There was an article about The Wiggles in the music magazine in The Observer yesterday. Reading it reminded me of a conversation I had with an Aussie guy called Andrew at the pub last Saturday. He’d seen The Cockroaches (The Wiggles before they became The Wiggles) play in Canberra and said it was one of the best gigs he’d been to.
I expressed my doubts. Even before they donned the coloured skivvies the guys in the Cockroaches/Wiggles didn’t exactly ooze credibility. Personally I preferred The Sunnyboys. But like Andrew with The Cockroaches, that opinion was formed by seeing them play a number of legendary gigs. (The one at the Holme Building during O week in my first year at Sydney Uni was particularly memorable.)
I never saw The Coackroaches live so I can’t compare. But the lead singer of The Sunnyboys is making pizzas for a living on the northern beaches in Sydney. The lead singer of The Cockroaches is playing sold out gigs at Madison square Garden, albeit in a blue skivvie. Make of that what you will.
Anyway, Andrew was keen to hear some stuff by The Sunnyboys. Which has given me an excuse to try out a service offered by Imeem.com. You load up songs and it makes a play list to embed in your website that people can listen to. I’ve made one featuring my five favourite Sunnyboy songs and you’ll find it here.
Having just listened to it seems to be lacking something. I think it might be hundreds of people crammed into the Holme Building, including a guy swinging from the rafters like a Chimpanzee.
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G’day
I witnessed both bands in the early ’80s in Sydney and although the Cockroaches were entertaining they weren’t anywhere near as intense as the Sunnyboys. I can’t even remember a Cockroaches song ???
Cheers
Chris
I saw the Sunnyboys in Brisbane in the 80′s and remember the experience fondly. I am sure the Cockroaches/Wiggles are nice guys but would not go to one of their gigs unless paid to.
They had a very “poppy” sound… sort of like a sugared up Mentals but without the cred or substance…
Their only song which was anything like a hit (from memory) was “She’s the one”
To be fair though it was an era when “Footloose” and the like were on top of the charts…..
Thank God for the Sunnyboys.
The lead singer of the Sunnyboys is an invalid pensioner and lives in Queensland. His brother Peter, who played bass, owns a woodfire pizza restaurant in Newtown, not the northern beaches, so it’s not like he’s flipping burgers!
There is no comparison betwene the Sunnyboys and the Cockroaches. None at all.