Artist · chart history
Australian Crawl
Band Australia Active 1978–1986
Australian Crawl formed in 1978 in Australia and was active until 1986. Australian Crawl has 4 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2018–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Reckless”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #23. The station that charted Australian Crawl most often is Triple M (Australia (national network)), with 3 appearances.
Australian Crawl named themselves after a swimming stroke, and the surf-music tag stuck to them. James Reyne sang and played piano and harmonica, Brad Robinson played rhythm guitar, Simon Binks lead guitar, Paul Williams bass and David Reyne drums when the band started out in 1978; David soon handed the sticks to Bill McDonough, and Bill's brother Guy McDonough later came in on vocals and rhythm guitar.
The band leaned into it far enough to sponsor a surfing contest in 1984, but the songs looked past the sunscreen at shallow materialism, drink, wrecked cars and romances that ended badly. The Boys Light Up went to No. 4 at home in 1980, and then Sirocco, home of "Errol" and "Things Don't Seem", and Sons of Beaches both went all the way to No. 1. "Reckless", from the 1983 Semantics EP, was their biggest single, a brooding, slow-burning thing that topped the charts.
After that the wheels came off. Bill McDonough left in 1983, Guy McDonough died in 1984 and Williams was gone by 1985. Between a Rock and a Hard Place cost a fortune and sold poorly, and the band called it quits early in 1986. The ARIA Hall of Fame inducted them in 1996, but Robinson, in hospital with lymphoma, couldn't be there, and he died two weeks later.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Australian Crawl on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reckless | 2 | #23 | – | – | |
| 2 | Errol | 1 | #52 | – | – | |
| 3 | Things Don't Seem | 1 | #78 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 39 | Reckless | Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs (2025) |
| 2018 | 23 | Reckless | Triple M Ozzest 100 (2018) |
| 2018 | 52 | Errol | Triple M Ozzest 100 (2018) |
| 2018 | 78 | Things Don't Seem | Triple M Ozzest 100 (2018) |
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