Russell MorrisAustralian music and entertainment legends, including Russell Morris, Issi Dye, Ray Burton (who co-wrote Helen Reddy's I Am Woman), and Denise Drysdale came together for a reunion celebrating Go Set Magazine.
Go Set was this country’s first magazine to commemorate music and really tap into what young people cared about. It came before Rolling Stone and was Australia’s own music bible akin to England’s NME and America’s Creem.
Lasting from 1966 until 1974, Go Set had future Prime Minister Bob Hawke as a cover star alongside Gerry Humphrys from The Loved Ones (the magazine spelled his surname 'Humphries').
Go Set also introduced Molly Meldrum to many people he would foster connections with in the Australian music industry. The magazine was his beginning – it was still years before Countdown would make Molly Meldrum a household name.
“Very early on, when we were still working out of our flat, a young guy came through the door and asked what he could do, and Tony [Schauble, Go Set co-founder] said, ‘I don’t know, but you could clean the house,’" Go Set co-founder Phillip Frazer said in an interview with Iain McIntyre (from the book Tomorrow is Today: Australia in the Psychedelic Era 1966-1970), per AMMP. A young Molly Meldrum was paid $10 for his first article in Go Set in July 1966.
For all its legendary moments and stars, why wait for the 50th anniversary of its shutting down next year? So, Aussie music legends appeared on Studio 10 with Craig Bennett for a trip down memory lane. Check out the footage below.
Michael Gudinski and AC/DC’s future manager Michael Browning attempted to make some competition for Go Set with their Daily Planet magazine in 1971, but it didn’t last or hold the influential status Go Set holds today.
The idea for Go Set was born and dreamed up by Phillip Frazer and Tony Schauble while they were at the legendary music venue, The Thumping Tum, at 50 Little Latrobe Street.
