Before AC/DC, there was Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs! One of the loudest bands ever still to this day over 50 years later. Besides having one of the most powerful voices worldwide, Billy was a very inclusive performer, he wanted everyone at his gigs to have a great time, and we all did. First class.
It sure is. Bands like Billy Thorpe Rose Tattoo Radio Birdman The Angels The Skyhooks The Saints Johnny Diesel etc. Never bothered to crack the American market because they didn't need to. They're God's there
I'm a retired guitarist and I got to meet Billy backstage at an Alice Cooper gig not long b4 he passed and I got to tell Him how "mama" made me say yes to guitar no to drums. That song n groove changed everything 4 me. RIP Mr Thorpe as I called him. Respect. 😎🤘
When television was television and music was music, bloody brilliant. Miss you, talented, amazing musician Mr Billy Thorpe and his Aztecs. I have watched this so many times always blown away.
I saw him perform 25.2.2007 at Westernport hotel San Remo...HOLY FUCK...he was electrifying! He died 3 days later. I am firever grateful & blessed for having that experience❤
As a kid growing up in Australia these classic Aussie sounds made the world seem a very exciting place, now looking back is it really brilliant that their is that distinct Australian rock sound, which certaily shaped the way we all danced!
Long live Billy Thorpe, and long live Aussie Pub Rock. If it wasn't for Billy, I doubt there would've been any Pub Rock and I totally love Aussie Pub Rock. Even if I was born in 1981, still love the Aussie rock.
I was born in 1963 and I think I got the best of it all from 60's to the 80's. saw ACDC at the local town hall, Chisel at the beginning in the Largs Pier hotel, INXS, The Models at the botanical gardens. and then all the touring Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's. great time to be young
During my angst driven teenage years Billy showed me the way to evolve through Sex & Drugs & Hard Rock - thank you Billy ! Billy Thorpe had more balls than a billiard table-& his energy & attitude on stage was phenomenal ! How cool (and a thing unknown now) for a band to do a 10 minute song & have it on air (thanks GTK) Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs= Legend
This song is sensational. Billy was a great showman and could really belt out a song I used to watch GTK on the ABC when it was on Fridays nights I was only about eight years old, my sister had a huge crush on Billy Thorpe. The band members used to live near Sydney University. I was only a kid and I met the band members and Billy a few times my stepsister used to hang out with them in the old Terrace the band members shared. I remember my Dad blowing he’s top and placing a curfew on my stepsister when Dad found out she was doing dope with them, they where doing more then weed. However I love this performance by them. Such stamina. Billy really felt the music. Great song too. 🌟⭐️😇🇦🇺
Beautiful to the ears! Gibson through Mashall, no pedals. Love this! Thanks Billy! If this was the only song you ever did, it would have been more than enough!
Thorpie was the loudest because he found that he could piggyback his amps, thus The Aztecs were the loudest band in the country at time. The large Marshal Stacks that say Led Zeppelin used were just too expensive to buy at the time. My mum worked at The Whitehorse so she saw him twice a week there for a few years. Good times in rock for Melbourne. RIP Thorpie
I may not have learned about Billy Thorpe through my dad, but most of the music I love and listen to regularly I learned about from my dad who I lost earlier this year.
that 9mins would have taken up the whole segment.. from memory gtk went for 10 mins .. bloody unreal how this still beats the shit out of most bands since
Thorpie was just naturally popular, nothing to do with newspapers, etc. He played and people loved his sound, and they followed him around. When he came back from the US after 20 years, they went back to see him. Nothing like it anywhere else.
I remember so vividly when he turned and asked me ..how do we sound..I was like..yeah..good...sittin on the floor..few feet away from him suckin on my beer n smoke. .he's like good. So cranked it up a notch.let loose a bit..before we called it a night.
Billy had so many careers The child star The screaming girls pop star The hard rocking loud rock star you see here And of course the latter day mature icon Australian Legend
used to go and see the Aztecs in some huge pub in Melbourne (Matthew Flinders maybe) on a Sunday afternoon, you had to buy a meal to get a ticket otherwise no alcohol, Lobby used to turn up drunk and jam with the boys, those were the days...
Possibly one of the best voices around, live and really nailing it while playing guitar, he became quite an accomplished guitarist this night using a cranked distorted amp but without a great deal of sustain, not so great for soloing. No signs on voice degradation at all even toward the end.
I grew up in Mitcham next suburb up the highway from the Whitehorse and we could hear him when we went for a burger at the George A cafe.....Ahhh those were the days.
Loudest band! I may have been a very young kid when these guys were around, but they are legendary to the power behind them and that of Billy Thorpes voice. My HERO to this day!
@MichaelKingsfordGray As far as I remember the Australian Govt. didn't ban any records. It was the radio stations who arked up against the mainly British owned record companies who demanded extra payment or royalties for playing mostly British records on the radio. So the radio stations refused to play them for 6 months until the record companies came to their senses. This gave some local bands a chance to cover some of the British songs and to have hit records here in Oz in their own right.
@Badge290 He was the greatest I had the pleasure of having a drink with him at the Village green in 1971-72 I think and those days were the greatest as He never forgot me and always said hello I feel priveliged one of the all time grats
This is balls out awesome. Australian blues / rock had it bang on in the 70's. Just listen to the drive you get in this & Coloured Balls "Working Mans Boogie". Not subtle, just a pounding guitar pushing the song forward.
Billy Thorpe was remarkable and sad that the world was not able to witness him and the Aztecs in their later years. They were the best,by far, the best rock band in Aust at that time.
when I was fifteen around time of this vid, used to go to Electric Circus, club in Brisbane, see Billy, he would be on a stage only about 10 inches high, all the audience would sit on the floor and listen to Billy blast the hell out of the place, each song was like this, more of a jam really, would last for 8 - 10 mins, he looked just like this then...great memories
Knew about BT but wasn't aware of his stint as a blues-rocker. Love this. Totally primal and all the better for it. He sure knows how to wring the neck of a Les Paul. The tone is wicked! Thanks for posting.
I first saw this early one morning on RAGE, about 20 years ago. I just finished reading 'Thorpies Time On Earth' fanstic!!! RIP legend, The best in Australia
Cool to see Billy Thorpe playing. this was long before I'd heard of him, or his influence on Oz rock. All I'd heard was Children of the Sun, which was the only Thorpe track played in the US. From vids like these one can tell automatically that Thorpe was quite the player. It also sounds quite loud -- I mean, the stage volume must have been blistering. Elsewhere I've read the amps Thorpe used were 300W or something like that. Thanks for posting this.
So good. I can FEEL how loud it was. Another 10 pound POM done good! Same as Brod Smith, Jon English, John Farnham and those Scottish boys, the Youngs. Fuck knows where Oz Rock would be without them
Sensational. Rock at its best, seemingly raw but underpinned by great talent and control, with a voice the best rock has witnessed along with Lennon and Cobain.
