: Macmillan, 1996), 101.
14 Ibid., 186.
15 The following material is drawn from the author's interview with Johnny Chester, 10 November 2008, unless otherwise noted.
16 Eric Watson, Country Music in Australia. Volume 2 (Sydney: Cornstalk Publishing, 1983), 109–10.
17 Harold Frith, interview with the author, 21 July 2008.
18 W&G's discography can be found online (accessed 20 July 2008), http://www.globaldogproductions.info/w/w-and-g-main-index-oz.html
19 Stan Rofe, interview with Greg Pickhaver, 1979.
20 Video footage of the performance version of Fever is available on the second disc of the two-CD set, Johnny Chester Rocker: The Rock and Roll Years 1961–1966 (ScreenSound Australia CD, 2002), Title No: 554808.
21 Bill Pinell, interview with the author, 2 September 1986.
22 For background on Ivan Dayman and his importance in the Melbourne scene, see (accessed July 2010) http://www.milesago.com/industry/dayman.htm
23 Garry Spry, interview with the author, 24 August 2009. Go-Set was particularly important as it originated from Melbourne but had offices and correspondents in other states. It established the first national pop chart.
24 Gary Young, interview with the author, 12 August 2008.
25 Bobby Bright, interview with the author, 29 July 2008.
26 Bernie O'Brien, interview with the author, 12 December 2008.
27 Bright interview.
28 Ron Tudor, interview with the author, 6 December 2008. See also Bobby and Laurie, I Belong With You (Canetoad Compact Disc CTCD–009, n.d.).
30 Keith Glass, Interview with the author, 26 September 2008.
29 Iain Chambers, Urban Rhythms: Pop Music and Popular Culture (London: Macmillan, 1985), 44–5.
32 Others, such as drummer Alan Browne, recall that it was Iggulden's father who had the collection. See Guy Blackman, ‘Different Strokes’, The Age (Melbourne) (14 May 2006) (accessed 14 December 2009), http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/different-strokes/2006/05/11/1146940673962.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
33 Kim Lynch, interview with the author, 16 July 2008.
31 Brighton High School alumni also included the younger Keith Glass and Ross Hannaford, later in Daddy Cool.
34 Ibid.
35 A concise history of the early years of The Red Onions and their musical development can be found in Timothy Stevens, ‘The Red Onion Jazz band at the 1963 Jazz Convention’, Musicology Australia 24 (2001), 35–61.
36 Tudor interview.
39 Lynch interview.
37 Keith Potger, interview with the author 5 July 2009.
38 Richie Unterberger, Turn!Turn!Turn! The ‘60s Folk-rock Revolution (San Francisco: Backbeat, 2002), 77.
40 Tudor interview.
41 See, for example, Ian MacFarlane, The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1999), 375.
42 The Loved Ones, Magic Box (W&G, WG 5127, 1967); Raven Records (RVCD-02, 1973); and Karussell (Compact Disc 551 130-2, 1995).
44 Kerryn Tolhurst, email correspondence with the author, 20 November 2009. Tolhurst, Smith and Stockley achieved national recognition with The Dingoes in the 1970s, as did Wilson with Daddy Cool. Pepperell started Archie and Jugheads import record store with Keith Glass.
43 Jon Stratton, ‘Whiter Rock, the “Australian Sound” and the Beat Boom’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 17/3 (September 2003), 333–41.
45 Chris Stockley, interview with the author, 6 August, 2008.
46 David Hatch and Stephen Millward, From Blues To Rock: An Analytical History of Pop Music (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987), 4.
47 Stratton, ‘Whiter Rock, 332 et passim.
48 Glass interview.
49 For a description of these styles, see Allmusic (accessed 20 March, 2010), http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:27
50 The Band, Music from Big Pink (Capitol SKAO-2955, 1968); and The Band (Capitol STAO-132, 1969).
51 See Eric Clapton with Christopher Simon Sykes, Eric Clapton The Autobiography (London: Century, 2007), 100; and Patrick Humphries, Richard Thompson The Biography (New York: Schirmer Books, 1996), 78.
52 Stockley interview.
53 Released on Axiom, The Axiom Archive (Raven Compact Disc RVCD 137, 2004).
54 Marcus Breen, ‘Criticism and Journalism: Popular Music Since 1955’, in Currency Companion, ed. Whiteoak and Scott-Maxwell, 205–6.
57 Spry interview.
55 Six-o'clock closing had been abandoned for 10-pm closing in New South Wales in 1955. Michael Sturma, Australian Rock ‘n’ roll: The First Wave (Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 1991), 18.
56 Ian B. Allen, interview with the author, 20 August 2008.