Remember when you were in the grip of the Twist

It was 1962 and Australia was still in the grip of the Twist craze. Twelve of the year’s top 20 songs had the word ‘twist’ in the title. The rock ‘n’ roll era of the 1950s was behind us and popular music from the United Kingdom was starting to build momentum.

The Brill Building was still churning out great hit records. A Detroit company called Motown was starting to grow in influence.

Ray Charles stunned the music world with a fantastic album of rhythm and blues-inspired country songs Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music. However, despite a lacklustre year there were two local national number ones; Lucky Starr’s ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ and Rob E G’s ‘Si Senor’ finally took away the dominance of Johnny O’Keefe and Col Joye.

Despite such a good start at the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll, Australian music was standing still, muted by the impact of television, conservative narrow-mindedness of record companies, and the crippling rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. In Australia the majority of new bands wanted to be The Shadows.

Two Australian singers had major national hits with songs concerning Australian landmarks, the Lucky Starr number one and Frankie Davidson’s ‘Have You Ever been To Kings Cross?’ Deciding to change his image, former rocker Lucky Starr swapped his star shaped guitar for a tuxedo. He now had a new calling card — ‘I’ve been Everywhere’ — written by Australian composer Geoff Mack that rattled of the names of dozens of Aussie towns and cities.

Frankie Davidson was Melbourne’s first rock ‘n’ roll star who became an all-round entertainer and stand-up comedian. His self-penned song ‘Have You Ever Been To Kings Cross?’ went to number one in Sydney and number two nationally.

Melbourne’s most popular artist, Johnny Chester was inexplicably totally ignored in Sydney. He had three national top 20 hits with ‘Hokey Pokey’, ‘Can-Can Ladies’ and in 1962 a cover of ‘Shakin’ All Over’ that had been a number one hit in the UK by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, and was later successfully recorded by Normie Rowe.

In the United States there was a rise in popularity of folk music and the success of Peter, Paul and Mary. In England, former member of The Lana Sisters, Mary O’Brien along with her brother Tom Springfield formed The Springfields blending folk music with pop music. Mary, renamed Dusty Springfield, was the only member of the group who had ever stood on a stage before and her tremendous voice soon catapulted the group to number one in Australia with ‘Silver Threads And Golden Needles’. The record failed to chart in the UK, but they were the first British vocal group to reach the US top 20.

Literally, there were major rumblings globally, when we entered the space age and the American satellite Telstar launched. Billy Fury’s backing group The Tornados marked the event with their instrumental hit ‘Telstar’ written by British pop producer Joe Meek. This was to be one of the biggest world-wide sellers, number one in both the US and the UK and top 10 in Australia.

Another significant event happened in 1962, in October, a little known band from Liverpool, England released their first single, ‘Love Me Do”’. It didn’t set the music world on fire but the Beatles were on the first step to total dominance in the pop scene.

Where were you in 1962? What was your favourite song from the ’60s?

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