Australian Crawl

Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano/harmonica), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David Reyne (drums) in Melbourne in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough (vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as the Australian crawl. Australian Crawl were associated with surf music and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, alcoholism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance. After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up, reached No. 4, Australian Crawl had two No. 1 albums; 1981's Sirocco and 1982's Sons of Beaches. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten; their best performing single was No. 1 hit "Reckless" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics EP. Upheaval within the band occurred from 1983 onwards. First, Bill McDonough left in 1983, then his brother Guy McDonough died in 1984 and finally, Paul Williams departed in 1985. Their 1985 release Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive but sales were disappointing and they disbanded early in 1986. The band's status as an icon on the Australian music scene was acknowledged by induction into the 1996 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. Hospitalized with lymphoma, founding guitarist Brad Robinson was unable to attend the Hall of Fame induction in person. He died two weeks later.

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