East by Cold Chisel

East, Cold Chisel's third studio album, hit the racks in June 1980 on Elektra, and it's the moment the Adelaide pub rockers turned their sweat and beer into a national soundtrack. Mark Opitz produced, and he got the whole band on tape with its muscle intact: Jimmy Barnes roaring out front, Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Don Walker on piano and keyboards, Phil Small on bass and Steve Prestwich on drums.

The songs tell working-class stories with a rockabilly kick and a streak of rough soul, and "Cheap Wine" went top 10 at home. East stayed on the Australian chart for 63 weeks, peaked at number two and was the country's biggest-selling homegrown album that year. It even reached the Billboard 200 in 1981, the only Chisel album that ever did, and later made the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.