Jake Zavracky's scholarly research into the music of the 1980s continues with this 100% true fact-checked installment of real life music journalism. More from Jake on this site here. Go check out his music here.
Perhaps no other band in pop history has ever experienced a fall from stardom like Men At Work. The biggest band in the world in 1981 was nearly forgotten by 1985. Lead singer Colin Hay almost immediately began losing his mind during their meteoric rise; he had fully lost it by their fall. His condition received very little public notice. Today, Hay has fully transformed into a certifiably insane person.
Colin James Hay, born June 29, 1953, who is actually Scottish, began working as a piano player in the early 1970’s in Australian hotels and bars, earning tips and playing show tunes, occasionally interjecting one of his own marijuana fueled compositions, which was usually the thing that got him fired. On breaks he would go to the bathroom or out in the alley behind the kitchen to smoke pot, or to take the occasional line of cocaine, which may have ignited his willingness to experiment with a wider array of drugs a few years later.
In the late 1970’s, Hay began playing guitar and writing songs and performing with a partner, guitarist Ron Strykert, who introduced him to a much broader scope of drugs, including psychedelics.
The duo would eventually find more musicians and form Men At Work shortly before 1980.
They were signed just a short while later in 1981 by Columbia Records.
The band was an instant hit in Australia and New Zealand and, after a considerable amount of persuasion from their management, Columbia released their album “Business as Usual” in the US. It shot to the top of the charts selling 6 million copies and spawning 3 hit singles.
Critical and public reception to the the album was generally favorable. Men At Work were, however, not without their detractors:
Colin James Hay, born June 29, 1953, who is actually Scottish, began working as a piano player in the early 1970’s in Australian hotels and bars, earning tips and playing show tunes, occasionally interjecting one of his own marijuana fueled compositions, which was usually the thing that got him fired. On breaks he would go to the bathroom or out in the alley behind the kitchen to smoke pot, or to take the occasional line of cocaine, which may have ignited his willingness to experiment with a wider array of drugs a few years later.
In the late 1970’s, Hay began playing guitar and writing songs and performing with a partner, guitarist Ron Strykert, who introduced him to a much broader scope of drugs, including psychedelics.
The duo would eventually find more musicians and form Men At Work shortly before 1980.
They were signed just a short while later in 1981 by Columbia Records.
The band was an instant hit in Australia and New Zealand and, after a considerable amount of persuasion from their management, Columbia released their album “Business as Usual” in the US. It shot to the top of the charts selling 6 million copies and spawning 3 hit singles.
Critical and public reception to the the album was generally favorable. Men At Work were, however, not without their detractors:
The Police’s lead singer Sting was reported to have been infuriated upon hearing “Business as Usual,” calling the band “charlatans” and saying of Hay “I heard me singing on the radio today only it wasn’t me, it was Colin Hay of Men At Work.”
Hay denied stealing Sting’s style, claiming in an interview with Creem magazine that he had “never even heard the Police until yesterday”. He went on to say “...and I didn’t really even like it, certainly not enough to copy it... I think Sting sings like a mong version of Harry Belafonte, so I made that whole album without any influence from them...... so you can see how it wasn’t possible for me to rip them off, unless I could travel back in time, which I can.”
This was not the first nor would it be the last time Hay would reference his ability to time travel. His claims of being able to blink himself into a different year grew more frequent over the next several years; this may have been provoked by his growing addiction to psychedelics, particularly LSD, which he experimented with more and more heavily as Men At Work ascended to stardom. Even then the drugs began to take their toll on Hay’s mental health. As early as their first album, “Business As Usual”, Hay’s fractured mind came to the fore lyrically:
On the first single from "Business As Usual" “Who Can It Be Now?”, Hay describes his world as a paranoid drug addict, afraid to answer the door: “Stay away, don't you invade my home”, which perfectly crystallizes his desire for isolation, brought on by an addiction to an ever-expanding abuse of hard drugs.
In the songs bridge, Hay sings of a suspicion that he’s being followed, a common delusion of cocaine addicts: “Is it the man come to take me away?/ Why do they follow me?”
On the second single “Down Under,” Hay sings “Traveling in a fried-out Kombi/ On a hippie trail, head full of zombie” which rather blatantly references the experience of an acid trip in the desert. It is also a well established fact that no sober person has ever purchased a Kombi.
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He goes on to describe further encounters all over the world while under the influence of psychedelics and, in the third verse, even opiates: “Lying in a den in Bombay/with a slack jaw and not much to say."
“Be Good Johnny,” the album's third single, contains a bridge which further contains a short skit in which Hay seems to interview himself as two different personalities; one of a Australian blue collar type, and the other of Johnny, the subject of the song, a young boy. It is unclear what the actual message of the song is supposed to be unless it is only a general statement about youth: “I only like dreaming all the day long/ while others are screaming ‘Be good, Johnny,’" but it is certainly groundbreaking in that it represents what must be the first time a lead singer has interviewed two of his split personalities in the middle of a song.
The video for the song contains another allusion to Hay’s personalities: He stands alone singing the chorus, until suddenly from behind him the rest of the band appears like branches growing quickly on a tree to sing the word “Johnny,” each member representing one of Hay’s multiple personalities.
The band followed “Business As Usual” with a much weaker effort, “Cargo,” in 1983, although the latter contained “Overkill,” arguably the band’s best song, if not one of the best pop songs of the 1980’s. The song continued themes of Hay’s paranoia and increasing isolation: “Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear”; the “fear” being yet another reference to paranoia from drug abuse. The chorus concludes with the line “Ghosts appear and fade away,” another allusion to hallucinations.
In that this type of lifestyle cannot usually be successfully sustained while being famous and having to make appearances and perform at scheduled times, Men At Work began to crumble.
In 1985 they released “Two Hearts,” which was a far weaker effort than even “Cargo.” The album is currently unavailable in any format. Strykert left the band in the middle of its creation. After having been one of the biggest bands in the world only a few years later, Men At Work broke up completely during the tour for “Two Hearts."
Hay spiralled even further downward. His drug problem was exacerbated by a sudden lack of attention, and, ironically, he now longed for the spotlight from which he had spent the past five years running.
“In the early 80's, for what must have been three straight years, I literally could not do or say anything wrong," Hay would later tell Smash Hits Magazine. "Every joke I made was laughed at. Everything I said was listened to and nodded at. Suddenly, at some seemingly arbitrary point, it was all yanked away from me, and then I was treated as if I was somebody’s racist uncle at Christmas dinner. People turned away from me. Shortly after that, nobody knew who I was anymore. I was so high all the time, and I rarely left the house. That’s when I found Hammer.”
The trajectory of Hay’s life changed dramatically in 1990, when he obtained a promotional copy of “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” by the not yet hugely famous MC Hammer. Hay was so taken with the album that it influenced him in all aspects of his life. He found himself unable to make any new music, fearing that it would only pale in comparison to “Please Hammer....” Hay told the Australian press of the impact the album had on him: “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em was a collection of songs ... that somehow went together like no album ever made before, and I was very daunted, even frightened.”
Hammer did influence Hay in one positive manner; Hay stopped using drugs. But at that point his mind was already so splintered by years of abuse that the damage had been done.
Hay’s obsession with Hammer became more profound in the early 90’s, judging by several interviews with various music press. In an interview he did with Melody Maker, the British rock magazine, Hay said the following:
“Sometimes I wonder if I should try to improve myself as a person. But then I ask myself 'would Hammer do that?' Of course not. Hammer is already complete; to try to change yourself is futile. Hammer knows that. People go to therapy to try to exorcise these things from themselves. Now ask yourself. 'Would Hammer go to therapy?' Certainly not. The man recognizes the futility in trying to change oneself.... he accepts what he is, and so do I.”
Around this time Hay probably alienated just about everyone around him by constantly donning purple Hammer pants. He also attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to employ Hammer’s quick footed dancing style at his acoustic shows. He would go offstage after his set, wait for the encore, return to the stage and play “Overkill” and then begin doing the Hammer dance in his purple Hammer pants; often for as long as 20 minutes. Anyone left in the audience at the end of his dance performance would be treated to “Down Under” which was followed by more dancing.
In 1994, Hay was sent reeling by the release of the leadoff single “Pumps and a Bump” from the album “The Funky Headhunter,” which was a radical departure for Hammer in that it sounded nothing like his earlier work and exactly like the gangsta-rap that was currently dominating hip-hop.
Hay found it jarring.
The video for "Pumps and a Bump" featured the Hammer-pants-less Hammer by his garish swimming pool at his Fremont CA mansion, surrounded by women with very pronounced buttocks. Hammer wore a zebra striped Speedo, which left very little to the imagination and displayed his penile girth quite plainly. Hammer’s now legendary penis video repelled Hay.
Hay’s idol’s obvious crisis of faith left him with his own. “I didn’t even know [Hammer] anymore. And I realized that I didn’t know myself. I had defined myself first by what sycophants were telling me I was, and then what I saw of myself in Hammer, and all the sycophants were gone, and Hammer was in a Speedo flashing his penis around, and I had alienated all my friends and family by wearing Hammer pants all the time......Where was I to turn?“
Hay grew inward, despondent. He became a hermit and moved to a country house in Scotland, where he still lives.
He has a hobby of making small statues of the classic Hammer. He wears one around his neck, the others he sells on ebay. Hay has accrued such a fortune from Men At Work hits that he doesn’t need to do anything else.
The Hammer statues are always wearing purple Hammer pants.
--JAKE ZAVRACKY
Hay found it jarring.
The video for "Pumps and a Bump" featured the Hammer-pants-less Hammer by his garish swimming pool at his Fremont CA mansion, surrounded by women with very pronounced buttocks. Hammer wore a zebra striped Speedo, which left very little to the imagination and displayed his penile girth quite plainly. Hammer’s now legendary penis video repelled Hay.
Hay’s idol’s obvious crisis of faith left him with his own. “I didn’t even know [Hammer] anymore. And I realized that I didn’t know myself. I had defined myself first by what sycophants were telling me I was, and then what I saw of myself in Hammer, and all the sycophants were gone, and Hammer was in a Speedo flashing his penis around, and I had alienated all my friends and family by wearing Hammer pants all the time......Where was I to turn?“
Hay grew inward, despondent. He became a hermit and moved to a country house in Scotland, where he still lives.
He has a hobby of making small statues of the classic Hammer. He wears one around his neck, the others he sells on ebay. Hay has accrued such a fortune from Men At Work hits that he doesn’t need to do anything else.
The Hammer statues are always wearing purple Hammer pants.
--JAKE ZAVRACKY
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13 comments:
Please refer to my previous thoughts re: Cameo's "Candy".
Candy is a great song! Where can I read these thoughts.
Also how can a magazine that has called itself "Rolling Stone" not have Muddy Waters on the cover when Muddy Waters dies?
https://putthatshitonthelist.com/2011/10/internet-cocaine.html#comments
Because Rolling Stone is about making money first and music third.
A crazy eyed dope fiend and randy negro penis? Jake and Luke may just take over the world with this PTSOTL tag team. Excellent article, Mr. Zavracky. Except for quitting drugs I'd say Colin Hay has the perfect life. To be an independently wealthy drug abusing hermit.....
Excellent article, and you are absolutely right about "Overkill". One of the best.
Such a good jam.
yes, jake, do one for candy - it is the greatest video
It's hard to satirize something so purposefully ridiculous as Cameo. The video for Candy is already hilarious on its own! That song rulz.
Colin Hay's lyrics juxtapose poetry with profanity, anger with longing and big world issues with the personal..his drug and emotional abuse being a prime example. His emotive voice still boasts a hip-hop influenced cadence that makes for some real fun and interesting wordplay.
Dr. Z: My hat is off to you, sir. Please allow me to extend an Internet high-five.
I THINK THIS SAYS IT ALL GUYZ
Cause you affect me, fascinate me
I thank heaven for the things that you do (for the things that you do)
It's like candy
You sure are sweet - Sweet!
You're so dandy
You're taking my appetite - but it's all right
It's like candy
(ooh, vanilla! oh, chocolate!)
You look real nice, wrapped up tight
You're so dandy
(in the night, if I have a little bit more like that)
You're giving me a heart attack
It's the kind I like
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