They specifically asked to meet him as he'd kept them from the #1 spot on the chart (not sure which song he did it with).

That was great.
I was going to make some smartarse remark about what did he do next?
Reggae? Jazz Fusion? Then I followed your link to his final tv appearance, shortly before his death, and that's the best clip of the lot!
Shame he stopped doing the dance moves though.
Thanks for that Colin.

His two memoirs from the mid 1990s are classics, especially the first one, 'Sex and Thugs and Rock'n'Roll'. It's as full of great ripping yarns as Errol Flynn's 'My Wicked Wicked Ways'. It describes his early beat-band years, playing surf hops and King's Cross clubs before the drugs arrived during the Vietnam War years and US Marines on their R&R changed the already sleazy nightlife offerings into something truly low-life.
This apparently sold well over 100,000 copies in Australia - perhaps 200,000 copies - and led to the sequel, 'Most People I Know (Think that I'm Crazy)'(both Pan Macmillan Aus). This covers the time when Billy and the Aztecs got out of their mohair suits and grew their hair and became a hard-rockin' hard-livin' deafening blues rock band, taking psychedelics and playing the legendary Sunbury music festival (think Woodstock without the mud).
There is plenty of girlie action in both books, humour and what a recent doco on the King's Cross nightlife described as "colourful racing identities".
More recently since his death his wife has produced an illustrated bio for the coffee table, 'Billy Thorpe: Keep Rockin' (Penguin Aus), which naturally doesnt have the laddishness of his own memoirs but is still good fun.
The success of his two memoirs - they really have the feeling that he wrote these yarns out in long hand - has led to a lot of Australian rock books being published. The best recent book is Paul Kelly's "How to Make Gravy" (Penguin Aus), which for me even edges out Dylan's Chronicles as a very literary and musically illuminating book.

Oz rock is Oz rock. Best played very loud in a pub somewhere in the late 70s eary 80s. Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Hunters and Collectors and a million others. There are a few good songs in there and definitely some good musicians. But nothing that traveled at all, as soon as those guys went OS they came down to earth realising there are a million southern boogie bands in the US or London pub bands in the UK doing the same thing.

Split Enz however were a different story. But they came from New Zealand.

if you want a xmas present from Down Under (and if you haven't already got it) I'll send you free of charge a second hand copy of "Most People I Know"

Just give me a mailing address, I think you just have to click on my name to send me a message.

Also I don't have a copy of this to give away but you should try and track this down. Some of the people covered will be of little interest to anyone (The Choirboys?) but has extensive coverage of Billy Thorpe, Lobby Loyde and my favourite Aussie muso Ian Rilen.

http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/Blood-Sweat-Beers-Oz-Rock-Aztecs-R...

...I knew the Chapter Of The Southern Cross wouldn't let us down!

My thread title is, of course, a bit of an exaggeration for effect - though I do think Billy had potential global star power (even if he couldn't quite find the right path/vehicle for it) and both versions of the Aztecs clearly filled a massive vacuum in Oz in their day (effectively being the proxy Beatles and proxy 'Live At Leeds' era Who for a while).

I think there's a handful of great original songs and performances from the 'Sunbury Aztecs' that stand the test of time - the Melbourne Town Hall live LP/film version of 'Somebody Left Me Crying' is a stunning performance, apparently improvised on the spot (there's a later film clip where the recreated performance just doesn't have 'it'); also, the Sunbury live LP versions of 'Mama' and 'Time To Live' are grade A hard rock, and you can see how their versions of 'CC Rider' et al would have got the party started. 'Most People I Know...', I think, was their one moment of possible pop greatness - it was released in the UK on Mickie Most's RAK label but just didn't happen for them (a promo visit to the UK at that time, as referred to above as a typical move by top Oz acts at a certain point in their home success, was a disaster: several months in London, one gig at the Speakeasy, momentum lost at home...).

I actually do have both of Billy's memoirs but haven't had the time/been in the right mood to read them (I prefer more measured biogs to swaggering semi-fictional autobiogs!) - but thanks for the offer, Cookie! I've occasionally considered ordering Blood, Sweat & Beers, so might now do so - thanks for the recommendation...

Here's that great Melbourne extemporisation I mentioned - not sure what key Billy thinks its in when his guitar solo starts, but he gets there! It's ramshackle but somehow hair-on-the-neck brilliant:

You can't beat a bit of this:

Or this

And a lovely bit of this:

...the first two are bona fide classics - haven't heard or even heard of the third, but look forward to doing so later (no audio on my workplace PC)!

...the 'Sunbury Aztecs', as they were known, reunited several times(although, curiously, it was always with Warren Morgan on keys - the guy in the Melbourne Town Hall clip on organ, who cowrote the best Aztecs originals with Billy during his stints with the band pre- and post-Sunbury 1972 but who didn't actually play with them during their 'Sunbury' phase). But the original 60s Aztecs only, I believe, reunited once: for the Arena tour in the wake of the fabulous 'long Way To The Top' ABC series on Oz rock. And they sounded great.

Here they are with one of their hits in a clip from the live DVD:

My ex's cousin lives in Australia. Several years ago, she sent me a CD by Paul Kelly and the Messengers. Some great songs. This is my favourite, written from the perspective of an abused woman.

...we've mentioned it before, so here it is: the Aussie Woodstock, in 1972 - the first year. There were subsequent Sunbury Festivals, some featuring overseas acts, but the first one was all-aussie artists. There's a terrific fiolm available, and the Aztecs career-making set was released as a double LP at the time (now in a splendid 1CD remastered/lovingly annotated package).

It's the Aztecs with their opening number, CC Rider, and what can only be described as a bank of amplifiers the like of which Aussie music had never seen/heard before.

Let's rock!

..Deep Purple headlined (The version with Hughes, Coverdale and Bolin..I think) and they brought in their own sound gear and technicians, they were loud, but as clear as a bell.
Thorpy, not to be outdone, ordered every piece of PA equipment and every spare Amp available to beat the Purps volume level (who had been on record as the loudest band in the world at that point.)
He achieved his wish, but unfortunately sounded awful, sending hordes of distressed hippies back to Melbourne with bleeding ears.
I got this straight from the mouth of Mac Cocker, Jarvis' dad who worked for 2JJ (as it was, tripleJ now) and who was there reporting the event for Rolling Stone.

...before anyone complains, that's a quote from the wikipedia entry - referring to Queen's reception at the 1974 event - on the Sunbury Festivals (1972-75), some of which I've pasted below. I'm sure none of our Southern hemisphere brethren go around shouting that kind of thing, but it does seem to sum up the Aussie 'stereotype' in one pithy sentence! :-)

Here's what Wikipedia has to say (which means, Shane, that Jarvis's dad was obviously conflating a couple of different Sunburys in his memory as Deep Purple only played at the 1975 event). It just goes to show that a lot of cultural events that become iconic are largely made so be the inviolvement of media:

"Sunbury—which has often been compared to Woodstock—has been accorded a legendary status in the history of Australian rock.[1][4] Claims persist that it marked a turning point because it featured an all-Australian line-up, but this is misleading, as there had already been several "All-Australian" festivals by the time of Sunbury '72 and some of the performers there were New Zealanders.[3] Sunbury has acquired its status due to its financial success, which enabled it to run annually for four years, and because the inaugural festival was comprehensively documented on film and multi-track audio, which gave it a privileged status in the visual media compared with other contemporary festivals.[2][3]

The film, Sunbury (1972), was produced and directed by John Dixon, with Ray Wagstaff as coordinating director, and includes footage of Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Max Merritt and the Meteors, Chain, Wild Cherries, Pirana and SCRA.[8] Artists and audience members were interviewed by Go-Set journalist, Ian "Molly" Meldrum including a naked woman, "What sort of made you sort of just get up and shed your clothes like this?"[4][9]

Another large festival, the Meadows Technicolour Fair, was staged in South Australia near Meadows township, 32 km (20 mi) from Adelaide over the same long weekend in 1972.[10] This event attracted almost 30,000 people, and featured many of the same Australian acts, as well three imported acts: singers Mary Hopkin, Tom Paxton and pop band Edison Lighthouse.[10] This festival attracted almost as many people as Sunbury, despite South Australia having less than 10% of the eastern states population.[3] The Meadows festival was not filmed nor recorded and has remained virtually unreported, it is not mentioned in any of the major print references on Australian rock music.[10]

Music entrepreneur Michael Gudinski was involved with the first Sunbury festival—as well as managing several major acts that appeared—he operated a lucrative concession selling watermelon to festival-goers. British-owned record company EMI released a double-album of live performances from the 1972 festival. Gudinski's new record company, Mushroom Records, established later in 1972, became associated with Sunbury thanks to its inaugural release, a three-disc set of live recordings from the 1973 festival. Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs also released a live album of their performance that year on the independent Havoc Records label.

In 1973, the festival included its first international act - Spirit featuring the Staehely Brothers, John (guitar) and Al (bass), with drummer Stu Perry. They played in the line-up not long after Indelible Murtceps, Spectrum's alter ego, and were well received. The Staehely Brothers had been touring Australia for several weeks.

In 1974, Queen attended, and were initially booed during their set to screams of "go back to Pommyland, ya pooftahs".[11] Lead singer, Freddie Mercury retorted, "When we come back to Australia, Queen will be the biggest band in the world!"[1] The early version of Skyhooks were also booed and, after watching a recording of their performance, lead singer Steve Hill quit and was replaced by Graham "Shirley" Strachan.[4]

The 1975 festival ran at a loss with head liners Deep Purple pocketing $60,000 while most local bands were unpaid when Odessa Promotions was liquidated soon after the event.[12]"

And here's a bit of reportage with some Purple footage from Sunbury '75:

is the title of a book about the genesis of oz rock or pub rock australian style.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blood-Sweat-and-Beers/149280575116907

I grew up in the seventies and know many of the bands and venues. Even allowing for the exaggeration of history, reading this book, the brutality of the scene back then shocked me. Hippiedowm it wasn't.

The book starts with Thorpie and the Melbourne scence then focussses more on the Angels, X, Rose Tattoo and the like as the writer found out there weasa bio on thorpe in the wings.

My tuppence on Thorpe. Great voice ,shocking guitar player(only when you put your fingers in your ears to surprise the white noise coiuld you hear the cascade of bum notes) derivative songs in the main.

Now Lobbly Lloyd on the other hand - he could play.

....anyway, you're right about Billy's guitar playing: it was certainly functional rather than exeptional, but not bad considering he only learnt how to play - out of necessity (and taught by Lobby) - in the late 60s, just as Aztecs Mk2 came into being.

I agree that his songwriting was derivative - the best things he wrote, with the one exception of 'Most People I Know...' (the Aztecs one great pop/crossover song), were co-written with Warren Morgan and its a shame there weren't more of them. Indeed, there's a fair argument that the 1973 'Thumpin' Pig & Puffin' Billy' LP they made as a duo (with the rhythm section from Chain) was the closest the Aztecs got to making a classic studio album! Morgan was well capable of a touch of McCartney-esque melodicism and finesse at times, with some lovely moments on this album - along with the ponding Aztecs-esque 'Captain Straightmen', which was probably the bestAztecs single they never released. Alas, there's nothing from this LP on youtube (but I do recommend the CD remaster).

As for Lobby, he could certainly play. A bit one-dimensional sometimes, but more of a technician, and more experimental, than Billy - although most of his 70s repertoire was still in that heads-down blues-rock vein.

'GOD', the version recorded at Sunbury '73, is surely his finest hour (and it neary IS!):

became rather sydney centric 2/3 in and being a seventies man I was less interested in the material on X but yeah- no literary masterpiece but a good account of the times.

surprised how much violence there was.

Lobby - I'm a fan of obsecration. Still have bad memories of being bullied by skinheads at the school dance when we had the coloured balls playing .

and as a guilty pleasure something completely different :Thorpies Almost summer

Lobby produced an album I was involved with in the early 80's.

At the time I had no idea of his past, he was assigned to us by Gudinski because Mushroom had absolutely no idea what else to do. Lobby was wonderful. Amazingly articulate, very gentle, absolutely hilarious. Very supportive of me at a time when I needed it. I was very sad when he passed away a couple of years ago.

a benefit organised by thorpie who died not long after lobby though more unexpectedly

the aforementioned book has quite a lot about lobby

with an Aussie girlfriend circa 1976. Suddenly she came over all unnecessary and hissed in my ear "There's Billy Thorpe!"

I wasn't really aware of his work at that stage, so it meant little to me, but she grew up with his mid-60s beat group hits such as Mashed Potato (which, I am reliably informed, repeats the word "Yeah" no fewer than 72 times) and for her it must have been the equivalent of seeing Brian Jones or Ray Davies walking down the street.

I believe Thorpie moved to America around 1976 where he lived and worked for 20 years. During that time he was involved in many things, including a company which made soft toys(!) and an equally strange collaboration with Mick Fleetwood and the drummer’s side project band Zoo.

I have been severely culling my book and magazine collection (collected over 30 years) and all my rock books have been given to the same person but he already has a copy of Most People I Know so I can't give that to him.

He also has "The Next Thing-Contemporary Australian Rock" edited by Clinton Walker so I can't give him that.

It is from 1984 and has 20 interviews with luminaries from the era such as...

The Go Betweens
Chris Bailey
Ed Kuepper
Hoodoo Gurus
The Scientists
X
The Moodists
Hunters and Collectors
Midnight Oil
The Triffids
The Birthday Party

and others, some of whom I've never otherwise heard of such as Dean Richards.

It's yours if you want it, it's simply too good to throw away. I've donated literally hundreds to various charities but specialist books like those I'd rather see find a good home.

This is it, second from the top.
http://www.fromthearchives.com/bp/bibliography1.html

Or perhaps Five-Centres or someone else might want it, there's no catch just click on my name and provide a mailing address and I'll mail it off ASAP.

Well-scrubbed pure pop meets drug-fuelled heavy rock/psych. Here's a picture of The Bee Gees and Cream in February 1968. Both groups were managed by Robert Stigwood, of course.

Note that no fewer than 6 of the 8 have got a fag going (and the other two had probably just put one out).

Anyway, the point of this is to show former Aztecs' guitarist Vince Melouney (standing second right) who spent two years playing with the brothers Gibb.

For a few years The Playboys backed Normie Rowe, a sub-Cliff Richard Aussie pop idol from Melbourne with no sharp edges.

Rowe was conscripted in 1967 and this is where it starts to get interesting.

The Playboys continued to record under their own name, first as an instrumental surf band and then with a harder, freakbeat edge.

Renamed The Australian Playboys in Britain (to avoid confusion with Gary Lewis’s band) they issued what is by far the rarest UK single on the Immediate label Black Sheep RIP/Sad, a record so scarce it sells for £500 to £1000 today.

reckon he had soul

and 40 years later

I still reckon this is the most exciting thing Normie Rowe ever did.

This is years before Jeremy Kyle, too.

...I return, impressed as ever with Mojo Working's record collection! And humbled by Cookie's generosity. I'll say no to your kind offers, though, Cookie - I do have the Thorpe book but not the 80s Oz rock one - but that era/those acts don't appeal to me as much as the early 70s Oz rock scene, so I wouldn't be the right recipient, but appreciate the thought...

I was looking for Lobby Loyde's fabulous 'Long Way To The Top' concert appearance (I have the tour DVD) - decades of musical thuggery distilling into 3 minutes and one audience member going bananas while everyone else looks on open-mouthed! Alas, it's not on youtube...

But here, instead, is a clip of the reformed Kahvas Jute - the Aussie Cream, who only made one (terrific) LP back in the day. Tim Gaze and Dennis Wilson on guitars (warning: there's a twin gtr solo) and Bob Daisley on bass...

My favourite Aussie "hairy" band of the early 70s.
Dennis and Timmy are still very active and as you can see from the clip, as good as ever.
Here's my personal favourite from that LP.
Out Creams Cream really..

album Wide Open used to be a major Aussie prog rarity selling for 2 or 3 hundred quid on vinyl. It's still desirable, but just about all the Aussie prog landmarks are now available for $25 on CD through a label called (funnily enough) Aztec Music.

It's all here:

http://www.aztecmusic.net/

...through the incredible generosity of my friend Trev in Sydney (though he'd rather be in Melbourne, drinking fine coffee and hanging out with Mike Rudd), I have about 90% of the Aztec Music catalogue. All textbook examples of how to reissue/master/package CDs - under the auspices of former Aztec drummer Gil Matthews, who runs the operation. I guess he made some canny business decisions since his time with the Aztecs in the early 70s and now he's putting something back.

Wilson /Hanna's post daddy cool band

Ive got the original album which mistakenly had the cover also printed on the inside -is it worth anything?

Re Aztec music -I have listened to some interviews with Gil on 3RRR. He does a lot of remastering from vinyl assiduously removing pops and clicks and using ahigh end turntable etc when maters are unavailable. Does it in 8 hour stretches.

Remarkable how uncooperative some of the big labels are in letting them have access to master tapes rotting away in warehouses.

would do well to go here...

http://www.milesago.com/

As it describes itself, "Australasian popular music, pop culture and social history 1964-1975"

Many of the artists, music and events mentioned in this thread, plus much, much more - I really can't recommend it enough. Sadly, the fellow who created and maintained it died a year or two ago, but it remains online thanks to some dedicated associates who presumably couldn't bear the thought of so much information disappearing.

The dedicated associates have their own site here...

http://www.midoztouch.com/

...where you can check out music of the same era (they run on a sort of "ethical downloading" line - strictly unavailable, not released or rereleased music only; if it's available anywhere, they won't upload it, and encourage you to buy it from proper sources)