Song Of The Day 7/10/2013: Dragon - "Are You Old Enough?"

Australian '70s Music Week: America had American Bandstand, England had Top Of the Pops, and beginning in 1974 Australia had the TV show Countdown to disseminate pop music to the land mass. Colin Donald tells it:

In the 70’s Aussie rock got two great boosts in the consumer market. It was also the time colour TV came to this country, and taking advantage was the government-owned ABC TV. On Sunday afternoons a new rock/pop show called Countdown captured a massive audience both in the studio and in homes. Countdown ran for 13 years from 1974 and broke countless local and overseas acts. It was often a case of "show a clip on Sunday – have a hit on Monday." It was a huge step up from the bland Band Stand of the black and white 60’s. 

A major factor of Countdown was the bumbling hosting style of "Molly" Meldrum (real name Ian). Molly had been a music fan since he waited with crowds of screaming girls for the Beatles to touch down in the mid-60s. In the late 60s he produced "The Real Thing" – a sonic hit for Russell Morris. He was chosen for his music cred, certainly not his TV persona. If you Youtube his terrible interviews with Rod Stewart or Prince Charles you’ll see a man who took years to acquire the skill to think in front of a camera. But his enthusiasm for music could not be questioned and eventually he became one of the most loved personalities in all of Australia. He has won numerous public and industry awards and can count many of the world’s biggest acts as good friends. The same goes for a number of Australian sporting champions, and they’re not normally known as the type to make friends with gay men who wear cowboy hats. Two years ago he almost died from a bad fall and the outpouring of goodwill was astonishing. Much of that story is told in this clip.  

Parallel to Countdown was the arrival and success of Mushroom Records, run by Michael Gudinski. This record label got behind Australian acts in the 70s with a determination not seen before. Not surprisingly, Gudinski and Meldrum are friends. Mushroom was very successful on the back of the market for the growing pride in home rock. A 25th Anniversary concert of Mushroom acts was a monster gig that would be hard to replicate.

New Zealand's Dragon was a Mushroom Records signee, and scored a #1 hit in 1978 with the rather curious "Are You Old Enough?", a title that sounds much more salacious than the song winds up. This is a clip of them performing the tune on Countdown, though it looks to me to be a few years after 1978. It's the new age beard.