The syndicated radio show In The Studio celebrates the 30th anniversary of one of Men At Work's debut Business as Usual with a special online edition this week.In 1966 The Monkees held the record for most weeks by a debut album at #1 in the U.S. That was until 1982, when an unknown group from the Melbourne Australia pub scene called Men At Work managed to occupy the peak slot in America for 15 weeks! Thirty years ago, the songs "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under" followed the Business As Usual debut album from Men At Work to #1 sales in the U.S., something never before done by a rookie band, not even the Beatles.
And the phenomenon repeated worldwide, eventually racking up more than 15 million albums sold and a Grammy award in early 1983 for 'Best New Artist'. In the online-only "Medium Rare" feature, former Men At Work singer/songwriter Colin Hay shares with show host Redbeard what he believes were the driving forces behind their meteoric success. "We had the right songs, the right sound, we had the right kind of identifiable image that people seemed to like... All these things kind of made us successful. You can say it was because of this, it was because of that, it was because of all those things, but I think more than anything else, it was simply our time." Listen here.
