In 1975, Skyhooks were the most controversial band in the land.
Their debut album, Living In The 70’s, was the biggest Aussie album we’d ever seen, but not everyone was a fan.
The band was banned in Wollongong.
In June 1975, the Hooks were booked to play at the Wollongong Civic Centre on their Ego Is Not A Dirty Word tour. But the council said no – they were not welcome in town.
“I think we attempted to go to Wollongong a couple of times, but the council, and other powers that we had no idea of, put the kibosh on that,” Skyhooks founder and bass player Greg Macainsh remembers.
But the band’s promoters – Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans – didn’t give up. They booked another show, at the Wollongong Showgrounds, as part of the Hooks’ In The Heat Of The Night tour in December 1975.
A few weeks later, the headline in the Wollongong paper read: Skyhooks Nicely Warmed Up For The Heat Of The Night. But Wollongong Date Put In The Deep Freeze.
“Apparently, Wollongong was very upset with our music being banned on the radio and they thought we were going to corrupt the Wollongongians, so they decided we couldn’t actually play there,” recalls Skyhooks co-founder and drummer Freddy Strauks.
But people power put pressure on the council and they finally relented. The headline in the Illawarra Mercury screamed: Skyhooks – They’re Coming
“Due to public pressure, the council eventually caved in,” Macainsh notes.
In the end, the show was a triumph, with nearly 15,000 fans packing the Showgrounds, having each paid $4.30 for a ticket.
It was the tour’s second-biggest gig – behind only the band’s show at the Myer Music Bowl in their hometown of Melbourne.
The Wollongong show changed Peter Green’s life. It was his first rock concert.
Green is now Skyhooks’ official archivist, and he has made a documentary on the In The Heat Of The Night tour.
“It’s a Christmas present for Skyhooks fans,” says Green, who made the doco with Mark Goulding who was also at the Wollongong show in 1975.
It features new interviews with Macainsh and Strauks. Sadly, guitarist Bob “Bongo” Starkie passed away two days before he was to be interviewed.
“We were in contact with Bob regularly and were heading down the coast to his house on the Monday to film,” Green reveals. “Bob passed away on the Saturday.”
The guitarist died of leukemia, aged 73.
Shirl opened the Wollongong show by saying: “We are Skyhooks and they say we are filthy. And we don’t deny it.”
The headline in the following day’s paper was: It’s Porn Power!
But the article noted how well behaved the crowd was. “Police – there were more than 100 of them – were not needed. They later described the concert as orderly, with no incidents marring the enjoyment of the young people.”
The band opened the show with You Just Like Me ’Cos I’m Good In Bed, and previewed songs from their third album, Straight In A Gay Gay World, which would be released eight months later, including the title track, Million Dollar Riff, Somewhere In Sydney, and I’m Normal.
The crowd demanded two encores.
The doco also features previously unseen photos taken by Macainsh, live songs from shows in Melbourne, Dubbo, and Brisbane, and the only known footage of the tour, shot at the WACA in Perth.
And it recalls the band’s infamous interview with Mike Willesee, where he introduced the band by saying, “They sing about going to bed together, masturbation, smut and orgasms. Many parents are disturbed.”
When the TV host wondered if the Hooks “could influence young people poorly on the moral side”, Starkie replied: “I really don’t think that people take us that seriously. We’re a fun band.”
The tour was Skyhooks’ Australian farewell – they went to America in February 1976.
“An executive from Mercury Records came to see us live [on the tour],” Macainsh recalls. “It was a good show because there was lots of hysteria, so it probably would have convinced him that we were semi-viable.”
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
