Molly Meldrum - The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story: Life, Countdown and everything in between

References in this book to the show Countdown are made solely in the background context of describing events in the life story of Molly Meldrum and not for any other purpose, and there is no connection with or any endorsement of this book by the ABC, which is the owner of intellectual property rights relating to the show Countdown.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. In cases where these efforts were unsuccessful, the copyright holders are asked to contact the publisher directly.

First published in 2014

Copyright Molly Meldrum 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

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ISBN 978 1 76011 205 9

eISBN 978 1 74343 923 4

Internal design by Deborah Parry Graphics
Endpapers ( Newspix)
Index by Puddingburn
Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Australia

Though I wasnt witness to his early antics, they have become industry legend. Long may he reign as our King, or Queen, of Pop n Roll. Molly Meldrum is, in short, The Real Thing.

Kylie Minogue

I must give Molly credit where credit is dueI know of no one else who can write so much about so little and take up so much space saying it.

Stan Rofe, Go-Set magazine, 19 June, 1971

Molly is at a club in Regent Street, London, at a party for the Royal Command screening of Titanic, when he feels a tap on the shoulder.

Excuse me, Molly, Im sorry to interrupt you, but there are a lot of people here and I might miss you later and this is my chance to say hello and tell you how much I loved Countdown and how much I admire you.

It is Geoffrey Rush, Australias Academy Award-winning actor.

Molly smiles. Thank you very much, Geoffrey. I havent had the honour of meeting you until now, but I want to congratulate you on winning your Academy Award for your excellent performance in The Piano. I just thought it was so good, and the odds were against you...

As Molly waffles on, hes struck by a dreadful realisation.

Geoffrey, Im so sorry. I said The Piano, but, of course, it wasnt The Piano. You played a piano in it, but it was Shine. Im so sorry.

Thats all right.

No, its not. Its inexcusable. I am so sorry.

Look, Geoffrey says, placing his hand gently on Mollys shoulder, thats what Im trying to say, Mollythats why we love you so much.

CONTENTS

About a decade after I got my Molly tattoo on my left arm, I returned to The Tattoo Shop on Sunset Boulevard to get it re-coloured.

Hey, beamed the tattooist, the boss must have done this one all those years ago! Would you like the name changed?

Um, no.

So youre still with the same girl?!

Um, yeah.

Thats great! Hey, everyone, check this outthis guy is still with the same lady after more than 10 years!

Then he whispered to me, How do you do it? Im having some problems with my lady right now...

Over the following minutes, I dispensed some vague relationship adviceas I hoped and prayed that no one from Australia walked in and said, Hey, Molly!

But I guess the tattooist was right. Molly and I have been together for a very long time.

I once had a bath with Ian, so I know hes been clean at least once in the 40-odd years Ive known him!

Im writing this without having read the book, so at the moment my imagination is running wild, with the volume knob on 11 and the outrageous knob falling off! As always with Ian, its hard not to go straight to the outrageous. His sense of dramaand, believe me, were talking a highly developed sense of dramaI am sure will entertain as you rip (figuratively) through the pages to follow.

Jill, Rob, James and I dont see a lot of Ian nowadays, which is goodabsence makes the heart grow fonder! And were all very fond of him at this time...

All jokes aside, though, the mans a passionate crusader, not only for the Australian music industry, but the music industry as a whole. If I had to sum him up in a few words, I couldnt. Thats why youve had to read all this drivel.

I know one thing for sureif youre interested in the ins-and-outs and the comings-and-goings in the world of popular music and its exponents, then you just made a pretty good investment.

As the great lady herself said:

Fasten your seat belt, youre in for a bumpy ride...

John Farnham was the only artist to perform on the first and last Countdown.

Molly and I didnt become really close until Countdown started broadcasting in 1974. A year or so before that, I had started the fledgling independent record label Mushroom Records. We were all putting our heart and soul into it, and had some success with a couple of minor hits and a gold album, but we almost went under.

Finally, one of our acts, Skyhooks, who I was also managing at the time, was embraced by the Australian public. This five-piece band was made up of brazen lads sporting make-up, bizarre costumes and, most importantly, writing and performing fantastic songs featuring risqu double-entendre lyrics delivered by a cheeky young chippie with surfie good looks and a killer voicethe late great Graeme Shirley Strachan.

Skyhooks were an ideal act in the early 70s when Countdown began. At that time, colour TV burst into our lounge-rooms and the perfect entertainment storm had arrived. Molly developed the show and put his stamp all over it. His key role when the show began broadcasting was talent coordinator, until 1975, when he finally agreed to host a weekly news segment that John Paul Young nicknamed Humdrum. Countdown was Molly and Molly was Countdown.

The Australian public can thank one Ian Molly Meldrum for introducing them to a plethora of Australian and international artists during this segment: to name-drop a couple of prime international examples, ABBA and Madonna, who no one had ever heard of before Molly championed them. Ultimately, they charted in Australia before they enjoyed success in their own countries.

As for Mushroom Records and Countdown, every week we would meet, talk and argue about which Mushroom artists would perform, have their video played and/or be reviewed by Molly. If it wasnt me, it would be one of the other Mushroom staff who would go around to his house to try to convince Molly to give our artists an airing on national TV.

During all the years that Countdown broadcast on the ABC every Sunday at 6 p.m., it was rare for a week to go by that one of our Mushroom label artists wasnt performing, or a clip played or the album spoken about by Molly. Thank you, Molly.