Australian Rock Chronicles 1955-1964: Reminiscing about the first decade of Australian rock music

No other genre in the history of music had the world-wide impact that rock ‘n’ roll had on popular music in the mid-Fifties. It heralded the beginning of not merely a music revolution but also a social and generational upheaval of vast and unpredictable scope that was felt around the world in a way no other social developments have ever equalled. It was a revolution without blood and spread like a virus, influencing an entire generation in their daily life, fashion, attitudes and language but at the same time, unifying people together despite differing social identities such as race, sex and religion. Australian Rock Chronicles takes the reader on a unique journey through what was a cultural phenomenon, the likes of which had never been repeated again in Australia’s history. It retraces the evolution of rock music in Australia during its first ten years, often referred to as the ‘first wave’ of Australian rock. The book is as much about the people – the artists, the promoters, the generation of teenagers who ensured its survival and the adults who tried in vain to quell the revolution – as about the music and also looks briefly at the birth rock ‘n’ roll, Australia during and after World War II, what effect American entrepreneur Lee Gordon’s arrival in Australian had on the local entertainment business and the birth of the ‘teenager’. For some Australian readers, it will be like a trip down memory lane and for others, it will be an insight into how rock music in Australia grew from its early troubled beginnings to what it is today - readily accepted by society as a part of a thing called ‘pop culture’. Australia got its first taste of rock ‘n’ roll music back in mid-1955, but it took until early 1957 before the music finally gained momentum when artists like Alan Dale, Johnny O’Keefe and Col Joye took to centre stage and ensured that the transition was a success. When the music lost its appeal to the younger generation in the early Sixties, the next year or two saw popular music experience a period of constantly changing ad lib fads, which saw the emergence of artists like The Atlantics, The Denvermen, Little Pattie and Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs. The start of the British ‘beat boom’ in Australia began in late 1963, hitting top gear in June 1964 following The Beatles historic tour. Their new genre of popular music became the major influence for the ‘second wave’ of Australian rock, which produced Australia’s first successful international pop-rock acts, The Easybeats and The Bee Gees. Read more