An ‘Orwellian vision’: Oz Rock scenes and regulation

Abstract

The present paper examines the emergence of a form of Australian rock and roll known as ‘Oz Rock’ from the mid-1970s. Heavily influenced by overseas rock performers, the term described a group of (mostly male) performers and bands regarded as identifiably ‘Australian’ in their performance attitudes and techniques. Beyond its use as a national marker within international rock practices, the present paper analyses the role of the local rock pub and club, in particular the Sydney rock music venue, as the basis for a series of city-based Oz Rock scenes that provided a remarkably stable community of performers and fans. The paper explains the consequences for the 1970s and 1980s local music venue as they were increasingly incorporated within wider state government regulation of night-time practices and scenes.

Notes

1. ‘Bodgies’ ‘dressed in “zoot suits”, long suit coats and trousers extremely pegged at the cuff … they wore their hair long, full and well greased’ (Irving, Maunders and Sherington 1995, 9). See Stratton (1992) for a wider examination of the nature of working-class dress, behaviour and rock and roll in Australia.

2. I have left out here discussion of 1960s rock/pop scenes owing to a lack of space and in order to concentrate more fully upon the key periods of relevance to Oz Rock. In the early 1960s, the primary sites of performance shifted to surf clubs, nightclubs, festivals and the licensed clubs (Leagues, RSL clubs), who gradually warmed to rock and roll.

3. These included publicans' refusal to serve women in the front bar, the lack of female toilets in pubs and a general consensus among male patrons and male and female (!) bar staff that the front bar was not a suitable public space for women (see Homan 2003, 84–7).

4. ‘Beer barns’ was the most common term to describe the larger hotels able to accommodate more than 1000 people for live rock performances. Many of these pubs converted their large front bar areas or constructed small auditorium spaces separate to other drinking areas. The term also included the larger registered clubs (sports clubs and returned servicemen clubs) that adapted older ballrooms and dance spaces for rock.

5. Many live recordings were made by bands at the peak of their popularity in Australian pubs and clubs, including Cold Chisel (1981 and 1983), Australian Crawl (1983), Hunters and Collectors (1985) and The Angels (1987).

6. The 1985 changes were the eventual legislative response to the fire within the Luna Park Ghost Train ride, which claimed seven lives in 1979. At the Coronial inquiry, it was found that the Park's owners had not installed the required safety features for the Ghost Train, including emergency lighting, hose reel systems and the like (The Sydney Morning Herald, 1979, 4).

7. Poker machines had been available to the registered club industry since 1956.

8. ‘PAs’ is industry shorthand for ‘public address systems’, which mix and amplify vocals, guitar amplifiers, keyboard amplifiers and a miked drum kit.