Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs
Encyclopedia
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australia
n pop and rock group dating from the mid-sixties. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early seventies to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period. Thorpe died from a heart attack in Sydney on 28 February 2007.
. His powerful voice and showmanship (which made him one of the most popular and respected rock performers in Australian music), completed the original line-up, which consisted of drummer Col Baigent, bassist John "Bluey" Watson and guitarists Valentine Jones and Vince Maloney (who later played with The Bee Gees).Valentine Jones left the band shortly after Billy Thorpe
had joined and was later replaced by Tony Barber.
", which famously kept The Beatles
from the #1 spot on the Sydney charts at the very moment that the group was making its first and only tour of Australia—a feat which resulted in Thorpe being invited to meet the Fab Four at their hotel. Over the next twelve months the band reigned supreme as the most popular 'beat' group in Australia, scoring further hits with the songs "Mashed Potato", "Sick And Tired" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", until they were eclipsed by the emergence of The Easybeats
in 1965. The band's recording success confirmed Albert Productions
, their recording company, with its worldwide distribution deals through EMI and Parlophone, as one of the most important in Australia's embryonic pop industry.
During 1965 the original Aztecs quit after a financial dispute, so Thorpe put together a new five-piece version consisting of drummer Johnny Dick, pianist Jimmy Taylor, guitarists Col Risby and Mike Downes and NZ-born bassist Teddy Toi. This group performed until 1966, scoring further hits with "Twilight Time
", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "Love Letters" and "Word For Today".
Thorpe went solo in 1967 and for a brief time he hosted his own TV pop show, It's All Happening, but personal problems and a widely publicised bankruptcy brought this phase of his career to an end in 1968. but then as he went solo he became more of an outcast
, who had risen to become manager of The Bee Gees and Cream
. While rehearsing a backing band in Melbourne that would form the basis for a new Aztecs, the guitarist unexpectedly dropped out, leaving Thorpe to assume lead guitar role at short notice. It marked another turning point in his career and from this point on Thorpe played lead guitar in The Aztecs as well as continuing as lead vocalist. His planned six-week stay in Melbourne soon stretched into months and eventually Thorpe decided to remain in Australia and re-launch his career.
Thorpe himself openly acknowledges that this new 'heavy' version of the Aztecs owes much to 'guitar hero' Lobby Loyde
. Lloyde already had a cult following due to his stints in two of the most original Australian bands of the Sixties, The Purple Hearts
and Wild Cherries
. While his stint in the new Aztecs was short (only a few months), his musical influence proved crucial in steering Thorpe in a completely new direction, and he strongly encouraged Thorpe to keep playing guitar.
The new Aztecs' blues-based heavy-rock repertoire was dramatically different in style from the original group, and they quickly became famous (or notorious) for the ear-splitting volume at which they played. Thorpe had also drastically changed his appearance—he grew a beard, often wore his now shoulder-length hair braided in a pigtail, and he had long since traded the tailored suits for jeans and t-shirts. Needless to say this did not endear to people who came to the shows expecting the 'old' Billy Thorpe of the "Poison Ivy" era, and this led to sometimes violent confrontations with disgruntled fans and promoters.
Their breakthrough recording was an ambitious album, The Hoax Is Over, recorded in September 1970 with new drummer Kevin Murphy. The album was an unequivocal signal of the Aztecs' new direction, containing only four tracks, three of which were Thorpe originals. The LP is dominated by two extended tracks: a version of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Gangster Of Love", which clocked in at 24:35 and ran the entire length of Side 1 (an unprecedented move in Australian pop music) and Thorpe's own "Mississippi" which ran 19'35". According to Thorpe, the band (which at this time comprising himself, Murphy, pianist Warren Morgan, guitar legend Lobby Loyde
and bassist Paul Wheeler), were all high on LSD
and jammed continuously while engineer Ernie Rose just let the tapes roll. The result heralded the fully-fledged arrival of the new Aztecs and live shows at Melbourne venues consolidated the band's reputation and drew enthusiastic responses.
before a capacity crowd of 5000. The evening's performance, including Morgan's commandeering of the huge town hall organ, was captured on the album Live at Melbourne Town Hall, and which has since become known for the group's deafening performance, which (it was claimed) cracked the windows of neighbouring buildings.
By contrast, the pastoral-sounding "The Dawn Song" was released in '71. A moderate hit, it displayed the musical diversity of Thorpe and his colleagues at this time.
In early 1972 the Aztecs released what became their biggest hit, and Thorpe's signature tune -- "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)", a song now widely regarded as one of the classics of Australian rock. It was a huge hit for the new Aztecs, peaking in the Go-Set
National Top 40 Singles Chart at number 3 in May 1972; propelled to the top of charts by the band's triumphant appearance at the 1972 Sunbury Music Festival. Thorpe himself claimed this as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian music, thanks to the promoters' decision to feature an all-Australian lineup, rather than relying on imported stars.
"Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive
's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2008.
, a rural town north of Melbourne, Victoria. The Aztecs shared billing with such other prominent acts as Spectrum/Murtceps, The La De Das
, Max Merritt & the Meteors, SCRA, Pirana, Greg Quill's Country Radio and many others.
Part of the Aztecs' set was issued on the double-album recording, Sunbury [EMI-HMV SOXLP 7561/2], and it was also captured on the film made of the event. A double-album collecting the Aztecs' full set, Aztecs Live at Sunbury
[Havoc HST 4003/4] was issued later in the year and this has recently been reissued on CD. In mint condition, the original LP release, with pop-up inserts, is much sought after by collectors today.
After the release of "Most People I Know" they released a follow-up single, "Believe It Just Like Me", which attacked local radio's preference for overseas material, but it failed to emulate the success of "Most People", which remains their best-known song.
The band repeated their festival success at Sunbury '73, and a record culled from this performance, Summer Jam, was released later in the year. They enjoyed another triumph by selling out the Myer Bowl in Melbourne, in marked contrast to their abortive excursions to the UK earlier in the year. It is said that a major reason that their Marquee Club
gigs in London failed was that British audiences could not tolerate the group's punishing volume.
During 1973 Thorpe collaborated on a duo album with his long-time friend and colleague Warren "Pig" Morgan, the LP Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy. Morgan and Thorpe also co-wrote and produced, with the Aztecs backing, a highly regarded single, "Looking Through a Window", for soul-blues singer Wendy Saddington
.
In August, Thorpe switched record labels from the independent Havoc to the newly opened local arm of Atlantic Records, releasing "Movie Queen" and "Don't You Know You're Changing?" as solo singles of singles, although they featured most of the Aztecs line-up.
Late in 1973 the group mounted a band's farewell concert at the newly opened Sydney Opera House
, becoming the first rock band to perform there. The concert was recorded and released as a double album, Steaming at the Opera House. The show consisted of three one-hour sets, the first acoustic, the second, an elaborately staged concept suite called "No More War". The third set was an all-in all-star jam, reuniting Thorpe with former bandmates Lobby Loyde, Kevin Murphy and Johnny Dick.
Before disbanding, the Aztecs recorded one more album for Atlantic, the provocatively titled More Arse Than Class, after which Thorpe embarked on a solo career. He released several more solo albums in Australia before re-locating to the United States, where he embarked on a series of business ventures, including a successful toy company with his old bandmate Tony Barber.
.
In 1998 Australia Post
issued a special edition set of twelve stamps celebrating the early years of Australian Rock 'n' Roll, featuring Australian hit songs of the late 50s, the 60s and the early 70s.
In 2002 he was one of the major driving forces behind the hugely successful TV and live concert series, "It's A Long Way To The Top", a celebration of 40 years of Australian Rock music. This was an occasion for him to bring together and perform with two versions of The Aztecs, the "Original Aztecs and, later in the show the "Sunbury' Aztecs.
His talent and his powerpacked voice were virtually untouched by the passing of the years and he continued to perform energetically around the country until his untimely death at age 60. He was working on his long anticipated album "Tangier" at the time of his death. He was recording in Marrakech at Marrakech Prod Recording Studio.
Billy Thorpe played his last gig at Westernport Hotel in San Remo, Victoria, on Sunday 25 February 2007. He died of a massive heart attack at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in the early hours of Wednesday, 28 February 2007. Tributes soon flowed readily for this legend of Australian music.
Gil Matthews runs the re-issue label Aztec Music. Their first release was Bill Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs Live at Sunbury
Albums:
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n pop and rock group dating from the mid-sixties. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early seventies to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period. Thorpe died from a heart attack in Sydney on 28 February 2007.
Beginning
Originally a four-piece instrumental group who had put out one surfing instrumental, "Smoke & Stack", they formed in Sydney in 1963. With the advent of the Merseybeat sound, they added a lead singer, Billy ThorpeBilly Thorpe
William Richard "Billy" Thorpe, AM was a renowned English-born Australian pop / rock singer-songwriter and musician...
. His powerful voice and showmanship (which made him one of the most popular and respected rock performers in Australian music), completed the original line-up, which consisted of drummer Col Baigent, bassist John "Bluey" Watson and guitarists Valentine Jones and Vince Maloney (who later played with The Bee Gees).Valentine Jones left the band shortly after Billy Thorpe
Billy Thorpe
William Richard "Billy" Thorpe, AM was a renowned English-born Australian pop / rock singer-songwriter and musician...
had joined and was later replaced by Tony Barber.
Chart success
The group broke through in mid-1964 with a massive nationwide hit, their cover of the Leiber and Stoller classic "Poison IvyPoison Ivy (song)
"Poison Ivy" is a popular song by American songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by The Coasters in 1959. It went to #1 on the R&B chart and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...
", which famously kept The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
from the #1 spot on the Sydney charts at the very moment that the group was making its first and only tour of Australia—a feat which resulted in Thorpe being invited to meet the Fab Four at their hotel. Over the next twelve months the band reigned supreme as the most popular 'beat' group in Australia, scoring further hits with the songs "Mashed Potato", "Sick And Tired" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", until they were eclipsed by the emergence of The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
in 1965. The band's recording success confirmed Albert Productions
Albert Productions
Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australian record label to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964 by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian...
, their recording company, with its worldwide distribution deals through EMI and Parlophone, as one of the most important in Australia's embryonic pop industry.
During 1965 the original Aztecs quit after a financial dispute, so Thorpe put together a new five-piece version consisting of drummer Johnny Dick, pianist Jimmy Taylor, guitarists Col Risby and Mike Downes and NZ-born bassist Teddy Toi. This group performed until 1966, scoring further hits with "Twilight Time
Twilight Time (song)
"Twilight Time" is a popular song with lyrics by Buck Ram, and the music by The Three Suns .Original hits of "Twilight Time" included the Three Suns and Les Brown & His Band of Renown ....
", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "Love Letters" and "Word For Today".
Thorpe went solo in 1967 and for a brief time he hosted his own TV pop show, It's All Happening, but personal problems and a widely publicised bankruptcy brought this phase of his career to an end in 1968. but then as he went solo he became more of an outcast
New Style, New Lineup
In 1969 Thorpe decided to try England, after being offered a recording deal by the Australian-born, London-based impresario Robert StigwoodRobert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
, who had risen to become manager of The Bee Gees and Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
. While rehearsing a backing band in Melbourne that would form the basis for a new Aztecs, the guitarist unexpectedly dropped out, leaving Thorpe to assume lead guitar role at short notice. It marked another turning point in his career and from this point on Thorpe played lead guitar in The Aztecs as well as continuing as lead vocalist. His planned six-week stay in Melbourne soon stretched into months and eventually Thorpe decided to remain in Australia and re-launch his career.
Thorpe himself openly acknowledges that this new 'heavy' version of the Aztecs owes much to 'guitar hero' Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde , also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer....
. Lloyde already had a cult following due to his stints in two of the most original Australian bands of the Sixties, The Purple Hearts
Purple Hearts (Australian band)
The Purple Hearts were an Australian rock group, formed in Brisbane in 1964. The band consisted of lead vocalist Mick Hadley, lead guitarist Barry Lyde , rhythm guitarist Fred Pickard, bassist Bob Dames, and drummers Adrian 'Red' Redmond and Tony Cahill .It is notable that Brisbane, traditionally...
and Wild Cherries
Wild Cherries
The Wild Cherries was an Australian rock group, which started in late 1964 playing R&B and became "the most relentlessly experimental psychedelic band on the Melbourne discotheque / dance scene" according to commentator, Glenn A...
. While his stint in the new Aztecs was short (only a few months), his musical influence proved crucial in steering Thorpe in a completely new direction, and he strongly encouraged Thorpe to keep playing guitar.
The new Aztecs' blues-based heavy-rock repertoire was dramatically different in style from the original group, and they quickly became famous (or notorious) for the ear-splitting volume at which they played. Thorpe had also drastically changed his appearance—he grew a beard, often wore his now shoulder-length hair braided in a pigtail, and he had long since traded the tailored suits for jeans and t-shirts. Needless to say this did not endear to people who came to the shows expecting the 'old' Billy Thorpe of the "Poison Ivy" era, and this led to sometimes violent confrontations with disgruntled fans and promoters.
Their breakthrough recording was an ambitious album, The Hoax Is Over, recorded in September 1970 with new drummer Kevin Murphy. The album was an unequivocal signal of the Aztecs' new direction, containing only four tracks, three of which were Thorpe originals. The LP is dominated by two extended tracks: a version of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Gangster Of Love", which clocked in at 24:35 and ran the entire length of Side 1 (an unprecedented move in Australian pop music) and Thorpe's own "Mississippi" which ran 19'35". According to Thorpe, the band (which at this time comprising himself, Murphy, pianist Warren Morgan, guitar legend Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde
Lobby Loyde , also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer....
and bassist Paul Wheeler), were all high on LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and jammed continuously while engineer Ernie Rose just let the tapes roll. The result heralded the fully-fledged arrival of the new Aztecs and live shows at Melbourne venues consolidated the band's reputation and drew enthusiastic responses.
Most People I Know
During 1971 they continued to win over Melbourne's audiences with their power-blues repertoire, A landmark event for the band took place on 13 June 1971. Now a four-piece following the departure of Loyde, the Aztecs (Thorpe, Morgan and Wheeler, with new drummer Gil "Rathead" Matthews) headlined a major concert at the Melbourne Town HallMelbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...
before a capacity crowd of 5000. The evening's performance, including Morgan's commandeering of the huge town hall organ, was captured on the album Live at Melbourne Town Hall, and which has since become known for the group's deafening performance, which (it was claimed) cracked the windows of neighbouring buildings.
By contrast, the pastoral-sounding "The Dawn Song" was released in '71. A moderate hit, it displayed the musical diversity of Thorpe and his colleagues at this time.
In early 1972 the Aztecs released what became their biggest hit, and Thorpe's signature tune -- "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)", a song now widely regarded as one of the classics of Australian rock. It was a huge hit for the new Aztecs, peaking in the Go-Set
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...
National Top 40 Singles Chart at number 3 in May 1972; propelled to the top of charts by the band's triumphant appearance at the 1972 Sunbury Music Festival. Thorpe himself claimed this as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian music, thanks to the promoters' decision to feature an all-Australian lineup, rather than relying on imported stars.
"Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2008.
Sunbury
While by no means the first of Australia's outdoor rock festivals, Sunbury '72 has assumed the mantle of "Australia's Woodstock". It was held at the end of January, 1972, over the Australia Day long weekend. The venue was a natural amphitheatre site on farmland near SunburySunbury, Victoria
Sunbury is a regional city, located north-west of Melbourne's central business district, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hume. At the 2006 Census, Sunbury had a population of 31,000...
, a rural town north of Melbourne, Victoria. The Aztecs shared billing with such other prominent acts as Spectrum/Murtceps, The La De Das
The La De Das
The La De Das were a leading New Zealand rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in New Zealand in 1963 , they enjoyed considerable success in both New Zealand and Australia until their split in 1975....
, Max Merritt & the Meteors, SCRA, Pirana, Greg Quill's Country Radio and many others.
Part of the Aztecs' set was issued on the double-album recording, Sunbury [EMI-HMV SOXLP 7561/2], and it was also captured on the film made of the event. A double-album collecting the Aztecs' full set, Aztecs Live at Sunbury
Aztecs Live at Sunbury
Aztecs Live! At Sunbury was a double live album released in August 1972 by Australian hard rock group Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, which was recorded at the inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival in late January...
[Havoc HST 4003/4] was issued later in the year and this has recently been reissued on CD. In mint condition, the original LP release, with pop-up inserts, is much sought after by collectors today.
After the release of "Most People I Know" they released a follow-up single, "Believe It Just Like Me", which attacked local radio's preference for overseas material, but it failed to emulate the success of "Most People", which remains their best-known song.
The band repeated their festival success at Sunbury '73, and a record culled from this performance, Summer Jam, was released later in the year. They enjoyed another triumph by selling out the Myer Bowl in Melbourne, in marked contrast to their abortive excursions to the UK earlier in the year. It is said that a major reason that their Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
gigs in London failed was that British audiences could not tolerate the group's punishing volume.
During 1973 Thorpe collaborated on a duo album with his long-time friend and colleague Warren "Pig" Morgan, the LP Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy. Morgan and Thorpe also co-wrote and produced, with the Aztecs backing, a highly regarded single, "Looking Through a Window", for soul-blues singer Wendy Saddington
Wendy Saddington
Wendy June Saddington is an Australian blues / soul / jazz singer and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. She wrote for teen pop newspaper Go-Set from September 1969 – September 1970 as an agony aunt in her weekly "Takes Care of Business" column and as a...
.
In August, Thorpe switched record labels from the independent Havoc to the newly opened local arm of Atlantic Records, releasing "Movie Queen" and "Don't You Know You're Changing?" as solo singles of singles, although they featured most of the Aztecs line-up.
Late in 1973 the group mounted a band's farewell concert at the newly opened Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, becoming the first rock band to perform there. The concert was recorded and released as a double album, Steaming at the Opera House. The show consisted of three one-hour sets, the first acoustic, the second, an elaborately staged concept suite called "No More War". The third set was an all-in all-star jam, reuniting Thorpe with former bandmates Lobby Loyde, Kevin Murphy and Johnny Dick.
Before disbanding, the Aztecs recorded one more album for Atlantic, the provocatively titled More Arse Than Class, after which Thorpe embarked on a solo career. He released several more solo albums in Australia before re-locating to the United States, where he embarked on a series of business ventures, including a successful toy company with his old bandmate Tony Barber.
After The Aztecs
In the late 1990s Billy Thorpe returned to Australia, where he was recognised as one of the elder statesmen of Australian music. In 1991 Billy Thorpe was inducted into the ARIA Hall of FameARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
.
In 1998 Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
issued a special edition set of twelve stamps celebrating the early years of Australian Rock 'n' Roll, featuring Australian hit songs of the late 50s, the 60s and the early 70s.
"Each of them said something about us, and told the rest of the world this is what popular culture sounds like, and it has an Australian accent."One of the stamps featured was the 'Most People I Know' stamp as illustrated to the left.
In 2002 he was one of the major driving forces behind the hugely successful TV and live concert series, "It's A Long Way To The Top", a celebration of 40 years of Australian Rock music. This was an occasion for him to bring together and perform with two versions of The Aztecs, the "Original Aztecs and, later in the show the "Sunbury' Aztecs.
His talent and his powerpacked voice were virtually untouched by the passing of the years and he continued to perform energetically around the country until his untimely death at age 60. He was working on his long anticipated album "Tangier" at the time of his death. He was recording in Marrakech at Marrakech Prod Recording Studio.
Billy Thorpe played his last gig at Westernport Hotel in San Remo, Victoria, on Sunday 25 February 2007. He died of a massive heart attack at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in the early hours of Wednesday, 28 February 2007. Tributes soon flowed readily for this legend of Australian music.
Gil Matthews runs the re-issue label Aztec Music. Their first release was Bill Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs Live at Sunbury
Discography
Singles:- Board Boogie/Smoke And Stack - Jan 1964
- Blue Day/You Don't Love Me - Apr 1964
- Poison Ivy/Broken Things - June 1964
- Blue Day/You Don't Love Me (reissue) - June 1964
- Mashed Potato/Don't Cha Know - Aug 1964
- Sick And Tired/About Love - Oct 1964
- Smoke And Stack/Board Boogie - Nov 1964
- Over The Rainbow/That I Love - Dec 1964
- I Told The Brook/Funny Face - May 1965
- Twilight Time/My Girl Josephine - July 1965
- Hallelujah I Love Her So/Baby Hold Me Close - Sept 1965
- Poison Ivy/Blue Day - Oct 1965
- Love Letters/Dancing In The Street - Nov 1965
- The Word For Today/The New Breed - June 1966
- I've Been Wrong Before/Wee Bit More Of Your Lovin' - Oct 1966
- Dream Baby/You Don't Live Twice - Sept 1967
- Good Morning Little School Girl/Rock Me Baby - Mar 1970
- The Dawn Song/Time To Live - Sept 1971
- Most People I Know/Regulation Three Puff - Feb 1972
- Believe It Just Like Me/Get To Hell Out Of Here - Oct 1972
- Captain Straightman/Bow My Head - Mar 1973 [as Thumpin' Pig & Puffin' Billy]
- Movie Queen/Mame - Aug 1973
- Don't You Know You're Changing?/Yes I'm Tired - Dec 1973
- Over The Rainbow/Let's Have A Party - Apr 1974
- Cigarettes and Whiskey/Back Home in Australia - Nov 1974
- It's Almost Summer/Drive My Car - Nov 1975
- Do The Best You Can/Mama Told Her - Mar 1976
- Blue Mary/Good Night Out - Aug 1976
- Wrapped Up In Your Love/Goddess Of The Night - July 1979
- Children Of The Sun/Simple Life - Sept 1979
- In My Room/She's Alive - Nov 1980
- Just The Way I Like It/Rock Until You Drop - Oct 1981
Albums:
- The Hoax Is Over, 1970
- Live At Melbourne Town Hall, 1971
- Aztecs Live at SunburyAztecs Live at SunburyAztecs Live! At Sunbury was a double live album released in August 1972 by Australian hard rock group Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, which was recorded at the inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival in late January...
(2-LP), 1972 - Thumpin' Pig & Puffin' Billy (aka "Downunda"), Jul 1973
- Summer Jam, Nov 1973
- More Arse Than Class, May 1974
- Steaming At The Opera House (2-LP), Dec 1974
- Gold (compilation), May 1975
External links
- Official MySpace Site: http://www.myspace.com/billythorpetheofficialmyspace
- Thorpie.com - Official Billy Thorpe website
- Long Way to the Top: Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - Stories and Highlights, Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. - In Memory of Billy Thorpe
- http://www.allmusic.com
- http://www.milesago.com/artists/thorpe.htm
- http://www.supportact.com.au/
- http://www.billy-thorpe.com/
- http://www.aztecmusic.net/
- Listen to a clip from 'Most People I Know (Think that I'm Crazy)' and read more about it on australianscreen online
- 'Most People I Know (Think that I'm Crazy)' was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2008