Australian Crawl The Boys Light Up

Contrary to popular belief, the title track to Australian Crawl’s 1980 debut album is not about smoking dope. It is, however, about fellatio and the rumours of adulterous parental affairs that reverberated around the playground of vocalist James Reyne’s school in Mount Eliza, Victoria (“Later at the party all the MPs rave/About the hummers she’s been giving”). The chorus veers off on another tangent altogether, an in-joke between Reyne and his school friends about walking into dance class smoking cigarettes. Much of the band’s debut is informed by such personal experiences, some handled with humour (“Indisposed” catalogues Reyne breaking both wrists after being hit by a car), others with more social awareness—“Beautiful People” and tender piano closer “Hoochie gucci fiorucci mama” satirise the rich elite observed by the band in well-to-do Melbourne suburbs such as Toorak, hypothesising their reality as more sad than glamorous. A beguiling mix of pub rock, pop and even the odd tropical flourish (“Way I’ve Been”), The Boys Light Up remains a foundation stone of ’80s Australian rock ’n’ roll.