A Little Appreciation For The Band Men At Work
This
band from Australia called Men At Work hit the scene in the early
1980's with an album called Business As Usual. Some of the songs were
kind of silly, but they were catchy tunes. Who Can It Be Now and Land
Down Under were being played everywhere. Be Good Johnny was another fun
song from the album.
The
band was so popular at that time that they ended up getting a Grammy
nomination for Best New Artist. As luck would have it, they won. I'll
never forget when lead singer Colin Hay, as part of the acceptance
speech, said, "We are the men, and we'll see you again."
What's
funny is this happened around the time of their second album, Cargo,
but the band broke up after their third album. It was almost like Colin
jinxed the guys from there on out, and it was really a shame. As pop
rock bands go, these guys were good.
Their
best songs may have been on Cargo with It's A Mistake and Overkill.
Overkill isn't just my favorite song by these guys, but it's one of my
favorite songs period. It's one of those songs that has something to say
that many people can relate to.
Overkill
is about the anxiety we all feel about life sometimes. We start
worrying over things like bills, relationships and everything else. Will
it be okay? Then, we get to the point where we can't even fall asleep
because of the stress. The message of the song is that it will all be
okay.
The
band's third album, Two Hearts, was their last studio album before they
broke up, but they managed to leave their mark on the industry. Land
Down Under and Who Can It Be Now are still playing on the radio, and
they have sold over 30 million records. There are many bands who only
dream of that kind of success.
