Four decades after Men At Work first introduced the world to their unmistakably Australian sound, Colin Hay and the band are returning home for a national tour celebrating 45 years of Business As Usual.
The Australian rock icons will play four headline shows across the country this spring, including the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on Wednesday 4 November.
Business As Usual arrived in 1981 and quickly became a global success, delivering songs that remain firmly embedded in Australian pop culture, including Down Under, Who Can It Be Now? and Be Good Johnny.
The album spent 15 weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200 and five weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart, helping turn Men At Work into one of Australia’s biggest musical exports.
For Hay, the continued popularity of those songs is a reminder of just how much staying power they have.
“What has clearly stood the test of time, are the songs,” Hay says. “Forty-five years on, I still hear them in the street, on the radio, in supermarkets, they are still going strong…”
Hay has spent the years since Men At Work’s original run building a successful solo career and performing with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He has also continued touring with a new Men At Work lineup featuring musicians based in Los Angeles.
“I would never have predicted back in 1985, that 40 years on, I would still be fronting Men At Work, this version featuring Cubans, a Peruvian, an American, and me,” Hay reflects.
The current tour is also proving that the band’s appeal has stretched well beyond the generation that first heard the records.
“Turns out we do, people of all ages, of all different backgrounds, who find something in the songs that brings them joy.”
The Australian run starts in Sydney on October 20 before heading to Canberra, Melbourne and Fremantle, with the final show taking place inside Fremantle Prison.
Tickets are on sale now via the Men At Work website.
