Every day of primary school, the bus driver would play the cassette band of one student on the bus speakers on the 40 -minute ride from Janet Robins to Dubbo.
Mrs. Robins knew that you had to have songs that were shown in the TV program Countdown – carefully recorded on a cassette – to really make an impression the other students.
Countdown was one of the most viewed shows of ABC TV: a musical phenomenon that was organized weekly by Molly Meldrum from 1974 to 1987.
Janet Robins, depicted here in 1985, grew up watching Countdown. ((Liver: Janet Robins))
By 1977 almost one in five Australians tuned. In the same year, Prince Charles, now King Charles III, played in an episode.
“If we were home at 6 o’clock on a Sunday, we looked at Countdown. Absolutely,”
Mrs. Robins said.
Just like thousands of children and teenagers throughout the country, Mrs. Robins saw countdown as a form of cultural education.
“Countdown was where we bought the popular music”,
she said.
“Our opinions about what good music was – and who these singers were – was from Countdown.”
Prince Charles, now King Charles III, with Molly Meldrum on countdown in 1977. ((Delivered: NFSA))
She remembers that she looked at Johnny Farnham – before he sang a rebranding to John – Sadie (The Cleaning Lady) on Countdown, Jimmy Barnes and a “beautiful” John Paul Young.
Now is a new exhibition of the National Film and the Australia Sound Archives (NFSA) music from the 60s to the nineties through an online exhibition.
A casual find
NFSA employees digitized the film project of an old student when they met two episodes of Countdown from 1976 Unse since their original broadcast and previously thought they were lost.
The LO-Fi Old Clips show two live performances by Ted Mulry Gang and John Paul Young.
Ted Mulry gang who is now excess at Countdown in 1976 in a clip that was previously thought lost. ((Delivered: NFSA))
The clips became a central part in the NFSA song, Freak Out exhibition with five decades of the Australian music television.
The exhibition includes clips from Big Day Out, a teenager Oliver Newton-John, Roy Orbison, Countdown and Rage.
There is a clip of AC/DC that blows out, it is a long way to the top at the show bandtand, and the Minogue Sisters with in the lead role in young talent time in 1986.
Watching the rediscovered clips was wonderful for Mrs. Robins.
“Look that it is the Ted Mulry gang – he only has a vest on and no shirt and he has this chest hair hanging around,” she said.
“It is really nice to look back on your youth and hear music that was formative for you and has formed your opinion about fun music and good music.“
The Minoge Sisters on Young Talent Time In 1986 the performance of sisters made it themselves. ((Delivered: NFSA))
An era before algorithms
Exhibition curator Sarah Little said that shows like countdown were only possible in an era before the internet.
“These shows influenced the culture enormously – fashion, in which people were interested, how they were talking,”
she said.
“Now we are in the streaming era and most of our music flavors are made by the algorithm.
“Younger generations will not appreciate how much influence these shows had.”
Yet Mrs. Little said that the impact of music television was still held.
“My mother is so from ABBA and I didn’t get it until I worked on this collection and realized that ABBA is a very big problem in Australia,” she said.
“Abba became huge in Australia because Molly Meldrum played one of their songs about Countdown and Abba-Mania took over. We still see the effects of it.”
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Her favorite clip in the exhibition is Roy Orbison ‘Performing Crying on the Show sing sing sing.
“I actually got goosebumps the first time I saw it,”
she said.
“Even Elvis was jealous of Roy’s voice and his charisma.”
A 1964 clip from Roy Orbison sings crying in the TV show Sing Sing Sing. ((Delivered: NFSA))
Mrs. Little said that storing the approximately 45 minutes of clips meant that future generations would forever be able to return a formative time in Australian music history.
“What we are trying to do is to maintain the culture, art, the stories of a certain period, so that future generations can understand how we have where we are,” she said.
“It has really shaped the Australian music industry.“
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