Pub Rock: the sounds that defined Australia in the 70s and 80s – in pictures

Pub Rock is an exhibition celebrating the vibrant Australian live music scene, with images of such quintessential Australian bands as Cold Chisel and INXS. At the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 5 September, 2020 to 14 February 2021, followed by a national tour. Entry free, bookings essential

Main image: Angus Young was a founding member of Australia’s most successful band, AC/DC. Glasgow-born brothers Angus and Malcom Young formed AC/DC in Sydney in 1973. Photograph: Rennie Ellis

  • Midnight Oil perform at Tiffany’s, Blacktown, Sydney on 19 November 1986.
    Midnight Oil perform at Tiffany’s, Blacktown, Sydney on 19/11/1986.

  • Sharon O’Neill playing at the Hellenic Club, 27 August 1980.
    Sharon O’Neill at the Hellenic Club, 27 August 1980.

  • The Saints, formed in the mid-1970s in Brisbane, has been described as ‘one of the most sporadically brilliant, frustratingly uneven and most undeniably important bands Australia has ever produced’. Ede’s photograph shows Ed Kuepper, Alasdair ‘Algy’ Ward, Ivor Hay and Chris Bailey in London in the band’s 1978 iteration.
    The Saints, 1978.

  • Singer-songwriter Jimmy Barnes, former lead singer of the quintessential Australian pub band, Cold Chisel, formed in Adelaide in 1973. This smoky, sweat-soaked, leather-clad photograph held in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection was part of the initial inspiration for the Pub Rock exhibition.
    Jimmy Barnes at The Coogee Bay Hotel 1984.

  • Ramones, Hellenic Club, Woden, 16 July 1981.
    Ramones, Hellenic Club, Woden, 16 July 1981, 6.7.1981.

  • INXS, ANU Union, Canberra, 18 June 1981.
    INXS, ANU Union, Canberra 18th June 1981.

  • Glenn A Baker, rock music expert, Australian editor of Billboard magazine for 22 years, has written 17 books, hundreds of magazine articles and sleeve notes for more than 600 albums, and co-written film music. Baker, who now lives in the Blue Mountains, says he’ll ‘keep on doing it’ as long as the Rolling Stones do.
    Glenn A Baker 1989.

  • Men at Work, The Jam Factory, (Colbee Court) Phillip, ACT, 1981, by ‘pling.
    Men at Work, The Jam Factory, (Colbee Court) Phillip, ACT, 1981 by ‘pling.

  • Singer-songwriter and frontman of the Church, Steve Kilbey, broke through internationally in 1988 with the Steve Kilbey/Karin Jansson song ‘Under the Milky Way’. It was consistently rated among the best Australian songs of all time, winner of the Aria for best song of 1988 and used in the cult film Donnie Darko in 2001.
    Steve Kilbey 1981.

  • Sherbet formed in 1969 from the remnants of two Sydney dance bands. By January 1972 the line-up had settled to the members shown here: Daryl Braithwaite, Clive Shakespeare, Garth Porter, Alan Sandow (left to right) and Tony Mitchell (foreground). Lewis Morley photographed Sherbet in the nude for the racy POL magazine in 1972.
    Sherbet, 1974.

  • Split Enz, Canberra theatre, 27 March 1981.
    Split Enz, Canberra Theatre, 27 March 1981, 27.3.1981 by ‘pling.

  • Cold Chisel perform on Countdown on 29 July 1978.
    Cold Chisel perform on Count Down on 29/07/1978.

  • Barry Gibb and twins Robin and Maurice Gibb emigrated to Australia in 1958 and formed the Bee Gees as a rockband. Their 1966 single ‘Spicks and Specks’ reached number 1 just as the band left to seek its fortune in London. A talented songwriter, at one point Barry Gibb could count five of his songs in the US top 10 at once.
    Barry Gibb 1970-71.

  • The Lighthouse Keepers, ANU Union, Canberra, 1983.
    The Lighthouse Keepers, ANU Union, Canberra, 1983.

  • AC/DC play at the Sydney festival, Haymarket, Sydney in the 70s.
    AC/DC play at the Sydney Festival, Haymarket, Sydney on 30/01/197
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