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Men At Work to get the weekend rolling – one of those bands that became a staple in the MTV diet from the early 80s, they were all over the place and hugely popular – mixing Pop, Reggae, New Wave and Rock, gaining instant appeal particularly in America in the process.
The nucleus of Men at Work formed in Melbourne around June 1979 with Colin Hay on lead vocals and guitar, Ron Strykert on bass guitar, and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, sax and keyboards, and then John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching to lead guitar. Hay had immigrated to Australia in 1967 from Scotland with his family.[8] In 1978, he had formed an acoustic duo with Strykert, which expanded by mid-1979 with the addition of Speiser. Around this time as a side project, keyboardist Greg Sneddon (ex-Alroy Band), a former bandmate of Jerry Speiser, together with Speiser, Hay and Strykert, performed and recorded the music to ‘Riff Raff”, a low budget stage musical, upon which Sneddon had worked.
Early in 1981 Men at Work signed with CBS Records, the Australian branch of CBS Records International, (which became Sony Music) on the recommendation of Peter Karpin, the label’s A&R person. The group’s first single with CBS Records in Australia “Who Can It Be Now?”, was released in June 1981 which reached No. 2 and remained in the chart for 24 weeks. It had been produced by United States-based Peter McIan, who was also working on their debut album, Business as Usual.
Men at Work initially broke through to North American audiences in the western provinces of Canada with “Who Can It Be Now?” hitting the top 10 on radio stations in Winnipeg by May 1982. It peaked at No. 8 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart in July. In August the group toured Canada and the United States to promote the album and related singles, supporting Fleetwood Mac. The band became more popular on Canadian radio in the following months and also started receiving top 40 US airplay by August. In October “Who Can It Be Now?” reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while Canada was one single ahead with “Down Under” topping the Canadian charts that same month. In the following month Business as Usual began a 15-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
And to coincide with that American breakthrough, here is a concert from their 1982 tour – captured in San Diego on October 2nd and preserved for posterity.
Crank it up and dive back to 1982.
