8 November 1974(1974-11-08)– 19 July 1987(1987-07-19)
Countdown was a weekly Australian music television program that was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 8 November 1974 until 19 July 1987.[1] It was created by Executive Producer Michael Shrimpton, producer/director Robbie Weekes and record producer and music journalist Ian "Molly" Meldrum. Countdown was produced at the studios of the ABC in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. It was screened Sunday night from 6:00pm to 7:00.
Countdown was the most popular music program in Australian TV history. It was broadcast nationwide on Australia's government-owned broadcaster, the ABC, and commanded a huge and loyal audience. It soon exerted a strong influence on radio programmers because of its audience and the amount of Australian content it featured. The first half-hour episode went to air at 6.30pm on Friday, 8 November 1974, but for most of the time it was on air, it also gained double exposure throughout the country by screening a new episode each Sunday evening, and then repeating it the following Saturday evening. The majority of performances on the show were lip synched.
Molly Meldrum, the program's talent co-ordinator, began appearing on-air in 1975, presenting the "Humdrum" music news segment and conducting interviews. Meldrum soon became the "face" of Countdown. He appeared regularly on-air until 1986. Another attraction to the program was the local and international acts who would host an episode - usually performing as well. During the show, Meldrum would interview them (while co-hosting) or have a chat with them before the show went out with the number 1 single of the week. In October 2014, Meldrum published his autobiography, The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story.
Cultural influence
Teen-oriented pop music still enjoyed strong popularity during the 1970s, although much of it was sourced from overseas, and the proportion of Australian acts in the charts had hit an all-time low by 1973. That trend began to change around 1975, and many credit that largely to the advent of Countdown. Much of the show's influence derived from its timeslot (Sundays at 6pm) and the fact that each week's show was repeated the following Saturday at 5pm; the series also undoubtedly benefitted hugely from the long-delayed introduction of PALcolour television system in Australia, which was introduced four months after Countdown premiered. Because of this, Countdown was also one of the first Australian TV series to be made entirely in colour.[2]
Although it is not widely recognised, Countdown also had a strong international influence, because it was one of the first TV shows in the world to promote the regular use of the music video as a major part of its programming. Because of its receptivity to music videos (something of a necessity because of the comparative rarity of tours by overseas acts) Countdown proved to be instrumental in the worldwide success of a number of important overseas acts of the period. Madonna achieved her first hit single in April 1984 when "Holiday" was screened on Countdown. Subsequently, "Burning Up" reached the top twenty following repeated showings of the video clip on the show; this second song was not a hit in other countries. Other international artists including Blondie, ABBA, John Mellencamp, Meat Loaf, Boz Scaggs and Cyndi Lauper achieved their first hits in Australia, thanks to their video clips being aired on Countdown, and this in turn led to their records being picked up and becoming hits in America and/or Europe.
The program dominated Australian popular music well into the 1980s. The popularity of Countdown started to lose momentum by the mid-1980s. Music videos were often shown, rather than the artists performing live in the studio. It was cheaper to produce with videos and this led to Countdown having no significant difference from any other music video program shown on TV during this time.[citation needed]
The final episode of Countdown aired on 19 July 1987. Meldrum co-hosted with, and interviewed, Carol Hitchcock and Jim Keays.[3][4] It was followed by the last Countdown Awards ceremony. It was a sad night for many, yet a celebration of musical achievements in '86/'87. Meldrum made his appearance at the end of the show wearing his well-known Stetson hat. Meldrum saluted the music industry and fans and then bared his shaved head to the audience. It was well known that his shaved head was a statement to artists like Midnight Oil, who during their career and being one of Australia's favourite bands, never appeared on the show because they often regarded Countdown as too industry/hit driven and appealed only to a young teenage audience.
In March 2007, the pay television service Foxtel, and its regional affiliate Austar, began screening hundreds of studio performances from the Countdown era. Themed Countdown specials have become very popular and lost performances by John Farnham, drag queen Divine, a-ha, Pseudo Echo and the Countdown Dancers performing the Flashdance medley highlight the great music of the period.
A well known segment of the show's run is an atypical studio interview Meldrum conducted with Prince Charles. Meldrum was extremely nervous about interviewing the prince and botched a great many takes during the interview by flubbing his lines and even committing several royal protocol blunders. Members of his production crew gave him constant encouragement between takes and eventually Prince Charles politely asked Meldrum if he could get a teleprompter to assist him with the interview, to which Meldrum replied that there was not one available.
The interview, or rather, the numerous botched takes from it, has become a staple of blooper shows in Australia. Meldrum has since said of the interview, "It's not a regret, but I definitely stuffed that up."
Wiped episodes
A large number of master videotapes recorded between 1974 and 1978 were later erased and recycled during a management-initiated "economy drive" at the ABC, an action which Meldrum later criticised and said was "unforgivable".[6] Given the costs at the time of recording on videotape, most tapes were wiped and re-used. At least 100 episodes in total were erased from this period of the show's history.
In the book Glad All Over[7] Michael Shrimpton said at that time the ABC were "run by financial types [who] suddenly discovered that the increase in the purchase of video tapes had roared up 200 percent in 12 months". He said they didn't stop to consider that the video tape "was the cheapest link in the chain". An order came through from middle-management Bill Pritchard to erase a whole wall of tapes.
500 12-inch reels were pulled out which affected at least 100 episodes. Ted Emery and Paul Drane heard about the order, surreptitiously removing as many reels as they could during the middle of the night and hiding them in their cars.[7] According to Ted Emery, when the order came to erase the episodes he used stalling tactics[7] such as moving the tapes around. He said: "I kept thinking fifteen years down the track this stuff will be important." The producers tried stalling further by handing in trims and pre-assemblies rather than the master copies. "But it wasn't enough," Emery said. "I didn't have enough to give him so they took the masters as well".[7] Had it not been for Emery and Drane, the few episodes from the 1974-78 period that remained would have been erased. That includes the first episode broadcast in colour.
With the exception of 30 episodes, all programs aired between 1975 and 1978 were erased; only two episodes which aired in 1976 are known to exist. Most of the episodes erased originally aired from 1975 to 1977, but there are other episodes either missing or too damaged for future airing, the latter of which are most likely held only for research purposes.
According to Ted Emery, it was not just episodes of Countdown that were affected by the purge. A number of Australian Rules Football Grand Final games,[7] along with episodes of Bellbird and Certain Women, were also erased.
In recent years, ABC Archives has undertaken an upgrade of the remaining episodes, copying what was left to its two on-air playback formats (Betacam SP and Digital Betacam). It is the copying of the programs onto this format that has allowed the ABC to re-broadcast episodes of Countdown during its all-night music show, Rage in place of video clips which would normally air during that timeslot.
Missing episode enthusiast, Troy Walters, has a website Turning Back Time: The Hunt For ABC’s Countdown, which discusses what has been lost and found.[8]
Countdown Revolution era
From 3 July 1989 to December 1990, Countdown returned in the guise of Countdown Revolution. Without Meldrum, who had since gone on to Hey Hey It's Saturday, it featured a group of young hosts including Tania Lacy and Mark Little. The duo were fired by the ABC after an unauthorised on-air protest on 22 June 1990 against the policy of not allowing acts to perform live and insisting they mime to backup tracks. The show continued until its cancellation in December 1990. It also played once a month in Sydney at the Artransa Studios in Frenchs Forest.
The program aired 6:30 weeknights for 30 mins. On Friday nights, the Top 10 biggest selling songs in Australia was counted down (using information from the ARIA Chart). Video clips were generally shown, but memorable appearances live on stage included Poison ("Nothin' but a Good Time"), Kylie Minogue ("Hand on Your Heart" and "Never Too Late"), Jason Donovan ("Sealed with a Kiss"), Collette ("All I Wanna Do Is Dance" and "That's What I Like About You"), Brother Beyond ("He Ain't No Competition"), Indecent Obsession ("Say Goodbye"), Martika ("I Feel The Earth Move"), James Freud ("One Fine Day") and many more.
The hour long Batdance competition was a high rating show in November 1989 where Molly Meldrum aided in the judging of the talent from the state finalists.
The ABC's late night continuous music show rage replayed old episodes of Countdown Revolution in January 2012, and again in January 2015, including the first episode from 1989.
The Countdown Magazine continued to be published during the run of Countdown Revolution.
40th anniversary
Countdown, the show that epitomised the pop music scene in Australia for over a decade, celebrated the 40th anniversary of its debut with the release of an anthology album in 2014.[9] A two-part 40th Anniversary TV special, "Countdown: Do Yourself A Favour", was broadcast on Sunday 16 November 2014.[10] It was hosted by Julia Zemiro and including a guest appearance by Prince Charles. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2014 in November both Countdown and Meldrum were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame – the first time a non-performing artist was inducted.[11]
"Molly" television drama
A two-part documentary-drama about the life of Meldrum and his experiences with Countdown was created by Channel 7 in 2016. Episode one aired on 7 February 2016 and episode two on 14 February 2016. Australian actor Samuel Johnson starred as Meldrum, with Tom O'Sullivan as Shrimpton and T.J. Power as Weekes. It tells of the rise and fall of Countdown, its production struggles and various other tales about the music groups that went on it. The show received predominantly positive ratings.[citation needed]
Rage: Countdown
The show lived up to its name when it angered devoted viewers by slashing its top 50 in mid-2006 and playing videos freeform. But nearly a decade after that controversial decision, a new segment called "The Chart" hit the silver screen.[12]Rage now regularly plays chart hits with a 'Countdown' of the most popular videos from the ARIA singles[13]
Classic Countdown
On 17 September 2017, the ABC commenced airing a retrospective of the show, comprising 13 one hour episodes. Each episode focused on one year from 1975 to 1987, showcasing live performances from the show, interviews and Molly's Humdrum. Voice over narration is supplied by recording artists who appeared on the show. The show was programmed to air in Countdown's original Sunday 6pm slot.[14][15]
New Year's Eve: Countdown Live
For the 2017 Sydney New Year's Eve live show and broadcast on the ABC, there was a countdown to midnight and the fireworks. The show was themed like the Countdown show, with many live artists including Casey Donovan, Jimmy Barnes, Phil Jamieson, Isiah Firebrace and more. The show had the Countdown theme song and some of the same graphics. Ian "Molly" Meldrum did not return to host. The stage also had the Countdown logo.
Compilation albums
A series of popular CD compilations have been released by ABC Music, with selective tracks as featured on the original series.[16][17]
Catherine Yvette Ceberano is an Australian singer and actress who performs in the soul, jazz, and pop genres, as well as in film and musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar. Her song "Pash" received a gold sales certification in 1998. In 2019, she was one of the contestants in season one of The Masked Singer Australia as ‘The Lion’, where she was unmasked in episode seven, placing sixth.
Air Supply are a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Lost in Love" (1979), "All Out of Love", "Every Woman in the World", "The One That You Love" (number one), "Here I Am", "Sweet Dreams", "Even the Nights Are Better" and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (1983). In Australia, they had four top ten placements with "Love and Other Bruises" (1976), "All Out of Love", "Every Woman in the World" and "The One That You Love". Their highest charting studio album, The One That You Love (1981) reached number ten in both Australia and the US. The group, which relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, has included many members, with Hitchcock and Russell at the core. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) inducted Air Supply into their Hall of Fame on 1 December 2013, at the annual ARIA Awards.
John Inglis Young, OAM, known professionally as John Paul Young, is an Australian pop singer who had his 1978 worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air". His career was boosted by regular appearances as a performer and guest host on Countdown, a 1974–1987 TV series for Australia's national broadcaster ABC. Besides "Love Is in the Air", Young had top ten chart success in Germany and the Netherlands with "Standing in the Rain" and four other top ten hits in South Africa, including No. 1 hits with "I Hate the Music" in 1976 and "Yesterday's Hero" in 1975.
Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band that were formed in 1982 by Brian Canham, Pierre Gigliotti, and Tony Lugton (keyboards). Later members included Anthony Argiro (drums), James Leigh (keyboards), and Vince Leigh (drums). In the 1980s, Pseudo Echo had multiple Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", and "Living in a Dream". Their 1986 cover of "Funky Town" was an international success, peaking at No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand and becoming a top ten hit in Sweden, Canada, the United States, and in the United Kingdom.
Rage is an all-night Australian music video program broadcast on ABC TV on Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Saturday nights. It was first screened on the weekend of Friday, 17 April 1987. With Soul Train and Video Hits no longer being produced, it is the oldest music television program currently still in production as of 2023. On Friday and Saturday nights, Rage typically starts between 11:00pm and 1:00am.
Carol Hitchcock is an Australian singer and actress. She had a top 20 hit on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart with her cover version of "Get Ready" in mid-1987. It also peaked in the top 60 in the United Kingdom and top 50 in New Zealand. In 1985 Hitchcock had acted in the TV series, Prisoner.
GTK was an Australian popular music TV series of ten minute episodes, produced and broadcast by ABC Television from 1969 to 1975.
Video Hits was an Australian music video program that first aired on 15 February 1987. From 7 May 2011 it broadcast on Network Ten for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning: 10am – 12pm on Saturdays and 8am – 10am on Sundays. At the time of its cancellation, Video Hits was the world's second longest running music show after the Eurovision Song Contest. The show was cancelled in July 2011 and its last episode aired on 6 August 2011.
"Tomorrow" is a song by Australian rock band Silverchair, which was released on 16 September 1994 on their debut extended play album, also titled Tomorrow. The song was later released on Frogstomp, the band's debut studio album, in 1995. Written by lead singer and guitarist Daniel Johns and drummer Ben Gillies, it was produced and engineered by Phil McKellar at the national radio station Triple J's studios for SBS-TV's show, Nomad, which aired on 16 June 1994. After the broadcast the band were signed to the Murmur label – a Sony Music subsidiary – which subsequently issued the Tomorrow EP.
Autumnal Park is the debut studio album by Australian new wave band Pseudo Echo. Autumnal Park peaked at No. 11 in Australia and produced two Top 20 singles, including "Listening", which peaked at No. 4 in Australia. It was released in North America under the title, Pseudo Echo.
Australian pop music awards are a series of inter-related national awards that gave recognition to popular musical artists and have included the Go-Set pop poll (1966–1972); TV Week King of Pop Awards (1967–1978); TV Week and Countdown Music Awards (1979–1980); the Countdown Awards (1981–1982) and Countdown Music and Video Awards (1983–1987).
Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent coordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular music program Countdown (1974–87) and is widely recognised for his trademark Stetson hat, which he has regularly worn in public since the 1980s.
MTV Classic was an Australian and New Zealand subscription television music channel. The channel focused on music from the 1980s to 2000s. The channel first launched in Australia on 14 March 2004 and in New Zealand on 1 June 2011. On 1 July 2011 MTV International channels launched new logos.
The Loop was an Australian music video show that aired on digital channel 10 Peach each Saturday from 9am to 11.30am and was hosted by Scott Tweedie, Ash London and Olivia Phyland.
Kommotion was a popular Australian "Top 40" pop music TV show that premiered in December 1964. The program was hosted by popular disc jockey Ken Sparkes, who was one of the main presenters at Melbourne pop radio station 3UZ. In 1965, after the end of his previous series, Teen Scene, pop singer Johnny Chester became the associate producer of the program.
Molly is a two-part Australian miniseries about Australian music personality Molly Meldrum. Aired on the Seven Network, the first part premiered on 7 February 2016, with the second and final half screening on 14 February. It is based on Meldrum's biography, The Never, Um ... Ever Ending Story, which was written with journalist Jeff Jenkins.
"Yesterday's Hero" is a pop song by John Paul Young. The song was written by George Young and Harry Vanda and was released in February 1975 as the lead single from Young's debut studio album, Hero (1975).
Melodian Records was an Australian independent record label founded in 1988 by record producer and music journalist Ian Meldrum with Michael Gudinski and Amanda Pelman. The name Melodian is a combination of 'melody' and Meldrum and Ian.
Ted Emery is an Australian film and television director and producer.
Top 100 (Kent Music Report) peaks to 12 June 1988: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.321. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 12 June 1988.
Top 100 (ARIA) peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdfed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. pp.316–318.
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