Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds was an annual national rock/pop band competition held in Australia from 1966 to 1972. The winners of the national finals were
the Twilights The Twilights were an Australian rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1964 by Peter Brideoake on rhythm guitar, John Bywaters on bass guitar, Clem "Paddy" McCartney and Glenn Shorrock both on lead vocals. They were joined by Terry Britten o ...
(1966),
the Groop The Groop were an Australian Folk music, folk, R&B and rock band formed in 1964 in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and had their greatest chart success with their second line-up of Max Ross on bass, Richard Wright on drums and vocals ...
(1967), the Groove (1968), Doug Parkinson in Focus (main, 1969) and the Affair (vocal group, 1969), the Flying Circus (1970),
Fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...
(1971) and Sherbet (1972).


History

Australia's Battle of the Sounds was originally established by Australian tabloid magazine '' Everybody's'' in 1965 as a talent quest for new unsigned bands in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, and
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
. The National Battle of the Sounds gained significant credibility and attracted many of Australia's top pop outfits when, in 1966, confectioner Hoadley's assumed sponsorship and it took the full name of "Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds" for the first time. ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' magazine took over the co-ordination role and local radio stations all over Australia organised local heats. This turned it into a truly national competition. Heats were held in the capital cities and country towns and bands worked their way up through semi-finals to one penultimate grand-final, held in either Melbourne or Sydney. The
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
n finals were held at the
Thebarton Theatre The Thebarton Theatre, also known as the Thebbie Theatre or simply Thebbie/Thebby, is an entertainment venue located in the inner-western Adelaide suburb of Torrensville, South Australia. Built in 1926 as a combined town hall / picture theatr ...
in the
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
suburb of Thebarton. The valuable first prize was a full return passage to England on
Sitmar Cruises Sitmar Cruises and its predecessor Sitmar Line were company names derived from the acronym for the Società Italiana Trasporti Marittimi (). SITMAR originally was an Italian shipping line founded by Russian émigré Alexandre Vlasov, however the ...
, two booked concerts in London and $1000 prize money, later upped to $2000 and return flights to Los Angeles (early winners did not get the concerts). 1969 was the peak year of the battle with over 1000 bands entering and two Grand Finals, one for full bands and one for groups and singing groups that specialised in harmony vocals. Over the years the battle would see such quality acts as The Groove and Sherbet taking out the major prize. Many other prominent outfits that would go on to greater success competed in the Battle until its conclusion in 1972.


Reception

In July 1966 Canberra-based group the Roadrunners won the New South Wales final for country groups. The judges were radio and TV representatives and the audience cheering was so loud that they had to call back the band to perform again. The prizes for winning the national final were $1000, a trip to England and a recording contract. Another ACT group, Rain, won their heat in July 1968 and flew to the national final in Melbourne – they were farewelled at the airport by two fans. The national final winner,
the Twilights The Twilights were an Australian rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1964 by Peter Brideoake on rhythm guitar, John Bywaters on bass guitar, Clem "Paddy" McCartney and Glenn Shorrock both on lead vocals. They were joined by Terry Britten o ...
, performed a medley: "Bad Boy", "Satisfaction", "Yesterday", "If she finds out" and "I'm not talkin", at Melbourne's Festival Hall. The tracks were later included on their album, ''Twilight Time'' (1983), via
Raven Records Raven Records was an Australian record label that specialised in retrospectives and reissues or recordings by American, British and Australian artists. Raven Records was established in 1979 by Glenn A. Baker, Kevin Mueller and Peter Shillito ...
. Garry Raffaele of ''
The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...
'' noticed that three of the better local bands did not enter the competition in June 1969. He concluded that "Much of the criticism levelled against pop music generally is that it produces groups whose main ambition is to stir up audiences made up mainly of young teenage girls. If competitions like this one tend to perpetuate these values who can blame the musicians for throwing it all up and leaving it to the bubble-gum bands?" In June 1971 Salty Dog, which had relocated to Sydney, won the Canberra heat as they "knew how to play to a seated audience; it knew it had to wake up our interest and it made us participate. It nearly had us out of our seats. The volume was up full, lively Les atterallcouldn't keep still, Digger beat tempestuously at the drums, Chris Willing played bass better than before heading for Sydney and Gunther and Scotty, both on lead guitars, couldn't help but join in and show how a group plays when it is enjoying itself." One of the judges was Raffaele. The national winners,
Fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...
, had their set recorded – it appeared on ''Complete Sessions 1971–72'' (1996) on Raven Records.


Winners


National Battle of the Sounds: National Finalists: 1965

Note: The first Australian battle of the bands was in 1964. It was called the Everybody’s Magazine’s ‘Big New Sound of 1964’. It was unrelated to Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, which was a rock band contest, that commenced under the name Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds in 1966. The winners of Everybody’s Magazine’s ‘Big New Sound of 1964’ were the Green Hill Singers, from Melbourne, with their self-penned song "The Big Land." The first prize was 250 pounds, plus an EMI recording contract. The members of the Green Hill Singers were John McMillan (acoustic guitar and vocals), Alex McMillan (acoustic guitar and vocals), Chris Bonett (upright bass and vocals) and Graeme Williams (organ). Jimmy Hannan was one of the judges, and the TV show final was televised nationally. The Green Hill Singers worked in clubs and concerts in Sydney for a year or so before breaking up. Sources: Chris Bonett, Warren Faheys Australian Folklore Unit Website, Everybody's Magazine 1964 (Mitchell Library, Sydney)


Hoadley's National Finalists: 1966-1972


See also

*
Australian rock Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock, and Aussie rock, has a rich history, rooted in an appreciation of various rock genres originating in the United States and Britain, and to a lesser extent, in continental Europe an ...
*
Timeline of trends in Australian music The trend of Australian music have often mirrored those of the United States and United Kingdom. Australian Aboriginal music during the prehistory of Australia is not well documented. 1800s Aboriginal music continued to be created and performe ...
* Abel Hoadley – founder of Hoadley's Confectionery Company and inventor of the famous
Violet Crumble Violet Crumble is an Australian chocolate bar. The bar is a crumbly honeycomb toffee centre coated in a layer of compound chocolate. It was first made by Hoadley's Chocolates in South Melbourne around the year 1913; and is currently made in A ...
chocolate bar.


Notes


References

* {{Citation , author1=Stacey, Terence J , title=The battles of the sounds , year=1995 , publication-date=1995 , publisher=Moonlight Publications , isbn=978-0-646-25126-4 * Everybody's Magazine – 1964 to 1967 (Courtesy Mitchell Library, Sydney) * ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
'' Magazine – 1967 to 1972 (Courtesy Mitchell Library, Sydney) Music competitions in Australia