Vote now to help us find the greatest Adelaide band of all time
Let’s settle this once and for all. We’re looking for the best band ever to come out of Adelaide. We’ve made our picks. Now it’s your turn.
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Sydney, Melbourne and even Brisbane will argue the point, but everyone knows Adelaide is the most important city in Australian rock and roll history.
If it wasn’t for Adelaide there’d be no Masters Apprentices or Little River Band and the two greatest pub rock bands of all time - Cold Chisel and The Angels - would never have existed. Unthinkable! It could even be argued that AC/DC owes its success to Adelaide, with Angus and the boys picking up a talented frontman called Ronald Belford ‘Bon’ Scott in our fair city.
We know who we think are the best in each decade, but what’s really important is who you think are the best. Vote now and tell us who we forgot by posting in the comments box below.
Rock’n’roll ruled Adelaide in the 1960s, with young bands eagerly devouring the latest records - often brought in on the migrant boats from the UK that were arriving every week - and putting their own spin on this new sound. Exciting times indeed.
Our pick: The Masters Apprentices - from bruising blues rock to flower power psychedelia, The Masters had it covered.
PLEASE NOTE: Voting has now closed. Go here on Saturday, June 19 to see all the winners!
1960s
The Penny Rockets
The Masters Apprentices
The Vibrants
The Twilights
Zoot
The Harts
The Others
The Four Tones
Rock ’n’ roll ruled Adelaide in the 1960s, with young bands eagerly devouring the latest records - often brought in on the migrant boats from the UK that were arriving every week - and putting their own spin on this new sound. Exciting times indeed.
Our pick: The Masters Apprentices - from bruising blues rock to flower power psychedelia, The Masters had it covered.
1970s
Fraternity
Black Chrome
Moonshine Jug and String Band/Keystone Angels/The Angels
Mississippi/Little River Band
Headband
Young Modern
The Dagoes
The Accountants
Cold Chisel
Mickey Finn
Who did we forget?
Blues-boogie, singer-songwriter, hard rock and even a little punk and new wave, the seventies had it all. Music was coming out of the clubs and dancehalls and moving into the pubs, and crowds were huge. A great time in Adelaide rock.
Our pick: Well Chisel is perhaps Australia’s greatest band, but they headed east fairly early. As did the legendary Angels. So for that reason alone, and just to throw a cat among the pigeons, we’re going out on a limb and choosing Bon Scott’s old band Fraternity. Whatever, write a letter to the editor.
1980s
The Bodgies
The Screaming Believers
Speedboat
No Fixed Address
FAB
Redgum
The Lizard Train
The Mad Turks from Istanbul
Grong Grong
Vertical Hold
Coloured Stone
Escape (with John The Beast)
Who did we forget?
The golden age of pub rock when watching live music was an Adelaide institution on almost every night of the week. The bands were loud, the beer was cheap and there was a pub that catered for virtually every taste.
Our pick: Redgum, for being so quintessentially Adelaide. Ironically, for the band that wrote One More Boring Night In Adelaide, pokie machines were about to make things far more boring.
1990s
Crisp
The Iron Sheiks
The Jaynes
The Mark of Cain
Where’s the Pope?
Bearded Clams
Numbskulls
The Superjesus
Testeagles
Clowns of Decadence
Exploding White Mice
Blood Sucking Freaks
Kranktus
The Borderers
Sin Dog Jellyroll
Who did we forget?
The one-armed bandits came in 1994 and immediately claimed dozens of pub rooms that were once devoted to hosting live bands. It had a huge effect on the live scene, but the musos - and the punters - pushed back. Small clubs and alternative pubs picked up the mantle, and a thriving punk and thrash scene spearheaded by bands from the southern beaches made sure that rock lived on.
Our pick: So many great bands, but how could you go past the pure sonic brutality of The Mark of Cain in full flight? Frighteningly good.
2000s
Hilltop Hoods
Lazaro’s Dog
Funkoars
Wolf and Cub
I Killed the Prom Queen
The Hot Lies
Double Dragon
The Swiss
Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!
Who did we forget?
Has rock music lost the mantle? Perhaps, but maybe that’s not such a band thing. By the dawn of the millennium popular music in Adelaide had fragmented into dozens of scenes, with hip hop flexing its muscle alongside dance beats and classic guitar-bass-drum outfits.
Our pick: The Hoods, hands down. Measured on ARIA Awards and Number One records alone they’re one of the most popular bands in Australian history.
2010s to now
Bad//Dreems
West Thebarton
Teenage Joans
Horror My Friend
Leader Cheetah
Electric Fields
The Germeins
Wanderers
Wireheads
Who did we forget?
Pokies, pandemics, no more street press - it’s enough to make a kid want to get a day job. Thankfully though, the lure of plugging a Fender into a stack of Marshalls and cranking it to ten will never grow old, and Adelaide is still pumping out bands that are having a national and international impact. Rock on!
Our pick: It’s hard to go past the great Aussie storytelling of both Bad//Dreems and West Thebarton, but Electric Fields are just so unique that they take the crown.
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