The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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EASYBEATS
“FRIDAY ON MY MIND”
(Harry Vanda, George Young)
United Artists 50108
No. 16 May 20, 1967
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The Easybeats met and merged at a youth hostel in 1963 in Sydney, Australia. Guitarist George Young
(b. Nov. 6, 1947, Glasgow, Scotland) joined forces with lead singer “Little” Stevie Wright (b. Dec. 20,
1948, Leeds, England); bassist Dick Diamonde (b. Dec. 28, 1947) and lead guitarist Harry Yanda (b. Mar.
22, 1947), who had both moved to Australia from their native Holland; and drummer Gordon “Snowy”
Fleet (b. Aug. 16, 1945, Liverpool), who had played with the Mojos, and who picked the “Easybeats”‘
name.
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By 1964, the Easybeats were a scruffy-haired band playing at a Sydney club called The Beatie Village. A
talent scout named Mike Vaughn caught one of their shows, and recommended them to J. Albert & Son,
the label that issued the first of the beat group’s many 45s, “For My Woman.” Nothing much happened
until “She’s So Fine,” their next Australian release: it topped the homeland charts, and the follow-up,
“Wedding Bells,” went Top 10. Yet George and the rest were not pleased with the results.
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“That’s when all the bullshit started;’ Young told Greg Shaw, editor of Who Put the Bomp. “With that
track, we tried to be commercial. It paid off, but wasn’t as big as we thought it could have been. We
decided then that we wanted to get out of Australia.” Before leaving for England, three more collectible
singles were issued–“Sad and Lonely and Blue,” “Make You Feel Alright (Woman),” and “Come and See
Her.”
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Once on British shores, the Easybeats recorded an irresistibly pulsating track with a Beatle-esque yet
rough-edged feel. “Friday on My Mind” was a slice of working-class rock’n’roll, and remains a classic
here comes–the-weekend party platter [to at least the over 60 sort]. According to George, that was the
beginning of the end–the band was pressured to come up with another “Friday,” and a U.S. tour was
hastily arranged. Snowy dropped out, to be replaced by Tony Cahill.
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“By that time, the band was really stoned most of the time, and we had been at it for a fair while. When
every body else was getting in to it, we were trying to get out of it. The general lethargy of the band was
due to dope, plus there were contractual hassles popping up, and we still weren’t making any money.
Then we found ourselves exclusively signed to more than one record company! To this day [late ’70s],
we’re still involved in lawsuits.”
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After releasing just a handful of fine stateside singles and two albums–Friday on My Mind (1967) and
Falling of the Edge of the World (1968)–the Easybeats called it quits in 1969. Harry Vanda and George
Young have since moved on to become Australia’s top producers (AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, JOHN PAUL
YOUNG) and have recorded under pseudonyms like Paintbox, Tramp, Moondance, the Band of Hope,
Flash & The Pan, Grapefruit, and Marcus Hook Roll Band. Young’s two younger brothers are AC/DC’s
Angus and Malcolm Young.
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