Long Way To The Top

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For the AC/DC song, see It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll).
For other uses, see Long way to the top (disambiguation).

Long Way To The Top was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) documentary on the history of Australian rock and roll from 1956 to the modern era. It took its name from the AC/DC song "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" originally released in 1975. The original series was received well for the ABC when shown in 2001[1]: a national concert tour in 2002 followed[1].

Contents

[edit] Episode list

[edit] "Bed of a Thousand Struggles 1956-1964"

Explores the roots of Rock and Roll emerging in the post war calm of Australia.

(Featured artists)

[edit] "Ten Pound Rocker 1963-1968"

Chronicles the very first Australian rock stars, almost all could be traced back to the migrant scheme where large suburbs were built on the outskirts of Sydney then filled with English immigrants who bought their musical knowledge to the new land and formed rock groups.

(Featured artists)

[edit] "Billy Killed the Fish 1968-1973"

Covers the influence of the hippie movement on Australian music and impact of alternate lifestyles had on the publics music tastes.

(Featured artists)

[edit] "Berserk Warriors 1973-1981"

Explores Australia's coming-of-age in music as the Australian identity and culture made it's way into the music scene and the emergence of Pub rock.

(Featured artists)

[edit] "INXS to Exile 1976-1988"

Covers the impact the "Go-go" 80's had on the Australian music scene as new wave and synth pop hit centre stage making it difficult for the underground Punk rock scene to be heard.

(Featured artists)

[edit] "Gathering of the Tribes 1984-2000"

Chronicles the impact modern technology on the music industry allowing anyone to make their own music and get it heard and it's role in turning "alternative" music "mainstream". This episode also covers the 90's tide of electronic dance music which seemed to overshadow rock and roll.

(Featured artists)

[edit] Concert

In 2002, promoters Michael Chugg and Kevin Jacobsen decided to build on the popularity of the show by sending a package tour of artists featured in the program on a national concert tour of Australia. Jacobsen's brother Col Joye was on the Long Way To The Top tour as well as Little Pattie, The Masters Apprentices, Stevie Wright, Daddy Cool, Normie Rowe, the Atlantics, John Paul Young and Marcia Hines. The tour proved to be successful taking receipts of $10 million with a budget of $4.5 million[2]. The ABC broadcast[3] highlights of the tour on 2002-12-01 and subsequently CD & DVD packages[4] went on sale.

The concert tour was a unique event as that lineup had not toured together before and would not tour again. Ross Wilson said: "It was personally a buzz for me, meeting up with some of those '50s guys like Col Joye. Backstage everyone knew they were part of something momentous, because that entire lineup would never come together again. I think the audience got that vibe, too." [5].

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b unstated (2002-11-22). "ABC Online - Long Way To The Top" (html). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
  2. ^ Billboard 2002-05-10, Vol. 114 Issue 40, p20
  3. ^ unstated (undated). "ABC TV - Long Way To The Top" (html). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
  4. ^ unstated (undated). "ABC Shop - Long Way" (html). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
  5. ^ Billboard 2002-05-10, Vol. 114 Issue 40, p20