Royals, Broken Bones & Breakdowns: Counting Down Countdown’s 10 Greatest Moments

Cue Gavin Wood in the voiceover booth. As Countdown turns 50, The Music is counting down the show’s 10 greatest moments.

10. Bon Scott, the schoolgirl

Countdown was often criticised for being too pop and commercial. Aussie guitar great Lobby Loyde believed it was “the death of music”, calling the show “fucking definite Satan land … it slowly replaced all the good rock ’n’ roll with crap”. But such criticism was misguided. In reality, Countdown presented a wild array of acts. AC/DC were regulars on the show, and the Countdown crew made the classic clips for It’s A Long Way To The Top and Jailbreak.

In 1975, Mary Renshaw – one of the loves of Bon Scott’s life – was chatting to the singer about the bisexual connotation of the band’s name. “Next thing, you’ll be on the telly dressed as a girl,” she joked. And that’s exactly what Bon did when AC/DC performed Baby, Please Don’t Go on Countdown. Angus was believable as a schoolboy, but Bon as a schoolgirl – complete with long blonde pigtails, tattoos, cigarette and hoop earrings – was something else entirely.

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9. James Reyne gets plastered

When Australian Crawl rocked up for their first Countdown appearance, the set was decorated with bountiful beach balls. The band was perplexed. They later learned that the Countdown crew – baffled by James Reyne’s distinctive diction – thought the song was called “Beautiful Beachball”.

Meanwhile, the viewers were perplexed to see the singer with both arms in plaster. Many thought it was a publicity stunt. But Reyne had actually been hit by a car, crossing Swanston Street, near RMIT, in Melbourne, an accident that was later documented in another Aussie Crawl song, Indisposed.

8. Billy Idol has some heavy sex

Billy Idol was the special guest at the 1984 Countdown Awards. Live on stage, the English punk rocker volunteered to Molly Meldrum: “I’ve had some really heavy sex since I’ve come to Australia. I said, ‘I’ve had some really heavy sex.’” Strangely, Molly followed Billy’s statement with the question, “Have you been a good boy?” The artist took to interviewing himself: “What am I here for? I’m here for rock ’n’ roll!”

7. The Chewing Gum Incident

In 1977, Rose Tattoo went on Countdown to perform their debut hit, Bad Boy For Love. During the song, singer Angry Anderson decided to trade his chewing gum with guitarist Mick Cocks, mouth-to-mouth.

One of the ABC bosses saw the performance and thought they were kissing. He demanded the song be cut and that Rose Tattoo be banned from ever going on the show again. Cocks revealed to author Murray Engleheart he was forced to go to his little sister’s school to explain the performance.

“I had to have a little yak and say, ‘Look, we’re just grown men, and it’s theatre; please don’t give my sister a hard time about this, and I’m not a poofter.’ I had politicians ringing my mother. I’m serious! It was a fucking huge thing.”

6. The Carnation Kid

Mark Holden released his debut album, Dawn In Darkness, in 1975. A singer-songwriter record, it flopped. When the Adelaide singer was booked to perform on Countdown the following year, he wondered how to make an impression. On the way to the studio, he stopped at a florist and bought a bunch of red carnations. “I handed them out during the dress rehearsal. When my performance happened, the girls started throwing them back at me. From there, the whole carnation thing took off.” Mark Holden was to the carnation what Dame Edna was to the gladdie.

5. Pseudo Echo appear, and everyone is Listening

It was an old cliché: they walked in as nobodies and walked out as stars. Pseudo Echo were one of the classic Countdown discoveries. Molly heard their demo tape and saw them live at the Jump Club in Collingwood. “I could see the potential,” he says, “so I went to my bosses and said, ‘I really want to put on an unrecorded band.’”

On June 26, 1983, Molly told the viewers: “We’re about to present a group, a local group, who have got no record contract. We saw them at a gig. I think they have loads of potential, so all you record companies out there, have a look at them, and the public, you judge for yourselves. We think they’re pretty good. A young group, they go under the name of Pseudo Echo. Here they are with Listening. Go, boys!”

Singer Brian Canham recalls: “It was such an event. The next day, I was walking down the street as a pop star. Girls were screaming, people were pointing, and the phone was ringing. It was really full-on and instant.”

Soon after, Pseudo Echo signed to EMI, and Listening became their debut single, hitting the national Top 5. The band had seven Top 40 hits in the ’80s, including the number one, Funky Town, which also reached the Top 10 in the US and UK.

4. Mamma Mia, ABBA break big

In 1975, a reel of clips from Sweden landed in the Countdown office. The song titles read: Bang-A-Boomerang, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, Mamma Mia and Tropical Loveland. Countdown crew member Tony Vuat fell in love with Mamma Mia, and Molly contacted the group’s local label, RCA. “Don’t bother playing that one on the show,” they informed him. “We’re not going to release it as a single.” But Molly did play the song. And still, the label refused to release it. The show played it again … and again.

Finally, RCA relented and released Mamma Mia as a single. It went to number one in Australia, and the following year, it topped the UK charts. Fun fact: ABBA had more Top 10 hits in Australia than Sweden.

3. Hiya, Dogface!

In 1979, Iggy Pop went on Countdown to perform his single I’m Bored. He appeared normal during the rehearsal. But something obviously happened between rehearsal and showtime. When Iggy reappeared for an interview with Molly, he leapt on the set, bare-chested, with a cigarette in his hand.

“Hiya, Dogface!” he exclaimed.

Molly tried to do a serious interview, but it didn’t quite work. Iggy then performed his song, forgetting every move he had worked out with the camera crew earlier in the day. As he mimed the song, he put the microphone down his pants. He also spat on the crowd, which consisted of a bunch of clearly frightened young girls.

“They looked like they had seen a monster,” says Iggy, whose memories of the performance are hazy. “Whenever I meet an Australian, they always want to ask me about that performance. But I’ve actually got no idea what happened that night or during that trip to Australia, for that matter.”

2. Eat this!

On March 16, 1981, the music industry gathered at Sydney’s Regent Theatre for the TV Week Countdown Rock Music Awards. It had been a stellar year, with Split Enz’s True Colours, Australian Crawl’s The Boys Light Up and Flowers’ Icehouse. But Cold Chisel dominated the night, winning a record seven awards. The band refused to accept any of the trophies but agreed to close the show with a live performance of My Turn To Cry, the closing track on East.

Unbeknownst to Molly or the organisers, Chisel had decided to change the lyrics to attack TV Week. “I never saw you at the Astra Hotel,” Barnesy spat. “I never saw you in Fitzroy Street, and now you’re tryin’ to use my face to sell TV Week … So eat this! Eat this!”

The band had bought cheap copies of their instruments, and the climax was Ian Moss smashing his guitar – except, it wouldn’t break. “Hendrix and Pete Townshend made it look so easy,” Mossy laughs, “but I just couldn’t break it. The strings were cutting into my hands. I don’t know what the timber was; it weighed a tonne, and it just wouldn’t break.”

TV Week wasn’t happy – they discontinued their association with the awards. But Molly loved it. “And the person who really loved it was our director, Robbie Weekes,” he says. “Robbie loved to direct from gut feel, and he was truly in his element. This was real live TV!”

1. “I saw your mum” – Molly and the Prince

“There is an old showbiz saying which warns never to work with animals or children,” Prince Charles said in 2014. “But nobody prepared me for Molly Meldrum.”

November 13, 1977 was a big edition of Countdown. The show included the world premiere of the video for Paul McCartney’s Mull Of Kintyre, a cross to Peter Frampton on the set of the ill-fated Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie, and news that LRB’s Help Is On Its Way had reached number 14 in the US. And the show featured an unforgettable interview – Molly’s encounter with Prince Charles.

So, why was the future King on Countdown?

The saga started when showbiz entrepreneur Harry M. Miller suggested that Molly could compile a special Australian album to coincide with Prince Charles’ Australian visit. Miller was chairman of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Commemorative Organisation. During a pre-tour meeting with the show, Miller dropped the bombshell: “So when the Prince comes to Australia, he’s going to be on Countdown talking to Molly ...”

Molly’s boss, Michael Shrimpton, shuddered. He knew it was a recipe for disaster. But Molly learned the script on his way home from the UK, where he’d interviewed the Sex Pistols, Freddie Mercury and Billy Idol. The only problem was that he was overwhelmed when he met the future King, and he stumbled over the “M” in Miller’s name.

“And now,” he said, “we come to the most important part of tonight’s program. In fact, the most important part of the program’s history. Some months ago, the chairman of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Commemorative Organisation, Mr Harry, um, mmm, um Miller …”

As Molly faltered, Prince Charles remarked: “I believe you’ve just got back from London.”

“Yes, yes,” Molly replied, “as a matter of fact, I saw your mum driving along in an open carriage in London the other day. She was on her way to open parliament.”

Prince Charles corrected him: “You mean Her Majesty The Queen.”

Molly tried again. “And now we come to the most important part of the … sorry, could I just have one glass of water, please?” Turning to the Prince, he said: “I’m terribly sorry about this.”

Trying to make Molly feel better, Charles replied, “Don’t worry, it happens all the time.”

Molly put his arm around Charles’ shoulder. “It’s all right, Lovey; I’ll get this together in a moment.”

“Do you have one of those teleprompters?” the Prince asked.

“Um, no.”

Prince Charles showed he had a good sense of humour when he sent up Molly for the 40th anniversary of Countdown. “Was it really 40 years ago? It only seems like yesterday. I wish it were tomorrow; I’d cancel it.”