Red Rock Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Seekers

In 1964, London was considered to be the epicenter of culture on the globe and Beatlemania was in full swing. In the midst of this revolution an Australian band, considered too pop to be folk and too folk to be rock, found popularity and fame at a level similar to the Fab Four.

Their single, "I'll Never Find Another You", written by Dusty Springfield's brother, Tom, found its way to number one in the UK and Australia and number four on Billboard's Hot 100. This also made them the first Australian band to have a top five hit in those three countries. Hits such as "A World of Our Own", "Morning Town Ride" and "The Carnival is Over" soon followed and, in 1965, The Seekers found themselves at Wembley Stadium on the same bill as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Animals.

In January of 1968 they were announced as the "Australians of the Year" for their achievements in music, but the following month the band broke up after lead singer, Judith Durham, announced she wished to embark on a solo career.

Answer: Hoadley

"The Battle of the Sounds" was originally a talent competition set up by a tabloid called "Everybody's Magazine" in 1964. It was designed to find unsigned talent across the country, but it was only focussed on the Eastern seaboard of the country. (As a West Australian, I took that as a snub).

The following year Hoadley provided sponsorship for the event and took the quest across the entire nation. The prize was a huge incentive - $1,000 in cash, a trip to England and a recording contract. This was too good an incentive and, by 1969, the competition began to draw over a thousand bands.

Whilst the initial winners were a band that few would remember, some top line talent such as Fraternity (which boasted a lead singer by the name of Bon Scott), The Groove and Sherbert would emerge.

The competition closed in 1972 but was a strong influence in getting young men and women to take up guitars and drums and try to make an impact and a living out of rock and roll.

Answer: Helen Reddy

Whilst this question is about Helen Reddy, it would be remiss of me to focus this information solely on her because another of the answer options played an equally important role in establishing the fledgling Australian pop scene across the globe; Olivia Newton-John. Their careers also had great parallels. Both were popular fixtures on Australian TV shows of the late 1960s such as "Bandstand" and both went overseas at similar times to further their careers. Whilst Olivia's star may have shone longer, Reddy's, initially, shone brightest. She went to number one on the US Billboard charts with "I Am Woman" in 1972. The song, which became an anthem for the second wave of the feminist movement, made Reddy an international star. It also earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal. Newton-John would have to wait until the following year to earn the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal for "Let Me Be There", producing country crossover hits, long before they were popular. She only had to wait for another year for her first US number one hit, "I Honestly Love You". The song also collected for her a further two Grammy Awards.

(Note) Australia's first ever Grammy Award winner was Dame Joan Sutherland in 1961 for Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist.

Answer: The Great Radio Ban

The Beatles' tour and Bob Dylan going electric were both events that occurred in the mid 1960s and "Countdown" was launched onto Australian television in 1974. In 1970, the major record companies, such as RCA, CBS, and EMI etc, started a running battle with commercial radio stations about how their records could be used for airplay. Essentially, they were demanding a fee for the rights.

The radio stations told them what they could do with their records and their fees and banned the airplay of all major British and Australian labels. Suddenly there was a gap in the market and the door opened for a range of new, independent, labels to step in.

They also unearthed a large number of local bands to record cover versions of songs that were hits overseas, such as; "In the Summertime" by the Mixtures and "Yellow River" by the Jigsaw, both of which reached number one on the local charts and Liv Maessen's "Knock, Knock, Who's There" which reached number two.

The ban would last between 16 May and 18 October, by which time both sides realised they couldn't survive without the other.

The bonus for Australian punters was that now there was a whole new wave of Australian bands to take an interest in.

Answer: The Birthday Party

Originally known as The Boys Next Door and struggling to make an impact locally, the band headed to London in 1980, at the beckoning of BBC's John Peel. They garnered instant attention with their self-titled 1980 release, which drew on their love of punk rock and combined it with an eclectic mix of free jazz, rockabilly and raw blues.

The strange concoction meant that the band defied categorization. In 1981, their non-album single "Release the Bats", an unnerving tale of vampire sex, was released and set the emerging goth scene alight.

The single peaked at number three on UK's independent music charts. Despite the UK music scene being ultra-competitive, in the space of two years, the band became the local darlings (doubt they would have liked that word to describe them) and must-see event in England. So much so that the band fled to Berlin to set up a new base and escape the hype and expectations in their former dig.

The band became a tighter musical unit and released two extraordinary EPs in this time but, beset by emerging creative differences and a "drug fuelled exhaustion", the band soon broke up. Rising from these ashes would be the future Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Answer: Mushroom Records

Mushroom was by no means the first record label created in Australia, but it was the one that ushered in a Golden Age in the Australian recording scene. Formed in 1972 their first release was a massive undertaking and a huge risk - a triple album release of the 1973 Sunbury concert. The gig was one of the most iconic in Oz rock history and the album succeeded on the back of its reputation. For a while after the label struggled with some no-name bands such MacKenzie's Theory and Sid Rumpo. The inability of these bands to make an impact on the local scene soon had the label on the brink. Gudinski took another risk by signing a band of glam rocking smart Alecs called Skyhooks whose first album, "Living in the Seventies", had six of its songs banned by commercial radio. It was the best advertising they could buy and the album soon took the country by storm. Mushroom Records would go on to foster and kick start the careers of many of Australia's most revered acts such as Cold Chisel, Joe Camilleri, Kylie Minogue, The Models, Split Enz and Paul Kelly. The label was eventually sold to Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp.

(Note) The reference/hint in the question was a take on the old joke; "What's kept in the dark and fed manure"? Answer; a mushroom.

Answer: The Saints

Bob Geldof, of Boomtown Rats fame, once stated that "Rock music in the Seventies was changed by three bands-the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and The Saints". Not a bad compliment for a band that was largely ignored in their own country, recorded their debut single on their own label (Fatal Records), pressed a mere 500 copies of it and distributed it by themselves.

They sent some copies to London where it was heard and then championed by Sounds (magazine) reviewer John Ingham, who labelled the recording the "single of this and every week". London went wild for the song and the band as well.

It didn't take long for (record label) EMI in the UK to get onto EMI in Australia and order them to sign the band. With Chris Bailey snarling into the microphone, the song is a glorious rush that is fueled by Ed Kuepper's relentless power chords. Bear in mind that the Ramones had only just released their debut album in the States and the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned had not yet entered the studios to record their debut albums.

This track truly was pioneering and provided a massive boost and interest in upcoming Australia acts.

Answer: Vanda & Young

Two Dutchmen, Johannes Vandenberg (Harry Vanda) and Dingernam Vandersluys (Dick Diamond), along with two Englishmen, Stevie Wright and Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were staying at the Villawood Migrant Centre in Sydney in 1964 and were trying to set up as a band. They were missing a decent guitarist to complete the outfit when a young panel beater (George Young) came in to see his girlfriend and, before they knew it, The Easybeats were formed. With Wright and Young doing the initial songwriting, the band found strong local success and headed of to London to make an international name for themselves. Harry Vanda wasn't a part of the songwriting team at this point because he was still trying to learn English. In London the band needed to lift their rating but Stevie (Wright) had became highly erratic. The Vanda-Young combination was born and one of their first tracks was the incredibly successful "Friday on My Mind". Heavily in debt, the Easybeats broke up in 1969 and Vanda and Young remained in London, working and writing to the clear the monies owed.

They returned home in 1973 at the request of their publisher, Ted Albert, to act as producers for his label, working on numerous albums with AC/DC (Note: George is the brother of Malcom and Angus Young of AC/DC) and writing hit singles for artists such as Ted Mulry, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah, William Shakespeare, Mark Williams, and The Angels. One of the hits they wrote for John Paul Young, "Love is in the Air" was identified as the "Most Played Australian Song" internationally.

Answer: A music television show

Australia had been blessed with a number of quality television shows that catered for pop and rock music fans prior to "Countdown" but none of them would become the institution that "Countdown" would become, nor would they wield the influence that this programme would have. Aired by the government owned ABC it all started on the 8th of November in 1974 in (wait for it) black and white.

The following year the ABC would turn on the colour and "Countdown" was chosen as the show that would launch the station into a new era.

The show was led by the constantly tongue-tied Ian "Molly" Meldrum and, though his eloquence was almost non-existent, his knowledge of and passion for the music industry was on fervent display. The show became such an icon and an influence that an appearance on the programme had the power to significantly lift the profile of an act.

It really did hold the power to potentially make or break an act. Not only did the show launch the careers of hundreds of local performers it also kick-started those of a number of international stars. Most notable amongst these were Madonna and ABBA.

Answer: The stolen generations of Aboriginal children

Rob Hirst, the drummer for Midnight Oil, had, for years, bemoaned the fact that Australian bands did not use their standing in society and their music as an effective platform to instigate change. The Oils had, in their times, led by example. They did so through songs of protest such as "Blue Sky Mine" and "Beds are Burning". They did it through public appearances and benefits to support causes such as Greenpeace and the Save the Whales movement. They did it with outlandish stunts such as appearing outside the headquarters of Exxon Oil bearing a sign preaching "Midnight Oil makes you dance - Exxon Oil makes you sick" (in protest of the giant oil spill from their tanker the Exxon Valdez).

For years Aboriginal elders had campaigned to the (John) Howard government for an apology to their people for the children, stolen from their families, as part of government policy, in years gone by. John Howard remained steadfast in his refusal to acknowledge this. With the attention of the world focused on the closing ceremony of one of the most watched Olympic Games in modern history, Midnight Oil appeared on stage wearing black tracksuits with "sorry" stenciled all over them, as they ripped into "Beds are Burning", a protest song in support of giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi. They were immediately followed on stage by the indigenous band Yothu Yindi singing their hit "Treaty". Prime Minister John Howard sat in the stands with nowhere to hide. This was an extraordinary statement as to how powerful music could be.

(Postscript) On 13 February 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd moved a motion of Apology to the Indigenous Australian "Stolen Generation".