Lost footage of The Easybeats on Top of the Pops in 1966 rediscovered in 2021
A landmark chapter in music history has been rediscovered: Sydney band The Easybeats performing on Top of the Pops 55 years ago | WATCH
A landmark chapter in Australian music history thought lost to the sands of time has been rediscovered: Sydney band The Easybeats performing on Top of the Pops 55 years ago.
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) has released footage of the five-piece rock act playing its best-known song, Friday On My Mind, which originally aired on November 24, 1966.
At the time, Top of the Pops – broadcast on BBC TV – was Britain’s most watched television show, and its viewership was said to be larger than the population of Australia.
Precisely how the black-and-white footage resurfaced more than five decades after it was filmed is a mystery in itself.
Acclaimed NSW visual artist Lucy Culliton was sifting through her late father’s belongings earlier this year when she found a little white box hiding at the back of a shelf.
It was marked ‘Easybeats print – Friday On My Mind’, and inside was a 16mm film print.
Her father was former television director Tony Culliton, who had already gone through his archives from his time at ATN7 and handed over everything he believed was of value.
His daughter’s discovery is remarkable in itself, but how Tony came to possess the only known copy of one of the most significant chapters in Australian music history is unknown.
Even more impressive is that the 16mm film was kept at all.
At the time, the BBC had a policy of deleting old programs, which meant that the vast majority of Top of the Pops episodes screened prior to 1976 were lost, including any official recording of the only time that The Beatles made a live appearance.
Of the 315 episodes produced from 1964 to 1970, only five complete episodes are known to have survived, according to the NFSA.
The episode that screened on November 24 1966 was not among that number, which is why its rediscovery has caused archivists – and Australian rock ‘n’ roll fans – to rejoice.
“We consider this to be one of the missing holy grails of Australian music on television,” said NFSA senior curatorial officer Simon Smith.
“This is such a fantastic find and one that could easily have never occurred but for the NFSA’s existing connection with the Culliton family – it’s thanks to them and their interest in our audiovisual heritage that this film found its way to us,” he said.
“The international success of The Easybeats paved the way for rock bands like AC/DC, Midnight Oil and INXS in later years, and this is arguably the moment where it all began,” said Smith.
In 2001, the Australian Performing Right Association (APRA) voted Friday On My Mind as the most significant Australian song of the past 75 years.
In 2007, it was among the 10 inaugural inductees into the NFSA’s Sounds of Australia collection, which acknowledge sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance.
And now, thanks to Tony Culliton and his daughter, we have an audiovisual recording of this work, too.
The NFSA took possession of the 16mm film print in September and digitally scanned it for long-term preservation in its collection. Its archivists are also said to be returning a digital film master to the BBC archives.
Formed in Sydney in 1964, The Easybeats was composed of guitarists and songwriters George Young and Harry Vanda, singer Stevie Wright, bassist Dick Diamonde and Gordon “Snowy” Fleet.
As well as Friday On My Mind – which was the first Australian rock song to become an international hit in 1966 – its popular singles included Sorry, She’s So Fine, Women (Make You Feel Alright) and St Louis.
The band split in 1969 ahead of the release of its sixth album, Friends. The original members reformed in 1986 for an Australian tour.
The Easybeats were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2005. Stevie Wright died on December 27 2015, aged 68, and George Young died on October 22 2017, aged 70.
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