John Paul Young Remembers The '70s Well - Even Daryl Braithwaite Is Impressed

It’s toast and tea for celebrated Australian singer-songwriter John Paul Young when he answers his phone to chat about his newly released autobiography; a civil affair compared to life on the road during the “golden years of Australian pop”, which he details in the new release while chronicling his life and career.

“I’ve always likened my life to be a long series of times where I find myself at the edge of the cliff, and you either jump or you don’t. Most the time I somehow summon up the courage and I jump, and I have a go,” Young begins on the origins of JPY: The Autobiography.

Most people can’t remember what they had for breakfast a week ago, let alone conversations that took place numerous decades ago.

“I’ve basically been hanging around the same guys in the band for 44 years – I’ve still got two guys from the original Allstar Band - so a lot of band stories and memories were jogged.

“The hardest part was the mid-‘70s when everything went haywire – it was very successful, but it was such a big thing. I was only talking to Daryl Braithwaite yesterday about this and he said, ‘How on Earth did you remember anything that happened in the ‘70s?’”

READ MORE: John Paul Young Opens Up About ‘Love Is In The Air’ Copyright Trial

That’s the decade Young, and many other music lovers, refer to as the golden years of Australian pop.

“It’s sad that it’s been basically ignored by a lot of media these days, especially radio. Radio kind of threw the baby out with the bathwater when they went to FM and we all of sudden didn’t have any Australian memories from the ‘70s, it was all the Eagles, apparently,” he laughs.

“It’s just a symptom of the Americanisation, I suppose… I don’t know where you’re going to hear a Ted Mulry song anymore, I don’t know where you’re going to hear a Hush song. I mean, all these people were like top of the charts in the ‘70s and it’s just amazing that they barely get a mention.”

The term overnight success gets thrown around a lot when it comes to artists like John Paul Young, but, as he says, “It’s just not true.” 

While there was a lot of hard work leading up to his time in the spotlight, there’s no denying the impact Countdown had on his stature during that period; the infamous footage of Young being dragged off stage during a performance by avid fans is proof of that.

“I was a willing participant in all of that; even back then you recognise that flame is a very fleeting thing, so you just get in there and you do what you can when you can. 

"I was very lucky – I finished my time in Jesus Christ Superstar, then George and Harry returned from London to Australia and set up shop in Sydney and I was one of the first people they invited in. The first hit we had after they came back was Yesterday’s Hero and that just happened to coincide with Countdown happening, which happened to coincide with colour TV starting, so all of these things just went bang, bang, bang and happened at once. It was a much simpler existence back then.”

The song took off around the globe and was even covered by the biggest boy band at the time, Scotland’s Bay City Rollers. 

“I’m a little bit bitter over that,” he reveals. “It’s got nothing to do with the Bay City Rollers. We had a singer here called Jeff Phillips and he went over to England and recorded Yesterday’s Hero just before mine was released back in 1975. In the newsreader dialogue right before the track starts, on his version he mentions drugs, so the BBC banned the thing. Then mine came along like a month later and they just looked at it and said, ‘No, that’s just that same song again.’ And banned that too!

“So Yesterday’s Hero just sat there, gathering dust on the shelf for about a year before the Bay City Roller boys got a hold of it, and must have realised what the previous mistake was, and because of their fame, they obviously listened to the fucking thing this time, which they didn’t listen to mine, they just sort of through it in the bin. I’m very annoyed that that’s the way things happened.”

Another Vanda & Young classic that became an instant hit was 1977’s Love Is In The Air, which is still going strong more than 40 years later.

“It is one of those things you can’t wish for… when I heard the finished product, I was ecstatic, I thought it was fantastic. I did think it was a hit, but there was no way that any of us thought it would have the legs that it had.”

JPY: The Autobiography is out now via New Holland Publishers, with John Paul Young & The Allstar Band’s Vanda & Young Songbook Tour continuing next month.

Check out theGuide for all the details.