Editing Skyhooks (band) (section)

===1974–1975: ''Living in the 70's''===
{{Main|Living in the 70's}}

For Skyhooks, the replacement of Hill by Strachan was a pivotal moment, as Strachan had remarkable vocal skills, and a magnetic stage and screen presence.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/> Alongside Macainsh's lyrics, another facet of the group was the twin-guitar sound of Starkie and Symons.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/> Adopting elements of [[glam rock]] in their presentation, and lyrics that presented frank depictions of the social life of young Australia in the 1970s, the band shocked conservative middle Australia with their outrageous (for the time) [[costumes]], make-up, lyrics, and on-stage activities.<ref name="McF"/> A 1.2-metre (4&nbsp;ft) high mushroom-shaped [[phallus]] was confiscated by [[Adelaide, South Australia|Adelaide]] police after a performance.<ref name="Jeff"/><ref name="Jenkins">Jenkins (1994).</ref> Six of the ten tracks on their debut album, ''[[Living in the 70's]]'', were banned by the [[Federation of Australian Commercial Broadcasters]] for their sex and drug references:<ref name="McF"/> "Toorak Cowboy", "Whatever Happened to the Revolution?", "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good in Bed", "Hey What's the Matter", "Motorcycle Bitch" and "Smut".<ref name="Jeff"/> Much of the group's success derived from its distinctive repertoire, mostly penned by bass guitarist Macainsh,<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/> with an occasional additional song from Symons—who wrote "Smut" and performed its lead vocals.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/><ref name="APRA Smut">{{cite web|publisher=[[Australasian Performing Right Association]] (APRA)|title="Smut" at APRA search engine|url=http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/worksearch.axd?q=Smut|access-date=26 November 2009}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Although Skyhooks were not the first Australian rock band to write songs in a local setting—rather than ditties about love or songs about New York City or other foreign lands—they were the first to become commercially successful doing so.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/> Skyhooks songs addressed teenage issues including buying drugs ("Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)"), suburban sex ("Balwyn Calling"), the gay scene ("Toorak Cowboy") and loss of girlfriends ("Somewhere in Sydney") by [[Name-dropping|namechecking]] Australian locales.<ref name="McF"/><ref name="Jeff"/> Radio personality, Billy Pinnell described the importance of their lyrics in tackling Australia's [[cultural cringe]]:

{{blockquote|[Macainsh] broke down all the barriers [...] opening the door for Australian rock 'n' roll songwriters to write about local places and events. He legitimised Australian songwriting and it meant that Australians became themselves.<ref name="Jeff"/>|Billy Pinnell, quoted in ''Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia'' p. 104}}

The first Skyhooks single, "[[Living in the 70's (song)|Living in the 70's]]", was released in August 1974,<ref name="SpencerSkyhooks">Spencer et al, (2007) [http://www.whiteroom.com.au/howlspace/whoswho/PHPTracks.php?Band_ID=193800 Skyhooks] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108075055/http://www.whiteroom.com.au/howlspace/whoswho/PHPTracks.php?Band_ID=193800 |date=8 November 2014 }} entry.</ref> ahead of the album, and peaked at No. 28 on the Australian [[Kent Music Report]] Singles Charts.<ref name="Kent">{{cite book |last=Kent |first=David |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=[[Kent Music Report|Australian Chart Book 1970–1992]] |publisher=Australian Chart Book Ltd |year=1993 |isbn=0-646-11917-6 |location=[[St Ives, New South Wales|St Ives, NSW]]}} NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until [[Australian Recording Industry Association|ARIA]] created their own [[ARIA Charts|charts]] in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.</ref> The album, ''Living in the 70's'' initially charted only in Melbourne upon its release on 7 October 1974.<!-- The album debuted on the Kent Music Report w/c 14 October 1974, meaning it had to be released (at least) one week before that. --> It went on to spend 16 weeks at the top of the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Charts from February to June 1975.<ref name="Kent"/> The album was produced by Wilson,<ref name="ARDb"/> and became the best selling Australian album, to that time,<ref name="McF"/> with 226,000 copies sold in Australia.<ref name="Eliezer">{{cite book|url=http://www.immedia.com.au/HighVoltage/sample.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112134315/http://www.immedia.com.au/HighVoltage/sample.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 November 2007|title=High Voltage Rock 'n' Roll: The Movers and Shakers in the Australian Music Industry|last=Eliezer|first=Christie|year=2007|chapter-url=http://www.immedia.com.au/HighVoltage/sample.php#gudinski|chapter=Michael Gudinski: He Should Be So Lucky|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=[[Sydney]]|isbn=978-1-921029-26-4|access-date=24 November 2009}}</ref>

Skyhooks returned to the Sunbury Pop Festival in January 1975. They were declared the best performers by ''[[Rolling Stone Australia]]'' and ''[[The Age]]'' reviewers, and Gudinski now took over their [[band manager|management]].<ref name="Sunbury75">{{cite web|url=http://www.milesago.com/Festivals/sunbury75.htm|title=Festivals – Sunbury Festival 1975|work=MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975|editor=Duncan Kimball|publisher=ICE Productions|year=2002|access-date=24 November 2009}}</ref> The second single, "[[Horror Movie (song)|Horror Movie]]", reached No. 1 for two weeks in March.<ref name="Kent"/><ref name="SpencerSkyhooks"/> The band's success was credited by Gudinski with saving his struggling Mushroom Records and enabled it to develop into the most successful Australian label of its time.<ref name="Jeff"/><ref name="JenB"/><ref name="Eliezer"/>

The success of the album was also due to support by a new pop music television show ''[[Countdown (Australian TV series)|Countdown]]'' on national public broadcaster [[ABC Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television]], rather than promotion by commercial radio.<ref name="Jeff"/> "Horror Movie" was the first song played on the first colour transmission of ''Countdown'' in early 1975.<ref name="Jeff"/> Despite the radio ban, the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]'s newly established 24-hour rock music station [[Triple J|Double Jay]] chose the album's fifth track, the provocatively titled "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good in Bed", as its first ever broadcast on 19 January.