Before AC/DC, there was Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs! One of the loudest bands ever still to this day over 50 years later. Besides having one of the most powerful voices worldwide, Billy was a very inclusive performer, he wanted everyone at his gigs to have a great time, and we all did. First class.
I'm a retired guitarist and I got to meet Billy backstage at an Alice Cooper gig not long b4 he passed and I got to tell Him how "mama" made me say yes to guitar no to drums. That song n groove changed everything 4 me. RIP Mr Thorpe as I called him. Respect. 😎🤘
I found Buffalo somehow a few weeks back and begged ChatGPT to find me more Australian (proto) metal. This came up after Coloured Balls. These 3 bands are epic. D9 was made for this music (or this music is a product of D9).
As a kid growing up in Australia these classic Aussie sounds made the world seem a very exciting place, now looking back is it really brilliant that their is that distinct Australian rock sound, which certaily shaped the way we all danced!
It sure is. Bands like Billy Thorpe Rose Tattoo Radio Birdman The Angels The Skyhooks The Saints Johnny Diesel etc. Never bothered to crack the American market because they didn't need to. They're God's there
When television was television and music was music, bloody brilliant. Miss you, talented, amazing musician Mr Billy Thorpe and his Aztecs. I have watched this so many times always blown away.
I saw him perform 25.2.2007 at Westernport hotel San Remo...HOLY FUCK...he was electrifying! He died 3 days later. I am firever grateful & blessed for having that experience❤
Long live Billy Thorpe, and long live Aussie Pub Rock. If it wasn't for Billy, I doubt there would've been any Pub Rock and I totally love Aussie Pub Rock. Even if I was born in 1981, still love the Aussie rock.
I was born in 1963 and I think I got the best of it all from 60's to the 80's. saw ACDC at the local town hall, Chisel at the beginning in the Largs Pier hotel, INXS, The Models at the botanical gardens. and then all the touring Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's. great time to be young
This song is sensational. Billy was a great showman and could really belt out a song I used to watch GTK on the ABC when it was on Fridays nights I was only about eight years old, my sister had a huge crush on Billy Thorpe. The band members used to live near Sydney University. I was only a kid and I met the band members and Billy a few times my stepsister used to hang out with them in the old Terrace the band members shared. I remember my Dad blowing he’s top and placing a curfew on my stepsister when Dad found out she was doing dope with them, they where doing more then weed. However I love this performance by them. Such stamina. Billy really felt the music. Great song too. 🌟⭐️😇🇦🇺
Beautiful to the ears! Gibson through Mashall, no pedals. Love this! Thanks Billy! If this was the only song you ever did, it would have been more than enough!
During my angst driven teenage years Billy showed me the way to evolve through Sex & Drugs & Hard Rock - thank you Billy ! Billy Thorpe had more balls than a billiard table-& his energy & attitude on stage was phenomenal ! How cool (and a thing unknown now) for a band to do a 10 minute song & have it on air (thanks GTK) Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs= Legend
that 9mins would have taken up the whole segment.. from memory gtk went for 10 mins .. bloody unreal how this still beats the shit out of most bands since
I moved to Melbourne from Newcastle in 1971 . I saw Thorpie on the night I arrived at Sebastions Disco awseome and extremely loud. For years after he was the biggest pub act in town.
I may not have learned about Billy Thorpe through my dad, but most of the music I love and listen to regularly I learned about from my dad who I lost earlier this year.
Thorpie was the loudest because he found that he could piggyback his amps, thus The Aztecs were the loudest band in the country at time. The large Marshal Stacks that say Led Zeppelin used were just too expensive to buy at the time. My mum worked at The Whitehorse so she saw him twice a week there for a few years. Good times in rock for Melbourne. RIP Thorpie
Thorpie was just naturally popular, nothing to do with newspapers, etc. He played and people loved his sound, and they followed him around. When he came back from the US after 20 years, they went back to see him. Nothing like it anywhere else.
Billy had so many careers The child star The screaming girls pop star The hard rocking loud rock star you see here And of course the latter day mature icon Australian Legend
Possibly one of the best voices around, live and really nailing it while playing guitar, he became quite an accomplished guitarist this night using a cranked distorted amp but without a great deal of sustain, not so great for soloing. No signs on voice degradation at all even toward the end.
I remember so vividly when he turned and asked me ..how do we sound..I was like..yeah..good...sittin on the floor..few feet away from him suckin on my beer n smoke. .he's like good. So cranked it up a notch.let loose a bit..before we called it a night.
@Badge290 He was the greatest I had the pleasure of having a drink with him at the Village green in 1971-72 I think and those days were the greatest as He never forgot me and always said hello I feel priveliged one of the all time grats
used to go and see the Aztecs in some huge pub in Melbourne (Matthew Flinders maybe) on a Sunday afternoon, you had to buy a meal to get a ticket otherwise no alcohol, Lobby used to turn up drunk and jam with the boys, those were the days...
This is balls out awesome. Australian blues / rock had it bang on in the 70's. Just listen to the drive you get in this & Coloured Balls "Working Mans Boogie". Not subtle, just a pounding guitar pushing the song forward.
@MichaelKingsfordGray As far as I remember the Australian Govt. didn't ban any records. It was the radio stations who arked up against the mainly British owned record companies who demanded extra payment or royalties for playing mostly British records on the radio. So the radio stations refused to play them for 6 months until the record companies came to their senses. This gave some local bands a chance to cover some of the British songs and to have hit records here in Oz in their own right.
Knew about BT but wasn't aware of his stint as a blues-rocker. Love this. Totally primal and all the better for it. He sure knows how to wring the neck of a Les Paul. The tone is wicked! Thanks for posting.
Cool to see Billy Thorpe playing. this was long before I'd heard of him, or his influence on Oz rock. All I'd heard was Children of the Sun, which was the only Thorpe track played in the US. From vids like these one can tell automatically that Thorpe was quite the player. It also sounds quite loud -- I mean, the stage volume must have been blistering. Elsewhere I've read the amps Thorpe used were 300W or something like that. Thanks for posting this.
Loudest band! I may have been a very young kid when these guys were around, but they are legendary to the power behind them and that of Billy Thorpes voice. My HERO to this day!
I grew up in Mitcham next suburb up the highway from the Whitehorse and we could hear him when we went for a burger at the George A cafe.....Ahhh those were the days.
when I was fifteen around time of this vid, used to go to Electric Circus, club in Brisbane, see Billy, he would be on a stage only about 10 inches high, all the audience would sit on the floor and listen to Billy blast the hell out of the place, each song was like this, more of a jam really, would last for 8 - 10 mins, he looked just like this then...great memories
Billy Thorpe was remarkable and sad that the world was not able to witness him and the Aztecs in their later years. They were the best,by far, the best rock band in Aust at that time.
I first saw this early one morning on RAGE, about 20 years ago. I just finished reading 'Thorpies Time On Earth' fanstic!!! RIP legend, The best in Australia
Only the best, listened to Billy and the Aztecs many times at Berties and Village Green, etched in my memory for ever, will catchup one day and do it all again R.I.P
Mate........I am so envious! I am about to turn 52 so I was too young (as far as my olds were concerned) to go to Sunbury. I have been searching the net for the last 15 years or so for Thorpie gigs in my area, but I was in Defence and kept moving around. I would have loved to have seen him in a pub type of atmosphere. There is noone more than Thorpie that I would have paid big money to see. Too late now!!!!! Thanks for the memories Billy.
Sensational. Rock at its best, seemingly raw but underpinned by great talent and control, with a voice the best rock has witnessed along with Lennon and Cobain.
Compliments to the channel for bringing the 'oldies but goldies' back under the spotlight.
Before AC/DC, there was Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs! One of the loudest bands ever still to this day over 50 years later. Besides having one of the most powerful voices worldwide, Billy was a very inclusive performer, he wanted everyone at his gigs to have a great time, and we all did. First class.
I'm a retired guitarist and I got to meet Billy backstage at an Alice Cooper gig not long b4 he passed and I got to tell Him how "mama" made me say yes to guitar no to drums. That song n groove changed everything 4 me. RIP Mr Thorpe as I called him. Respect. 😎🤘
For the early 70s this is heavy as fuck. One of the heaviest bits of blues/rock/metal ever laid down in this country and it stands up 50+ years later.
I found Buffalo somehow a few weeks back and begged ChatGPT to find me more Australian (proto) metal. This came up after Coloured Balls. These 3 bands are epic. D9 was made for this music (or this music is a product of D9).
Masters Apprentices ..start with "choice cuts" album 👌
As a kid growing up in Australia these classic Aussie sounds made the world seem a very exciting place, now looking back is it really brilliant that their is that distinct Australian rock sound, which certaily shaped the way we all danced!
what a great band. Nothing fake in this music.
The Aussie scene is one untapped goldmine. so freakishly underrated and overlooked.
Yeah man! It's certainly refreshing, that there is no "this sound like AC/DC" on the comments xD
So very well said
Taman shud compAny Caine Wendy s , legends, Billy Thorpe.
Masters, Aussie rock man
It sure is. Bands like Billy Thorpe Rose Tattoo Radio Birdman The Angels The Skyhooks The Saints Johnny Diesel etc. Never bothered to crack the American market because they didn't need to. They're God's there
wow the aztecs were even louder than buffalo live apparently!!! now that is volcanic oz rock!!!!!
Billy Thorpe was an icon in Australian rock music.
Wasn't he a Pom?
@@dennisbrinckley4474
He was an Australian citizen
What a great loss to Aussie music. Nothing beats the raw intensity of BT and the Aztecs. Saw them in the 70's and still get a chill.
Shivers down the spine everytime I hear it...just timeless ... and Thorpey's voice was one of the few that could match the playing
Its basically Robert Plant's voice (not saying it is common though)
@@anneonyme3544 he sounds more like Steve Marriott in my opinion
When television was television and music was music, bloody brilliant. Miss you, talented, amazing musician Mr Billy Thorpe and his Aztecs. I have watched this so many times always blown away.
Such a powerful tune.
The same man that sung Over The Rainbow lol
How many of us in our teens came home (usually on a Saturday night early Sunday) drunk to watch Rage and see Billy and the Aztecs
I saw him perform 25.2.2007 at Westernport hotel San Remo...HOLY FUCK...he was electrifying! He died 3 days later. I am firever grateful & blessed for having that experience❤
Did he look healthy? Bill is the King.The greatest rock singer in the world.We were blessed.
Billy's guitar is so loud its blistering, its amazing he doesn't blow his mind completely
Long live Billy Thorpe, and long live Aussie Pub Rock. If it wasn't for Billy, I doubt there would've been any Pub Rock and I totally love Aussie Pub Rock. Even if I was born in 1981, still love the Aussie rock.
I was born in 1963 and I think I got the best of it all from 60's to the 80's. saw ACDC at the local town hall, Chisel at the beginning in the Largs Pier hotel, INXS, The Models at the botanical gardens. and then all the touring Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's. great time to be young
@@Eskay1206 It was a great time to be alive! Young or old.
Best ever Aussie song ever made. 400 watts of Oz brilliance
I think 400 watts was just in billy's foldback ..at least .. Aztec energy
This song is sensational. Billy was a great showman and could really belt out a song I used to watch GTK on the ABC when it was on Fridays nights I was only about eight years old, my sister had a huge crush on Billy Thorpe. The band members used to live near Sydney University. I was only a kid and I met the band members and Billy a few times my stepsister used to hang out with them in the old Terrace the band members shared. I remember my Dad blowing he’s top and placing a curfew on my stepsister when Dad found out she was doing dope with them, they where doing more then weed. However I love this performance by them. Such stamina. Billy really felt the music. Great song too. 🌟⭐️😇🇦🇺
Beautiful to the ears! Gibson through Mashall, no pedals. Love this!
Thanks Billy! If this was the only song you ever did, it would have been more than enough!
I saw Billy for the last time a couple of years before he died and every time I go to bed to the sound of my Tinnitus I think of him.
🤣 ...👉 best comment of the decade🏋♂
This track should appear and be played as mandatory entertainment on every aircraft landing in Australia - WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA!
Yep. Not that other stupid welcome they give 🇦🇺🇦🇺
Some Where, Over The Rainbow ! Billy turned the corner Loved all his music .GTK . what a little gem that was .
During my angst driven teenage years Billy showed me the way to evolve through Sex & Drugs & Hard Rock - thank you Billy !
Billy Thorpe had more balls than a billiard table-& his energy & attitude on stage was phenomenal !
How cool (and a thing unknown now) for a band to do a 10 minute song & have it on air (thanks GTK)
Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs= Legend
that 9mins would have taken up the whole segment.. from memory gtk went for 10 mins .. bloody unreal how this still beats the shit out of most bands since
Correct - after Bellbird, before the ABC News at 7:00pm. I was lucky to see "Thorpey" twice - Rosebud, 1972; and Darwin, about 1992.
@@peterthomas4647 Doctor who was between GTK and the news
I moved to Melbourne from Newcastle in 1971 . I saw Thorpie on the night I arrived at Sebastions Disco awseome and extremely loud. For years after he was the biggest pub act in town.
Billys kicks some serious ass in this.Can feel the hair raising my neck!
Man this can never date,this is a priceless clip.
This clip got me hooked on Billy Thorpe, Good thing my Dad was a fan. I learnt heaps off him.
True Aussie legend for sure!! R.I.P Billy n Dad
I may not have learned about Billy Thorpe through my dad, but most of the music I love and listen to regularly I learned about from my dad who I lost earlier this year.
@@RoryGFan-39 very sorry for you're loss.
Thank you
Heaps, lol
Thorpie was the loudest because he found that he could piggyback his amps, thus The Aztecs were the loudest band in the country at time. The large Marshal Stacks that say Led Zeppelin used were just too expensive to buy at the time. My mum worked at The Whitehorse so she saw him twice a week there for a few years. Good times in rock for Melbourne. RIP Thorpie
Darren Allen AZTEC ENERGY .. SUK MORE PISS !! .. i guess 😎
Those were the days! I believe the Whitehorse is no longer, gone in the name of "progress".
WHAT? I can't hear you!
hows her hearing?
@@philipjones6641 Pretty sure the site is now occupied by a hardware shop that sells sausages.
I've never heard this until now, and oh man, this is amazing. I thought I was well versed in the classics and I guess I was wrong. What a voice!
+nitrameable Welcome to the world of Billy Thorpe.The greatest.
This is Billy doing what Billy always did best..... being Billy. Larger than life and fkn awesome.
This bloke is a genius. Everyone in heaven will go deaf. Keep on rockin Thorpie.
Poder Azteca! A powerful song, good oldie. Bien pacheco ese!
The Aztecs are on fire!! Classic from ABCs Get To Know (GTK) show
Thorpie was just naturally popular, nothing to do with newspapers, etc. He played and people loved his sound, and they followed him around. When he came back from the US after 20 years, they went back to see him. Nothing like it anywhere else.
Man, I have to say that this is my kind of music and these guys know how to deliver!
When music really had a pair !!!
This song is so epic... I wish it would be a 80 minutes long version of it !!
Billy had so many careers The child star The screaming girls pop star The hard rocking loud rock star you see here And of course the latter day mature icon
Australian Legend
Imagine being at Sunbury & hearing this. Legend.
Wonder I still have my hearing, saw The Aztecs so many times. Ears used to ring for days after!
Incredible. Reminds me of Humble Pie.
His voice really is similar to Steve Marriott's
The early 70’s..when rock got louder and heavier
Possibly one of the best voices around, live and really nailing it while playing guitar, he became quite an accomplished guitarist this night using a cranked distorted amp but without a great deal of sustain, not so great for soloing. No signs on voice degradation at all even toward the end.
I remember so vividly when he turned and asked me ..how do we sound..I was like..yeah..good...sittin on the floor..few feet away from him suckin on my beer n smoke. .he's like good. So cranked it up a notch.let loose a bit..before we called it a night.
1971..returned 18 years in 93..don't get this on tele no more do we...Wayne use to take care of him n many people..ya know..yeah under Abe
Total Legend give me right arm for a voice like that
We used to have such a strong local Australianb music scene.
@Badge290 He was the greatest I had the pleasure of having a drink with him at the Village green in 1971-72 I think and those days were the greatest as He never forgot me and always said hello I feel priveliged one of the all time grats
used to go and see the Aztecs in some huge pub in Melbourne (Matthew Flinders maybe) on a Sunday afternoon, you had to buy a meal to get a ticket otherwise no alcohol, Lobby used to turn up drunk and jam with the boys, those were the days...
Damn, what a set of pipes! Great track.
This is balls out awesome. Australian blues / rock had it bang on in the 70's.
Just listen to the drive you get in this & Coloured Balls "Working Mans Boogie".
Not subtle, just a pounding guitar pushing the song forward.
Thorpie you rocked our sox off for years, my kids went to the same high school as you, they've never forgotten you there. RIP x
Dec 4 2020: listening to "unknown" to me Aussie pop and rock. This guy is awesome.
@MichaelKingsfordGray
As far as I remember the Australian Govt. didn't ban any records.
It was the radio stations who arked up against the mainly British owned record companies who demanded extra payment or royalties for playing mostly British records on the radio. So the radio stations refused to play them for 6 months until the record companies came to their senses. This gave some local bands a chance to cover some of the British songs and to have hit records here in Oz in their own right.
They had the loudest set in Australia at the time. We're all deaf now!
Knew about BT but wasn't aware of his stint as a blues-rocker. Love this. Totally primal and all the better for it. He sure knows how to wring the neck of a Les Paul. The tone is wicked! Thanks for posting.
You must have been living under an actual rock to not notice Billy's hard rock band?
@@philipjones6641 🤣 ...👌
Cool to see Billy Thorpe playing. this was long before I'd heard of him, or his influence on Oz rock. All I'd heard was Children of the Sun, which was the only Thorpe track played in the US. From vids like these one can tell automatically that Thorpe was quite the player. It also sounds quite loud -- I mean, the stage volume must have been blistering. Elsewhere I've read the amps Thorpe used were 300W or something like that. Thanks for posting this.
Listen to Rose Tattoo and Billy Thorpe performing Going Down
@@petermcculloch4933 I love the Tatts. I'll try to find that vid. Thanks for the suggestion.
Love you forever Billy, classic Australian Rock Legend, sorely missed.
Fuck yeah!I even live in his home town,and even spent some time in his home suburb.RIP.Rock In Peace Billy.A true wildman of Aussie rock!!
The legend will live on and on, and on...the most prolific rocker this country will ever see.
R.I.P. Billy Thorpe, you've earnt it!
brilliant, just amazing
RIP billy
RIP Billy. Wake em up, and shake em up in heaven!
Loudest band! I may have been a very young kid when these guys were around, but they are legendary to the power behind them and that of Billy Thorpes voice. My HERO to this day!
I grew up in Mitcham next suburb up the highway from the Whitehorse and we could hear him when we went for a burger at the George A cafe.....Ahhh those were the days.
Donvale boy myself.
I'll never get tired of this headbanging brilliance. Billy was a beast on the axe!
Wow. Excellent sound. ❤❤❤ This is truly a knockout classic song.
The best 2 aussie gigs I ever saw was Sunbury 75 & Thorpie on the "Lock Up Your Mothers" Tour in the late 90's.
R.I.P. Thorpie
My Idol , just brilliant especially the rare album Thumpin Pig and Puffin Billy. My opinion was his very best work (RIP CHAMP )🎸🎸👍👍👍☮️
Sent here by Warren552011!....Thank you Warren! This is pure 1960-1970's badass bitchin' raw rock and roll. Favorited.
Billy knew how 2 rock.
THE BEST Aussie pub band ever............................RIP Billy...you will live forever.
Billy Thorpe,best R/R singer ever,in the world.
What a talent still sends chills up my spine love it thanks
wow what a talent this guy had and what a loss to the music industry will be sadly missed .
missed by many Thorpey. This song is genius
+sr197877 absolutely agree
+sr197877 absolutely agree
Playing this now, again . Sweet guitars, epic
Raw, loud, AWESOME.
Thorpe and The Aztecs, raw power and exceptional chemistry. Gone too soon.
when I was fifteen around time of this vid, used to go to Electric Circus, club in Brisbane, see Billy, he would be on a stage only about 10 inches high, all the audience would sit on the floor and listen to Billy blast the hell out of the place, each song was like this, more of a jam really, would last for 8 - 10 mins, he looked just like this then...great memories
Damn Good there Mate, and thank you Ausie 'Nam vets for helping us, the only Country that really did so....
Billy Thorpe was remarkable and sad that the world was not able to witness him and the Aztecs in their later years.
They were the best,by far, the best rock band in Aust at that time.
R.I.P billy! you were the legend of rock. Sunbury 1972 was a great moment etched in our hearts forever. so sad of his passing this morning at 2am
The Boggo Road Jail DVD is brilliant! This guy was one talented dude!! Grab a copy and watch it if you can you won't be dissappointed!!
Cheers. Fun putting that gig together.
damn it , i love that bluesy raunchy sound !!!
This is just pure bad-assness! Good heavy rock and roll ain't dead yet...
Hello sara
i watch this many times,every week.Thanks Bill.Miss you Bill.
Awesome! One of the first groups I saw live, when they played in our little theatre at Melbourne uni about the time this was recorded. Thanks!
Hell Yeah! My kind of blues. Never heard of this guy before now
eyeprod do you still listen to this song 11 years later?
It is awesome btw...
I saw Billy and Aztecs at la trobe uni
Loudest most exciting group I ever saw
you lucky bastard
2020 Billy. Still listenin.
Oh Keeerist thats good! The power, the power!
they were the loudest band i ever heard..one night at La trobe uni it was incredible..one of 5 best australian bands..thorpie was the real deal
his music will never age
Gone, but never forgotten. Love Ya Thorpie, Lynne XXX
We all loved ya Billy and your music will live on forever
Even twice as gorgeous a year later, can't bottle that stuff
This is something special indeed!!
I first saw this early one morning on RAGE, about 20 years ago. I just finished reading 'Thorpies Time On Earth' fanstic!!!
RIP legend, The best in Australia
Only the best, listened to Billy and the Aztecs many times at Berties and Village Green, etched in my memory for ever, will catchup one day and do it all again R.I.P
Truly one Assie legend Rip Billy luv 🖤 this song 😎👍
Mate........I am so envious! I am about to turn 52 so I was too young (as far as my olds were concerned) to go to Sunbury. I have been searching the net for the last 15 years or so for Thorpie gigs in my area, but I was in Defence and kept moving around. I would have loved to have seen him in a pub type of atmosphere. There is noone more than Thorpie that I would have paid big money to see. Too late now!!!!! Thanks for the memories Billy.
Pharking beautiful ........
brings back good memories
Sensational. Rock at its best, seemingly raw but underpinned by great talent and control, with a voice the best rock has witnessed along with Lennon and Cobain.