Men At Work - C or D

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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 years ago) link

"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 years ago) link

"Down by the Sea" rules.

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

they did cod reggae as good as anyone else

mentalist (mentalist), Saturday, 23 October 2004 11:08 (twenty years ago) link

"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 years ago) link

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 years ago) link

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 years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

gorgeous

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

Lovely!

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

"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 (fifteen years ago) link

Love "It's A Mistake."

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 January 2009 18:03 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

And yet the Gallagher brothers are both free.

Jazzbo, Tuesday, 17 February 2009 18:00 (fifteen years ago) link

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

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

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fifteen years ago) link

underrated movie.

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

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 (fifteen years ago) link

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 (fourteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Man At Work dies

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

This band has not had the easiest of afterlifes.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2012 12:44 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

RIP

kornrulez6969, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:35 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link

Aw, fuck no. He was my favorite.

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

pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:49 (twelve years ago) link

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 (twelve years ago) link


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