Australian Rock Chronicles 1964-1969: Reminiscing about the 'second wave' of Australian Rock Music

This is the sequel to my first book Australian Rock Chronicles 1955-1964 and delves into the next chapter of Australian rock music, the ‘second wave’ from 1964 to 1969. The ‘first wave’ of rock music was heavily influenced by American artists whereas British group The Beatles ushered in a whole new direction in popular music around the world in early 1964. Their ‘Merseybeat’ style of music revitalized the Australian live music scene, which changed irrevocably, and virtually overnight and without doubt, became one of the most vibrant and exciting in the world. Australians were switched-on early to their music, thanks in no small part to a nucleus of British immigrants. The ‘second wave’ consisted of two phases.The ‘beat boom’ between mid-1964 and 1967 was the first phase and was without doubt, one of the most vibrant and exciting live music scenes in the world and leading the charge of a whole new generation of local beat stars were Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, Ray Brown and The Whispers, Tony Worsley and The Fabulous Blue Jays, The Easybeats, Normie Rowe and The Playboys and The Twilights, just to name a few. Dubbed ‘The Scream Years’ of Australian pop music, it produced some of the classics of Australian pop rock music, culminating in the international chart success of The Easybeats’ ‘Friday On My Mind’ in late 1966. Rhythm and blues or R&B and blues rock were also popular genres during the period with the likes of The Purple Hearts, The Missing Links, The Throb, Bay City Union and The Wild Cherries leading the way.During the second phase between 1967 and the end of the Sixties, popular music began to diversify with the rise of new genres of rock music like psychedelic rock, acid rock, progressive rock and bubblegum rock as artists like The Masters Apprentices, Jeff St. John and Copperwine, Tamum Shud, Chain, Tully, The Valentines, The Flying Circus and Zoot rose to prominence.The ‘second wave’ also produced some of Australia’s finest male and female solo pop singers including Normie Rowe, Lynne Randell, Johnny Young, Bev Harrell, Ronnie Burns, Johnny Farnham and Russell Morris. Additionally, it produced two of Australia’s most successful international artists, The Seekers and The Bee Gees. Read more