Good Times (Easybeats Song) on:
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"Good Times" (aka "Gonna Have a Good Time") is a song by
the Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They enjoyed a level of success that in Australia rivalled The Beatles. They became the first Australian rock act to score an international hit, with the 1966 sing ...
which was released as a single in Australia 18 July 1968, and which appeared on their ''
Vigil
A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...
'' album with guest vocals by
Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He co-founded and played in the rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, in a career spanning over two decades. Marriott was inducted pos ...
of
Small Faces
Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ...
. It was written by
George Young and
Harry Vanda
Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is a Dutch Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Ea ...
.
When broadcast on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
radio it was reputedly heard by
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
on his car radio; McCartney apparently rang the station immediately to request a repeat playing.
Notable cover versions
The Clingers
"Good Times" was recorded and released in 1969 as "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight" by four Mormon sisters from Utah. The song was produced by Kim Fowley for Columbia Records but failed to chart. The Clingers are regarded as the first all female rock band that played their own instruments.
eference re producer Kim Fowley https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-clinger-sisters-mn0001789017 eference re 'First Girls of Rock 'n' Roll' https://www.amazon.com.au/Clinger-Sisters-First-Girl-Rock/dp/B00FKN1E5M
Shocking Blue
"Good Times" was covered by Dutch rock band
Shocking Blue
Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in 1967 in The Hague. It was part of the music movement in the Netherlands that was generally known by the name Nederbeat. The band had a number of hits throughout the counterculture movement during ...
, on their
eighth and final album released in 1974.
Quartz
The
NWOBHM
The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term ...
heavy metal band
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
released a live cover version of this song on their 1980 released live album ''Live Quartz''. In 2013 the band also released a studio version of the song on their self-produced compilation ''Back in the Band – Live and Revisited''.
INXS & Jimmy Barnes
Australians
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
and
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best- ...
released a version in December 1986, which was engineered by Al Wright and appeared in the
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. H ...
film ''
The Lost Boys
''The Lost Boys'' is a 1987 American supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Harvey Bernhard with a screenplay written by Jeffrey Boam, Janice Fischer and James Jeremias, from a story by Fischer and Jerem ...
''. This version reached number one in New Zealand and number two in Australia, as well as obtaining chart positions in both the US (where it peaked at number 47), Canada (number 74), and UK (where it peaked at number 18 in 1991). A video clip was produced featuring INXS and Jimmy Barnes performing the song, with scenes intercut from ''The Lost Boys''. This version was also used to promote the national
Australian Made
Australian Made was a festival concert series held during 1986–1987 in the six state capitals of Australia and featured local rock acts Mental as Anything, I'm Talking, The Triffids, The Saints, Divinyls, Models, INXS and even Jimmy Barnes. ...
series of concerts that took place between Boxing Day 1986 and Australia Day 1987.
Barnes later said, "We spent a day and a half in the studio.
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into th ...
and myself didn't sleep the whole time we were there. It was a booze- and drug-fuelled couple of days."
''Australian Idol'' 2004 cover
The song was performed on the Top 12 Results Show of the second season of ''
Australian Idol'' in 2004. This version of the song was then released by the Top 10 finalists nearly four months after the live show. It was released as a one-track CD single and reached a peak of #53 on the
ARIA
In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...
singles chart.
Meat Loaf cover version
"Good Times" was covered by the American rock singer
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
on his 1995 album ''
Welcome to the Neighbourhood''. This new version, credited to Vanda/Young/Durkee/Loaf/Russo, was titled "Runnin' for the Red Light (I Got a Life)" and featured significantly different lyrics.
Hindu Love Gods cover version
Hindu Love Gods covered the song on a 1986 single, but under the title "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight". The members of Hindu Love Gods were
Mike Mills
Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., h ...
,
Bill Berry and
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...
of
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
, Bryan Cook, and
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...
. The 7" single was released on
I.R.S. Records.
Jimmy Barnes featuring Keith Urban
Jimmy Barnes reprised the song on his 30:30 Hindsight release in 2014, with Keith Urban on guitar and vocals
Jessica Mauboy version
Jessica Mauboy
Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...
covered the song on her 2016 album, ''
The Secret Daughter: Songs from the Original TV Series''.
Charts
The Easybeats version
INXS/Jimmy Barnes version
Year-end charts
''Australian Idol'' version
References
{{authority control
1968 singles
INXS songs
1986 singles
The Easybeats songs
Jimmy Barnes songs
Songs written by Harry Vanda
Songs written by George Young (rock musician)
1967 songs
Parlophone singles
United Artists Records singles
Mushroom Records singles
Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns
Number-one singles in New Zealand