Colin Hay: The Man At Work From Down Under

There have been many stories about successful members of once popular bands experiencing some sort of career revival after years of struggling or being idle. One of my favorite artists of this background is the former lead singer and main songwriter from the popular 80s New Wave Australian band Men At Work, Colin Hay.



Men At Work began it's origins in Melbourne, Australia. Ironically, Colin Hay is originally from Scotland, but relocated to Australian in the late 70s. Men At Work was one of the hottest new bands of 1981. They released their debut album Business As Usual to both commercial and critical success, reaching #1 in both the US and Australia, and also raking up two US #1 hits "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under". The following year they earned a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Two years later the band released Cargo, another critical and commercially successful album, although not as successful as its predecessor; however, the band did manage to garner two Top 10 US hits "Overkill" and "It's A Mistake". The latter was a song I literally listened to ALL THE TIME when I was a kid. My dad had a CD mix of different 80s new wave songs, and I also remember hearing "It's A Mistake". And it was always my favorite next to "867-5309 (Jenny)" and "Stray Cat Strut".

Anyways, within the next two years, the band downsized and released their final studio album Two Hearts in 1985, still managing to hit Gold in terms of record sales, but contained no Top 40 hits. By 1986 the band called it quits. In 1996, Colin Hay and keyboardist/saxophonist Greg Ham revived Men At Work, which culminated a two year long world tour and the live album Brazil. By the 2002, Men At Work officially disbanded. Greg Ham passed away in 2012 from a fatal heart attack.

Since Men At Work's initial breakup, Colin Hay had pursued a solo career that was lasted almost 30 years. Within the first 10 years, he had relatively little to no success, playing for audiences of 100 people or less and attempting to build a fanbase from the ground up. His fourth album Topanga contains arguably his most popular solo track "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin", a song that resonates with any person coming of age or experiencing growing pains. We've all been there. We've all felt these emotions, afraid of the uncertainty but anxious to create our own independency. 



In my opinion, 1998's Transcendental Highway was his first great album. One of my favorite songs is "I'm Doing Fine", a song about being away from a past lover but finding yourself reconnecting with the person, which has opened up old wounds, but you're trying to prove that you are over it even though the pain is still there. 

Colin Hay's career revival officially took off in 2004. His song "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You", originally from the album Transcendental Highway was featured on the soundtrack for the film Garden State. The film was was directed and starred Zach Braff, who is actually a huge Men At Work and Colin Hay fan. The soundtrack itself sold over 1.3 million copies and won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures, Television or Other Visual Media. Throughout the decade he was also featured on the Zach Braff television show Scrubs with a re-occurring role as 'the Troubadour", going around the hospital and playing acoustic guitar and singing about the lives of the employees, with songs like "Down Under", "Beautiful World" and mostly famously "Overkill".




Flash forward to the beginning of his solo career renaissance with the 2007 album Are You Looking At Me?. This album was full of many great gems including my personal favorites, the title track "Are You Looking At Me?", "Lonely Without You", "What Would Bob Do?", "Pure Love" (featured in the TV show Scrubs), and "I Wish I Was Still Drinking". The following album American Sunshine was in my opinion not his best of the recent years, but still contained some memorable songs like "Oh California" and "There's Water Over You".

In 2011, Colin Hay released Gathering Mercury, who's album's thematic content Hay regarded, "I think it’s about life and loss and the injustice of the way the universe is set up; how we lose people we love." Songs that represent these ideas include "Send Somebody", "Gathering Mercury", "Half A Million Angels", "Where The Sky is Blue" and "A Simple Song". This album contains so many great memorable songs, but it wouldn't be until his latest album that his solo career renaissance has reached full circle.


Next Year People was released in 2015 to critical acclaim, often cited as Colin Hay's best solo effort so far. Colin Hay hooked up with a couple of Cuban musicians that played with his wife Cecilia Noel in her band, and they recorded on many of the tracks along with other musicians from Cuba, Jeff Babko from Jimmy Kimmel's band and Colin's longtime drummer Charlie Paxton. This has been consistently Colin's best album. Every song is memorable and fits the vibe of the album as a whole. My personal favorites include "If I Had Been A Better Man", the title track, "Mr. Grogan", "I Want You Back" and "Did You Just Take The Long Way Home" (which I included in my Top 15 Songs of 2015 blog post). 

In a nutshell, Colin Hay is one of my favorite singer/songwriters because he sings song that resonate with people throughout all aspects of life, whether it's love, loss, heartbreak, loneliness, isolation, regret, and nostalgia, everything is there. His songs have influenced me greatly as a songwriter, and he is an immensely talented guitarist and singer. I

I've seen him perform live a few times, once with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, on tour opening up for Barenaked Ladies and the Violent Femmes, and as a special guest at the Lucky Strike Jam Night in West Hollywood California. I met him and I told him how much his songs meant to me and how specifically the songs "Lonely Without You" and "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" got me though my last heartbreak over two years ago. He was very gracious and I took a picture with him. He was very sweet and appreciative.

If you haven't experienced the songs of the former Men At Work frontman, I urge you to listen right away. In my opinion, it is really the best music, particularly Are You Looking At Me?, Gathering Mercury, and Next Year People. His songs mean a lot to me and maybe his songs will mean something to you.

Prologue:

Top 10 Favorite Colin Hay Solo Songs:

1. "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
2. "Did You Just Take The Long Way Home"
3. "Lonely Without You"
4. "I'm Doing Fine"
5. "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin"
6. "Gathering Mercury"
7. "I Wish I Was Still Drinking"
8. "Send Somebody"
9. "What Would Bob Do?"
10. "Are You Looking At Me?"