Men at Work (band)

Men at Work
General information
Genre (s)	skirt
founding	1979, 1996
resolution	1985, 2012
Founding members
Vocals , guitar	Colin Hay
Guitar , vocals	Ron Strykert
bass	John Rees
Drums	Jerry Speiser
Saxophone , flute , keyboard	Greg Ham († 2012)

Men at Work ( English for men [or people ] at work ) is a reggae- influenced Australian rock band that had its most successful period in the 1980s. The name came to the singer Colin Hay's mind as he drove past a construction site where nine construction workers sat around and only one did all the work.

The group became known through the two number one hits Down Under and Who Can It Be Now? . Down Under , a colloquial term for Australia, is a very ironic homage to home and, along with Waltzing Matilda , is considered the “secret Australian national anthem ”.

history

The band was founded in 1979 by the guitarist Ron Strykert (* 1957) and the singer Colin Hay in Melbourne . Greg Ham (1953–2012), John Rees and Jerry Speiser were later added.

Men at Work - Business as Usual (LP)

The LP Business as Usual , released in the fall of 1981, was number 1 on the US album charts for 15 weeks and was certified six times platinum . It is thus the most successful debut album in the USA. After the second album Cargo , which contained the hit Overkill and went platinum three times, two members split from the band. After the relatively low success of the third album, Men at Work finally disbanded in 1985 and the musicians turned to their own projects. In 1994 the band was honored with the induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame .

In 1996 Colin Hay and Greg Ham reunited under the old name and in 1998 the live album Brazil was created . In the following years the band toured with moderate success.

According to media reports, Greg Ham was found dead in his apartment on April 19, 2012.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US	AU
1982	Business as usual	DE15th gold (59 weeks)DE	-	UK1 platinum (44 weeks)UK	US1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (85 weeks)US	AU1 (? Where.) AU
1983	Cargo	DE7 (32 weeks) DE	-	UK8th gold (27 weeks)UK	US49 × 3 Triple platinum (42 weeks)US	AU1 (? Where.) AU	First published: March 1983
1985	Two hearts	DE31 (7 weeks) DE	CH16 (6 weeks) CH	-	US50 gold (13 weeks)US	AU16 (? Where) AU	First published: April 1985

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1983: In Concert (2 LPs)
• 1984: King Biscuit Flower Hour (2 LPs)
• 1997: Brazil '96

Compilations

• 1986: '81 - '85
• 1988: The Best of Men at Work
• 1992: Untitled
• 1995: Puttin 'in overtime
• 1996: Contraband: The Best of Men at Work
• 1997: Definitive Collection
• 1997: It's a mistake
• 1998: Simply the Best
• 2000: great hits
• 2002: Pop & Wave presents: Men at Work
• 2003: The Essential Men at Work
• 2004: Original hits
• 2004: The Best Of
• 2009: Playlist: The Very Best of Men at Work
• 2012: This Is Men at Work - The Greatest Hits

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US	AU
1981	Who Can It Be Now? Business as usual	DE71 (3 weeks) DE	-	UK45 (5 weeks) UK	US1 (27 weeks) US	AU2 (? Where.) AU	First publication: May 1981 release outside AU not until summer / autumn 1982
	Down Under Business as Usual	DE9 (36 weeks) DE	CH1 (13 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (12 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (25 weeks)US	AU1 (? Where.) AU	First published: November 1981 in UK and US not until late 1982
1982	Be Good Johnny Business as Usual	-	-	UK78 (2 weeks) UK	-	AU8 (? Where) AU	First published: March 1982 UK release in February 1984
	Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive Cargo	-	-	UK31 (7 weeks) UK	US28 (11 weeks) US	AU6 (? Where) AU	First published: November 1982 UK and US only released in September 1983
1983	Overkill cargo	DE30 (17 weeks) DE	-	UK21 (10 weeks) UK	US3 (16 weeks) US	AU5 (8 weeks) AU	First published: March 1983
	It's a mistake cargo	DE19 (14 weeks) DE	-	UK33 (6 weeks) UK	US6 (15 weeks) US	AU43 (8 weeks) AU	First published: June 1983
1985	Everything I Need Two Hearts	-	-	-	US47 (9 weeks) US	AU37 (? Where) AU	First published: May 1985

More singles

• 1979: Keypunch Operator
• 1983: High Wire
• 1985: Maria
• 1985: Hard Luck Story
• 1985: Sail to You

EPs

• 1983: Overtime
• 1996: Men at Work

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Canada 1982: for the single Who Can It Be Now? 1983: for the single Down Under 1983: for the single Overkill  Netherlands 1990: for the album Business as Usual

3 × platinum record  Canada 1983: for the album Cargo 5 × platinum record  Canada 1983: for the album Business as Usual

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
Canada (MC)	3 × gold3	8 × platinum8th	950,000	musiccanada.com
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold1	-	50,000	nvpi.nl
United States (RIAA)	gold1	10 × platinum10	10,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold1	2 × platinum2	1,100,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	7 × gold7th	20 × platinum20th

plagiarism

In 2010, an Australian judge ruled that the flute part came from the formation's most famous hit, Down Under , from the Boy Scout title and nursery rhyme Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, written in 1934 . The music publisher Larrikin Music, which holds the rights to that title, is therefore entitled to license fees. In return, the publisher demanded 60% of the total income since the song was released. However, only 5% of the income since 2002 has been granted, which is still around € 670,000. From this it can be deduced that the publisher, who administers the copyright for the title, had generated revenues of around € 13.4 million with this song since 2002. Extrapolated to 28 years since publication, that would be around € 35 million in royalties with just one song.

Others

Down under was u. a. used for advertising campaigns by the Australian airline Qantas Airways and played at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney .

literature

• Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 461f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .

Web links

• Men at Work at Allmusic (English)
• Men at Work at Discogs (English)
• Men at Work in Rate Your Music (English)
• Men at Work at 45cat.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://germanblogs.de/top-der-10-der-australischen-bands-diese-kuenstler-musiegen-down-under/# accessed on October 18, 2019
2. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000873085 accessed on October 19, 2019
3. ^ ARIA Hall of Fame. Australian Recording Industry Association , accessed August 6, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Men-at-Work member Greg Ham is dead on Spiegel Online
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK Billboard 200
6. ↑ Matthias Kugler, SWR3 of July 6, 2010, 6:21 p.m.
7. ↑ The star from February 4, 2010: The world hit "Down Under" has been stolen
8. ↑ The star from February 4, 2010: The world hit "Down Under" has been stolen