''Long Way to the Top'' was a six-part weekly

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC)

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

series on the history of Australian

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

, from 1956 to the modern era, it was initially broadcast from 8 August to 12 September 2001. One of its writers, James Cockington, provided a book tie-in, ''Long Way to the Top: Stories of Australian Rock & Roll'' (2001). Another series writer, and interviewer, Clinton Walker, compiled a 2-disc CD soundtrack album, ''Long Way to the Top: Original Soundtrack from the ABC-TV Series'' (13 August 2001), by Various Artists, which featured in the show. It peaked at No. 9 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. A year later a related national concert tour followed.

History

''Long Way to the Top'' took its name from the AC/DC song, "

It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the first track of the group's second album '' T.N.T.'', released only in Australia and New Zealand on 8 December 1975, and was writte ...

" (December 1975). The six-part series was produced by Paul Clarke ('' Recovery''), directed by Greg Appel and edited by Andrew Glover. It was narrated by former radio presenter Chris Winter (one of the original members of the on-air team at the ABC's 24-hour rock radio station, Double Jay). It featured interviews with Australasian singers and instrumentalists. Most of the nearly 200 interviews were conducted by music critic Clinton Walker, who also co-wrote the series, and compiled a 2-disc CD soundtrack album, ''Long Way to the Top: Original Soundtrack from the ABC-TV Series'' (13 August 2001), by Various Artists featured in the show. It peaked at No. 9 on the

. The other writers were Tony Barrell, Sandy Webster, James Cockington and Laurie Zion. Cockington wrote a book tie-in, ''Long Way to the Top: Stories of Australian Rock & Roll'' (2001). The original series was well received for the ABC when shown in 2001; a national concert tour in 2002 followed. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 the live album won Cast or Show Album.ARIA Award previous winners.

Episode list

Concert tour

In 2002, the promoters

Michael Chugg Michael Glenn Chugg (born 15 June 1947) is an Australian entrepreneur, businessman and concert tour promoter. As a promoter and manager he was a founder of Frontier Touring Company (1979–99) and Michael Chugg Entertainment (2000–present). ...

and

Kevin Jacobsen Kevin George Jacobsen OAM (born 29 July 1939 in Sydney) is an Australian entertainment entrepreneur and former musician, who is the head of the ''Jacobson Entertainment Group'' Along with his brothers, singer Col Joye and Keith, he was a me ...

decided to build on the popularity of the show, by sending a package tour of artists featured in the program on a national

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

of Australia. The tour featured

Col Joye Colin Frederick Jacobsen (born 13 April 1937), better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning some sixty years. Joye was the first Australian rock and ...

, Lonnie Lee,

Judy Stone Judith Anne Stone AM (born 1 January 1942) is an Australian pop and country music singer. For much of the 1960s she was a regular performer on the music variety ''Bandstand'', Stone's top 20 singles on the national charts are "I'll Step ...

, Ray Columbus & the Invaders, Lucky Starr, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Little Pattie,

The Masters Apprentices The Masters Apprentices (or The Masters to fans) were an Australian rock band fronted by Jim Keays on lead vocals, which originally formed as The Mustangs in 1964 in Adelaide, South Australia, relocated to Melbourne, Victoria in February 1967 ...

Stevie Wright Stephen Carlton Wright (20 December 1947 – 27 December 2015) was an Australian musician and songwriter who has been called Australia's first international pop star. During 1964–69, he was lead singer of Sydney-based rock and roll band the E ...

, Daddy Cool,

Russell Morris Russell Norman Morris (born 31 July 1948) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who had five Australian Top 10 singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recog ...

. Axiom,

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

, Chain,

Brian Cadd Brian George Cadd AM (born 29 November 1946) is an Australian singer-songwriter, keyboardist, producer and record label founder, a staple of Australian entertainment for over 50 years. As well as working internationally throughout Europe and the ...

, Lobby Loyde,

Normie Rowe Norman John Rowe (born 1 February 1947) is an Australian singer and songwriter of pop music and an actor of theatre and soap opera for which he remains best known as Douglas Fletcher in 1980s serial '' Sons and Daughters''. As a singer he was ...

The Atlantics The Atlantics are an Australian surf rock band founded in 1961. Initially, the band line-up consisted of drummer Peter Hood, bassist Bosco Bosanac, Theo Penglis on lead and rhythm guitar, and guitarist Eddy Matzenik. Matzenik was replaced by J ...

The Twilights The Twilights were an Australian rock band that formed in Adelaide in 1964. The band developed from a three-piece acapella group consisting of Glenn Shorrock, Mike Sykes and Clem "Paddy" McCartney, who merged with instrumental group the Hurri ...

, Kevin Borich,

Max Merritt Maxwell James Merritt (30 April 1941 – 24 September 2020) was a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who was renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B. As leader of Max Merritt & The Meteors, his best known hits are " Slipp ...

Tamam Shud Tamam Shud is an Australian psychedelic, progressive and surf rock band, which formed in Newcastle in 1964. The initial line-up were known as The Four Strangers with Eric Connell on bass guitar, Dannie Davidson on drums, Gary Johns on rhythm ...

John Paul Young John Inglis Young, OAM (born 21 June 1950), known professionally as John Paul Young, is a Scottish-born Australian pop singer who had his 1978 worldwide hit with " Love Is in the Air". His career was boosted by regular appearances as a perform ...

Dinah Lee Diane Marie Jacobs (born 19 August 1943), known as Dinah Lee, is a New Zealand singer who performed 1960s pop and adult contemporary music. Her debut single from early 1964, "Don't You Know Yockomo?", achieved No. 1 chart success in New Zea ...

and

Marcia Hines Marcia Elaine Hines, AM (born July 20, 1953), is an American-Australian vocalist and TV personality. Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical '' Hair'' and followed with the role of Mary Magdale ...

. The tour proved to be successful, taking receipts of $10 million with a budget of $4.5 million.''Billboard'' 10 May 2002, Vol. 114 Issue 40, p20 The ABC broadcast, highlights of the tour and subsequent CD and DVD packages went on sale. The popularity of the tour resulted in the Countdown Spectacular tours in 2006 and 2007. A second tour was staged in 2012 for the tenth anniversary. It featured Axiom, Brian Cadd, Dragon, Marcia Hines, Col Joye,

Jim Keays James Keays (9 September 194613 June 2014) was a Scottish-born Australian musician who fronted the rock band The Masters Apprentices as singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonica-player from 1965 to 1972 and subsequently had a solo career. He ...

, Dinah Lee,

Mi-Sex Mi-Sex (also styled as MiSex) is a New Zealand new wave band originally active from 1978 to 1986, and led for much of its existence by Steve Gilpin as vocalist, Kevin Stanton as guitarist and songwriter, Murray Burns as keyboardist and songwr ...

, Russell Morris,

Ian Moss Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded ...

Noiseworks Noiseworks are an Australian hard rock band formed in Sydney in 1986 with bass guitarist Steve Balbi, guitarist Stuart Fraser, drummer Kevin Nicol, keyboardist Justin Stanley and lead vocalist Jon Stevens. They had four Australian Top 10 a ...

Doug Parkinson Douglas John Parkinson (30 October 1946 – 15 March 2021) was an Australian pop and rock singer. He led the bands Strings and Things/A Sound (1965), the Questions (1966–1968), Doug Parkinson in Focus (1968–1970, 1971), Fanny Adams (1970� ...

, Little Pattie,

Glenn Shorrock Glenn Barrie Shorrock (born 30 June 1944) is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of rock bands the Twilights, Axiom, Little River Band and post LRB spin-off trio Birtles Shorrock Goble, as well as being a solo ...

, Spectrum, Lucky Starr, Matt Taylor. Phil Manning and John Paul Young.

References

External links

* archived fro
the original
on 1 October 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Way To The Top Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming 2000s Australian documentary television series Australian music television series