Men At Work - C or D

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Classic

― Poops McGee, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic, all the way.

― clotion, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dud.

― Sean, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The singles are classic. Don't know about the albums.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic, in a "novelty music that hasn't been beaten to death by fucking students" way.

― Judd Nelson, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

now, this has got to be a joke, right? being an australian at the height of their fame was one of the most cringe-inducing things i've ever had to live through. DUD for that damned flute if for nothing else!

― philT, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not even kitschy. Dud.

― Dave225, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Superdooper dud. Singles, albums, videos, solo careers, everything.

― Arthur, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeh, I'll go along with you on this one phil, being bang smack in the middle of punk, some other cringing music shows like countdown etc called these boys punk or the even worse tag "New Wave". Come on now, you had your choice, the saints and the birthday party or cold chisel and men at work. Pure Loathing Utter Dud!

― Harry H, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

utter fucking shite

― Queen G, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Do you come from a land down under...?"

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Bang smack in the middle of punk" you're joking surely.

Oh come on, Men at Work were great. They were like The Police with better songs and less punchable band members.

― clotion, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

less punchable band members

Not that *that* was hard for most bands to achieve.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Okay, my memorys slipping (how unusual). I just found out they didn't form till '79 so lets say "The Arse end of punk". The Police or Men at Work for the most punchable musicians, interesting. Too close to call but it'd be an even closer contest which band had the worse name.

― Harry H, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know someone who got the "Business As Usual" album when "Who Can It Be Now?" was a minor hit, before "Down Under" and all that, and it was a pretty OK Aussie "New Wave" type album. The singles are good, but the there's some filler on the rest of the album, although "Be Good Johnny", "Catch a Star", and "Down By The Beach" are pretty decent. "Helpless Automation" has also got an interesting edginess to it as well...

― Old Fart!!!!, Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

Oh come on, Men at Work were great. They were like The Police with better songs and less punchable band members.

I like this.

I'm in the classic camp, because I take pleasure in the band's work. But I also freely admit that it is a guilty pleasure.

― Edward Bax, Friday, 22 October 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I think "Cargo" is a great album. It was actually the first album I ever owned -- at age 4. "It's a Mistake" and "No Sign of Yesterday" stand out for me.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 22 October 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"Overkill" was a great single.

― Phil Dennison (Phil D.), Friday, 22 October 2004 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm in the classic camp..

That's a good way to describe Men At Work. Classic Camp.

Had they formed today, their name would've been Men @ Work.

"Overkill" is grebt. Another song with a good sax solo.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 23 October 2004 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Overkill" really really did something special for me. Little niche in my heart still there for that one. But I never bought their albums and god knows we don't really need to hear their most well known songs yet another time. So I don't know.

― Bimble (bimble), Saturday, 23 October 2004 09:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Down by the Sea" rules.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 23 October 2004 09:20 (twenty-one years ago)

they did cod reggae as good as anyone else

― mentalist (mentalist), Saturday, 23 October 2004 11:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Down Under" I thought was quite smashing, and still do. That nagging sax riff in "Who Can It Be Now?" was pleasantly annoying. Can't remember what their other hits sounded like, apart from the titles.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 23 October 2004 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)

when I was relegated to reviewing reissues in the late 90s, the publicity guy at Sony Legacy once asked: "what do you think our best selling reissue is?" LS: "Uh, Bruce? Aerosmith? Bob Dylan?"
Nah, you guessed it. Men at Work.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 23 October 2004 12:53 (twenty-one years ago)

For the best selling reissue, you would have thought they could have done a better job with selecting the bonus material for the first record. I mean, really, live tracks from the Hay/Ham reunion show in 1996? Plenty of better, and more rare material they could have used.

The second record reissue, however, is spot on.

― Edward Bax, Saturday, 23 October 2004 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill
Overkill

I heard it in a grocery store a few weeks ago and was like OH MY FUCKING GOD.

I remember being like 12 years old and wondering what that word meant - "overkill".

Think of it as a little echo of Bimble's later goth transgressions.

― With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 11:36 (seventeen years ago)

gorgeous

― matt p (Matt P), Thursday, 1 January 2009 11:43 (seventeen years ago)

Lovely!

― With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 1 January 2009 11:45 (seventeen years ago)

"Down Under" was a bit too much novelty, but "Cargo" was a great pop album that got way underrated because it wasn't what people expected from them.

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 1 January 2009 17:39 (seventeen years ago)

Love "It's A Mistake."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 January 2009 18:03 (seventeen years ago)

The three singles from "Cargo" were all great. "Overkill", "It's a Mistake". And also "Dr Heckyll & Mr. Jive".

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 1 January 2009 22:50 (seventeen years ago)

I want to feel my heart.

I'm looking for my heart.

― With Oatmeal Sauce (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Friday, 2 January 2009 04:55 (seventeen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Day after day it reappears
night after night, my heartbeat shows the fears
ghosts appear and fade away

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
of diving in too deep
I worry over situations that I know will be alright
it's just overkill

― I am a vampire, therefore I take garlic pills (Bimble), Monday, 19 January 2009 06:20 (seventeen years ago)

Classic for 'Down By The Sea' and 'Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive' which has always reminded me of Max Tundra, why I'm not sure, maybe the chorus.

― MaresNest, Monday, 19 January 2009 11:19 (seventeen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Whuh?:

Ronald Strykert, 51, one of the founders of the band, was arrested Feb. 13 by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies on an outstanding bench warrant on a charge of making criminal threats.
Strykert threatened to kill the band's lead singer, Colin Hay, in December 2007 in an incident that was handled by the Sheriff Department's Lost Hills-Malibu station, according Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The guitarist skipped out last May on his arraignment on a misdemeanor charge of making criminal threats, Robison said.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 17 February 2009 17:55 (seventeen years ago)

i can understand inter-band relations getting a bit heated at times but that's just "Overkill".

― Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ft Phil Collins (jim), Tuesday, 17 February 2009 17:58 (seventeen years ago)

And yet the Gallagher brothers are both free.

― Jazzbo, Tuesday, 17 February 2009 18:00 (seventeen years ago)

Would've totally pegged Greg Ham as the MaW member who flipped out.

― •--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 17 February 2009 18:09 (seventeen years ago)

one month passes...

Overkill is classic. course it's cuz its very topical for me at the moment....

― III IV V (Bo Jackson Overdrive), Monday, 30 March 2009 22:09 (seventeen years ago)

altho I liked the solo Colin Hay version that wound up on that episode of Scrubs better....

― III IV V (Bo Jackson Overdrive), Monday, 30 March 2009 22:10 (seventeen years ago)

four months pass...

Don't mess with the Kookaburra.

"Larrikin claims the flute riff from the 1981 hit is stolen from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written by Marion Sinclair for the Girl Guides in 1934."

also lol @

"Down Under, a number one in Australia, the US and the UK, tells the story of an Australian backpacker touring the world.

It pays tribute to "a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder".

The song also references popular Australian food spread Vegemite.

"I said 'do you speak my language?', he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich," it says.

― wide swing juggalo (Euler), Thursday, 30 July 2009 11:25 (sixteen years ago)

That reads like one of those "Unusual details in wikipedia articles"

― Stop wishing death on people just for the cool thread titles (Myonga Vön Bontee), Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:37 (sixteen years ago)

The line

"I said 'do you speak my language?', he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich," it says.

makes my head spin.

― wide swing juggalo (Euler), Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:40 (sixteen years ago)

lol @ the vegemite sandwich line, never heard that. the delivery makes the song, as a wee young boy i'd just sing along while making up gibberish lyrics

xpost - exactly!

― willem, Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:48 (sixteen years ago)

xpost well, that's a coincidence (honest)..

This is the thread for unnecessary details in BBC News articles.

― Mark G, Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:54 (sixteen years ago)

underrated movie.

― #/.'#/'@ilikecats (g-kit), Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:56 (sixteen years ago)

Music company Larrikin has won the first stage of a copyright case over the Men At Work song Down Under.

We used to sing that song when I was at kindy, but I never heard the echoes of it in the Down Under solo until now.

― moley, Saturday, 1 August 2009 09:51 (sixteen years ago)

six months pass...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8497433.stm

Yep, the girl guides have won.

― Mark G, Thursday, 4 February 2010 11:47 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

Man At Work dies

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 11:19 (fourteen years ago)

This band has not had the easiest of afterlifes.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:44 (fourteen years ago)

Rather heartening how "Overkill" has become the band's most famous hit in recent years.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:49 (fourteen years ago)

That sucks. Business As Usual was the first album I ever bought with my own money. In many ways my first favorite band.

RIP, Greg.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:59 (fourteen years ago)

RIP

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:35 (fourteen years ago)

Rather heartening how "Overkill" has become the band's most famous hit in recent years.

^^^

― it's smdh time in America (will), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:41 (fourteen years ago)

It's annoying that this guy is just being reported as the flautist, cos he was also the sax player on stuff like Overkill and Who Can It Be Now.

― Friends of Mr Caeiro (NickB), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:42 (fourteen years ago)

and he wrote and sang "Helpless Automaton", one of my favorite deep cuts from Business As Usual.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:46 (fourteen years ago)

yeah i was gonna say, the "Who Can It Be Now" sax is probably as famous as the "Down Under" flute

― lathe darkman (some dude), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:47 (fourteen years ago)

Aw, fuck no. He was my favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m13QMwLpruM

― pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:49 (fourteen years ago)

RIP :(

Btw. I consider "Overkill" to be their best song. "Down Under" was fun and all, but maybe too much of a novelty. "Overkill" was an excellent pop song, partly also thanks to the wonderful sax theme by Ham.

― The GeirBot (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:32 (fourteen years ago)

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