Post 796 - Men At Work - The Singles Collection

The nucleus of Men at Work formed in Melbourne around June 1979 with Colin Hay on lead vocals and guitar, Ron Strykert on bass guitar, and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, sax and keyboards, and then John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching to lead guitar. Hay had immigrated to Australia in 1967 from Scotland with his family In 1978, he had formed an acoustic duo with Strykert, which expanded by mid-1979 with the addition of Speiser. Around this time as a side project, keyboardist Greg Sneddon a former bandmate of Jerry Speiser, together with Speiser, Hay and Strykert, performed and recorded the music to "Riff Raff", a low budget stage musical, upon which Sneddon had worked. The name Men At Work was thrown into the hat by Colin Hay, and was seconded by Ron Strykert, when a name was required to put on the blackboard outside The Cricketer's Arms Hotel, Richmond. The band built a "grass roots" reputation as a pub rock band. In 1980, the group issued their debut single, "Keypunch Operator" backed by "Down Under", with both tracks co-written by Hay and Strykert. It was "self-financed" and appeared on their own independent, M. A. W. label.They were best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", "It's a Mistake". In 1983, they were the first Australian artists to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the United States Billboard charts: "Business as Usual" (released on 9 November 1981) and "Down Under" (1981), respectively. With the same works, they achieved the distinction of a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the Australian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom charts. Their second album Cargo (2 May 1983) was No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in New Zealand, No. 3 in the US, and No. 8 in the UK. Their third album Two Hearts (3 April 1985) reached the top 20 in Australia and top 50 in the US. In 1984, Speiser and Rees were asked to leave the group, leaving Hay, Ham, and Strykert as a trio, accompanied by session musicians. During the recording of the Two Hearts album, Strykert decided to leave. Soon after the 1985 release of Two Hearts, Ham left also, leaving Hay as the sole remaining member. Hay elected to work as a solo artist shortly thereafter in early 1986, and the Men at Work name was retired. On 19 April 2012, Ham was found dead at his home from an apparent heart attack. Thanks again to Henry DeRooy for the fine art work. Flac