Artist · chart history
Men At Work
Band Melbourne Australia Active 1979–1985 Australian rock band
Men At Work formed in 1979 in Melbourne, Australia and was active until 1985. Men At Work has 76 chart appearances on 42 radio countdowns from 20 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Down Under”, which appears on 36 lists with a best position of #2. The station that charted Men At Work most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 15 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1982.
Men at Work grew out of an acoustic duo in Melbourne, with Colin Hay singing and playing guitar and Ron Strykert alongside him. Once they became a band, Jerry Speiser came in on drums, John Rees took over the bass and Greg Ham brought his sax, keyboards and flute, which let Strykert move back to lead guitar, and Hay's university friend Russell Depeller took over as manager. The sound was new wave with a reggae lilt, jittery and sly, with Hay's voice doing funny, nervous things and Ham's flute and sax cutting in where you least expected them.
Business As Usual, released in November 1981, turned into a runaway success. "Who Can It Be Now?" was all twitchy nerves, "Down Under" a jaunty singalong, and in January 1983 the album and the single sat at number one in the US at the same time, a first for Australian artists; the same pair managed the same trick in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. That year they also won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Cargo followed in May 1983 with "It's A Mistake" and "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive", and went to number one at home.
It came apart fast. Speiser and Rees were asked to leave in 1984, Strykert quit during the Two Hearts sessions, Ham left soon after its 1985 release, and Hay retired the name early in 1986. He and Ham revived it for tours from 1996 to 2002, Ham died in April 2012, and in 2019 Hay put Men at Work back on the road with a new lineup. Along the way they have sold more than 30 million albums.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Men At Work on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Down Under | 36 | #2 | – | 1982 | |
| 2 | Who Can It Be Now? | 23 | #36 | – | 1982 | |
| 3 | Overkill | 7 | #326 | – | – | |
| 4 | It's A Mistake | 3 | #545 | – | – | |
| 5 | Be Good Johnny | 4 | #518 | – | – | |
| 6 | Underground | 2 | #1364 | – | – | |
| 7 | Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive | 1 | #1823 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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