Quite a Party: The Story of Melbourne Rock & Roll

Great documentary about the early Melbourne rock n' roll scene which aired on Channel 31 in June. This doco covers the early history of rock and pop music in Melbourne during the 1950s and early 1960s.

[@leonstone4738]

Former Frankston lad here. 5here was a singer who used to come to sing at the Hall beside the old Postoffice around 1961/63 and sang the Roy Orbison songs. It was like listening to Roy himself on stage. Unfortunately, far too long ago and can’t remember his name. He was a real friendly and had a few chats with him when he came off stage. Like most people he thought I was a Yank or Canadian due to my Nor5he4n Ireland accent, and he wanted to know what the States was like etc. Having family throughout North America and 5 years later I ended up living in both Canada and the USA. Ships in the night. History.

[@anthonyasart]

Stan Rofe. An absolute legend. I remember the times he'd say "I like that so much I'll play it again!" His taste was cutting edge for the time.

[@adriancole3165]

I remember one DJ saying, I like it so nice, I think I'll play it twice!

[@nilstelle365]

The memories of Malvern town hall ,Legets ,Luna Park rock day plus Preston and outer suburbs like brabrook and Briar Hill,Eltham,Hilderberg, Ringwood ,Footscray are ,memories never forgotten in the late fifties to the mid sixties,we were wild crazy but good fun in growing up,my Dad chased E Siigley down our street after he knocked on my sisters bedroom window as he was dating my older sister for a while they were wild times with good memories.

[@pensiveboogie]

I remember a lot of this, and more. I was a teenager in the sixties, and remember Stan Rofe comparing the dances at the Mentone Town Hall. I also went to Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds at Melbourne Town Hall, with Johnny Chester as the main act. And a rock concert at the Sydney Myer Music bowl at the end of 1964 when I left school. Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were the headline act, and there was Normie Rowe, Ronnie Burns and the Flies, Lyn Randell and I think The Seekers, and maybe Olivia Newton John. Melbourne eventually got the jump on Sydney towards the end of the sixties when lots of Melbourne pubs hosted rock bands on Saturday afternoon. At the time, Thorpie said that there was no place on earth like Melbourne. He said there were 50 pubs all over Melbourne serving up rock and roll. There was Melbourne band named The Strangers who seemed to back every solo artist when they recorded. Examples include Grantley Dee, a blind DJ (Let the Little Girl Dance) and Lyn Randal, (I’ll come running over). John Farrer from The Strangers joined two members of The Shadows in a vocal outfit called Marvin Welch and Farrer. John went on to write “You’re the one that I want” and “Hopelessly Devoted to you” for ONJ. I had a great time with the Melbourne music scene in the sixties and seventies.

[@skeetlegeetles9449]

Very interesting guitar on "Shakin all over".... Best that I can remember, I don't recall ever hearing anything based in Aussie on American radio when I was growing up in the NYC area like the lot that was described here. Glad I found this. I've got something new to explore now.

[@ghostrider-ek8gu]

1965 ... was in Melbourne, and the music scene was happening. The Thumpin' Tum was the club I went to for a few nights and it was great. Met this beautiful young woman, Nari Leiper (hope I spelt that correctly) with black hair cut Mod style. She was, I believe, a nurse. I was in the US Navy, and we were in port for a few days. Had a blast. The people of Australia, and New Zealand, are wonderful. Fond memories. Keep on rocking' !

[@chezzachezza7325]

U probably got a but eyyyyyyy🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@evansilva9601]

Played there .....Compulsion......Evan Silva

[@ghostrider-ek8gu]

@@evansilva9601 I really loved Melbourne and Wellington, NZ. too. The nicest people, and greatest of times. The bands were really cool.

[@robynyoulten5270]

MELBOURNE RULES OK??Cool!! Always will - this is a FANTASTIC doco! Peace.

[@geoffsteele9674]

Hi im geoff steele. Jok s fan. Had the honor of knowing stand rolfe. What a nice man as a teen ager my long lists of will rock n roll woul go to melbourne radio stations. And were always played. Wow. It was melbourne to come late to local. Rock n roll live town hall shows. Jonny chester colin cook judy cannon. Thinderbirds. Tinmen. Grantley. Kevin lee. A great friend. Cover artist melbourne came on via Wg records and johnny okeefe help. Putting melbourne artists. On hos tv shows and festial hallshows. Melbourne was now being to cross the boarder and other states. I worked at kilners record shop. At one time. So many melbourne artist came from burwood box hill. Hawthorn. Every suburbs had rok dances. Their for locals degan to have their own rockers. Lunch time town hall shows. Why not today. Thankyou chesrer for allowing me to hear. A little white cloud by jok. Via kevin lee. Channel nine dances wow. Teenages use yo dance to the juke box hit allowing kids could choose the tracks they want so plenty of cross over loyality grow. The plants merv benton not only. Sydney big names ee now had victorians. Rockin with the famous jok. On a national stage. Thanks stand helpping us all grow the local music bussiness. Your neber to old to rock n roll. Geoff steele. ( Rocker boots ). 13/4/1/2023. Jok s number one fan now living in nsw. Love betty macade tounge tired midnight bus. You can get most melbourne artists on canetoad record artists check em out.

[@toeslayer]

Most enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you for posting

[@NewFalconerRecords]

Absolutely brilliant! What a fine doco. The photos and record label graphics are so sharp and detailed, the interview subjects are magnificent. I'm quite blown away by how well this history is presented. Well done to all concerned.

[@pauljoseph8691]

Great vid. Merv Benton, Loved Ones come to mind. Yes Olympics slowed it down. Sydney had JOK, Johnny Devlin and Missing Links. Say no more. Apart from AC/DC best Australian rock acts were Easybeats and Bee Gees. Melbourne had great rockabilly scene in late 70s

[@theoloutlaw]

This was just Wonderful! Thankyou for the upload!

[@RichardFelstead1949]

Growing up in Melbourne from mid fifties to late sixties when I was a teenager, this documentary brought back some great memories.It's good to see that a lot of these artists are still with us. Keep on rockin'

[@gregfowler957]

Did you have mods and rockers in Melbourne like we had in the uk in the 60s i know you had sharpies 😀

[@RichardFelstead1949]

@@gregfowler957 Yes.

[@divarachelenvy]

a fascinating history of my old home town.. cheers.

[@DocReasonable]

Excellent! Great to see so many legends as they are today (or in 2017 at least). Would love to see a follow-up dealing with 1965-67!!!!!

[@murbella7]

A fantastic report. I grew up with these venues and artists and eventually worked with many of them. We grew up in the most dynamic and exciting times ever, with the best music ever made.

[@blueycarlton]

Thank you for making this slice of Melbourne's music history available for us. I had never seen this before. Very informative.

[@dopio]

Wow! What a fabulous documentary. For me, the music scene was the 1970/1980s.

[@joanfurtiere1177]

Very enjoyable, bought back a lot of memories for me. I knew Henry personally he was a great guy. Thank you for the video. I am now 80 yo...lol

[@michaelclifford5840]

I love that Qantas brought in music to Australia. The unsung music influencer.

[@laminage]

Johnny Ray gained "Iconic" Status with "The Little White Cloud That Cried". His Music was also featured on Happy Days where The Plus Size Kid and The Bookworm found each other and Slow Danced. He was also mentioned in Jackie Collins Rock Star (1987) and in Dexy Midnight Runner's Hit Come On Eileen.

[@chrisscheri9566]

Extremely interesting... all those pioneers in the Music Industry... Bill Armstrong, Ron Tudor. W&G and especially Stan Rofe 3DB (Stan the Man) the main judge 20 years later in the Hoadleys /Yamaha Battle of the Bands... I still remember what he said to me when Sweet Jayne won. I was extremely flattered but not astute enough in those days to follow up on it. I wish I had. He was 100% behind me and would have pushed us.

[@beagle7622]

Stan Rolfe, “Give Me Some Loving” by the Spencer Davis Group, started his show every night for months. I was very young & his show stopped some time after.

[@neilforbes416]

Having already watched this, it is a fine example of what can be achieved by Community TV if Community TV had been given a fair chance on the free-to-air frequencies instead of the *disgustingly shabby* way the sector was treated by the despicable Malcolm Turnbull and Mitchel Fifield.

[@ianmcdonald6600]

Should be more of this type of archive material

[@michaelclifford5840]

Very interesting to hear the back story of Judy Cannon and Stan Rofe

[@russellcampbell9198]

We at uni in 1974 were still talking about "I Belong With You" and its sound. Still brilliant.

[@SlickCrusty]

excellent

[@laminage]

The Thunderbirds was also the name of the Gang in Grease, and there was a Group called The Thunderbirds. Advertisements are also synonomous. Where in not for the Press, Elton John & Bernie Taupin may not have met, Andy Taylor may not have joined Duran Duran, and The Backstreet Boys would not have existed.

[@stuartpattison7597]

Stan Rofe, the rocky Jockey on 3UZ.

[@leepd1]

The Johnny Chester track over the end credits is one tight band playing live.. its a shame we couldn't hear more of that stuff in this, as its clearly what was really happening out in the burbs.. a lot of the pop stuff that was released was quite naff, although obviously important in establishing the business, but those gigs became the basis for producing all the great acts that came later, highlighting that without a healthy scene, you end up getting whats happening now.. great doco though.. important archive material in there which i was not aware of.. a forgotten time.. good stuff.

[@jasoncarlson4285]

Ken Bruce has gone mad!

[@SimRah11]

Superb Work! Well Done.

[@frankmachin5438]

Stan Rofe was the gent’s name…

[@simonrashleigh104]

@@frankmachin5438 So did Stan create this doco?

[@euanthorburn8135]

♡

[@laminage]

Yes, The Phrase Rock & Roll was popularilzed by Alan Freed from Ohio. As for The Rock & Roll Movies, many of the Black Artists who were in These Movies like The Platters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers and even Ritchie Valens were exploited. They could Sing for the "White" Kids but not mix iwth them. Alan Freed was also part of Rock & Roll's First Major Scandal when he got into trouble for taking Payola aka Monetary Bribes. Folks from Record Companies (PR Men) would give him a Record and "Pay him. Whether or not he did it, nobody could ever agree but they needed a Scapegoat. Also in the 1950's he had a Show called The Big Beat where Frankie Lymon was caught Dancing with a White Girl in the 1950's and the Show got cancelled.

[@thomasschumacher5362]

An usher managing a cinema

[@TheMichaelseymour]

Wron Casey should have done the narration .... Wrock n Wroll !!!

[@leftleaf3590]

Him a and Normie had a few hits.

[@csrolcox9028]

A lot was not told

[@janosk8392]

Anyone remember The Sect?

[@MandyJMaddison]

Ha! Ha! ...... I cannot work out why people do not LOOK at what they post! at 5:08 See a picture of a band ...... that will do .... and its the Salvation Army Band who played neither Popular music, noe traditional band music. What they played were HYMNS.

[@glenaustin4862]

If you want to enjoy the story, ignore the horrible sub-titles.

[@neilforbes416]

2:01 Not quite! ABC was there, Station HSV was there, very likely Station ATV was there but Station GTV was still a year away from beginning its services. Station GTV-Melbourne started broadcasting on the VHF Band 3 at 201-to-208Mhz on 27th September, 1957, 1 year and 18 days *AFTER* Station TCN-Sydney which started on the same VHF Band 3 frequency range on 9th September, 1956. And you'll note well that I referred only to the call-signes of the stations, totally ignoring the *unimportant* channel number.

[@bodgiesteve8849]

Up to 20:00, i saw no rock'n'roll. Mostly swing, and a little country, but no rock'n'roll. Just because it says 'rock' in the title , don't make it rock'n'roll. Australia's first real rock act was, 'Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs', in 1963.

[@hollykirstensheldonkidd1683]

Johnny O’Keefe was Australian and he most definitely sang Rock n Roll ..... Iggy Pop and Jet covered his first big hit Wild One (Real Wild Child) this song by JOK rocks ya socks off - Thorpey was a legend but far from the first

[@bodgiesteve8849]

@@hollykirstensheldonkidd1683 he sang 'cabaret ' , for Sydney's sly grog community. Did you hear how he tried to force Bily Thorpe and the Aztecs, to have haircuts before appearing on his show? That's not Rock&Roll.

[@Geebax2]

W&G Records - The Woggle And Goggle.

[@neilforbes416]

13:45 "Local television Station, HSV", That's all that was needed to be said. The channel number should've been left off as the channels are *totally unimportant!*