On April 3, 1977, Grant Rule watched agog as “all hell broke loose”. Having started in the mailroom at the ABC in Melbourne, he’d worked his way up the ranks. Now he’d received a call to join the Countdown team as a producer and director and his start date was the same day the 100th episode was being filmed live.
“It was extraordinary,” he tells The Weekly of his entry onto the set of the legendary Australian show. “I want to describe it as a mini-Beatles movie. Kids were running amok, there were security chasing kids, there were bands arriving and it was all done in eight hours because they had to record it live. It just appeared to me to be this extraordinary, uncontrolled, evolving moment. It had this sense of excitement but also impending disaster. And I reeled out of that night thinking, ‘my God, what have I got myself into?’”
And that chaotic sensation, of course, was the magic of Countdown, the brainchild of executive producer Michael Shrimpton, producer and director Robert Weekes and music producer and journalist Ian “Molly” Meldrum.
In part a play by the ABC to attract back young viewers they’d lost in the post-Play School years, Countdown began as a half-hour program on a Friday night on November 8, 1974. And despite objections from some of the more conservative at the national broadcaster, those initial six episodes were extended to a full hour on Sundays (repeated the following Saturday) with Molly — who had first acted as a talent co-ordinator behind the scenes — taking an on-air role. His ‘Humdrum’ segment became a place to enthuse about his favourite acts of the moment, encouraging viewers to “do yourself a favour” and give the records a spin.
Within a year Countdown was unmissable viewing with music lovers of all ages tuning in, not wanting to miss the pop-culture phenomenon.
“At that period, there were four channels. There was no colour television,” says Ted Emery, who served as producer and director from 1977 to 1980.
“It was a bit of a leap for the ABC to put something like this on. They did news, they did hard-hitting current affairs, they did sport. Countdown came off a blank page. [Management] wanted to put something on to introduce colour and were adventurous enough to go along with it. Suddenly this ridiculously vibrant show with so much colour and movement came on. And the key to it was the fact it was a show both parents and their kids could watch.”
Acts including Sherbet, Skyhooks, Renée Geyer and John Paul Young were regulars in those early years, the Australian music scene thriving with more than a little help from Countdown, which championed music videos as well as live performances.
Equally, the show became known as a place to break international artists, often before they made it big in their own countries. Madonna had her very first number one after Countdown played her video for Holiday. Blondie, Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush and ABBA were others who received an international boost after Molly’s enthusiastic endorsement.
“Even as a performer, we never missed it,” frequent guest and occasional co-host Marcia Hines says of the Countdown effect. “Because it kept you hip to what was going on in the music industry. And not only that, you could see all your crushes. Who was mine? Maybe Daryl Braithwaite — but don’t tell him I said that.”
“All the FM radio stations wouldn’t program their next week’s playlist until we had put the show to air,” adds Ted of the power Countdown had on the charts. “They would design their playlists
off what we played. We had a very big influence on popular music in this country.”
And at the heart of its success was Molly, a man who’d stumbled into appearing on television but swiftly became an enduring success in the medium thanks to his unbridled enthusiasm and uncanny ability to know what would become a hit long before others caught on.
“The show wouldn’t have existed without him,” says Ted, a sentiment many — viewers and staff alike — have echoed. “I always say he’s my favourite idiot, I love the man. He was chaotic, but his conviction was unbelievable. He’s probably the least professional person I’ve ever met in my life. He never learnt a thing about being on television, but his instincts were sensational.”
That lack of television nous, however, made for some of the show’s most memorable moments. Ahead of an interview with a young Prince Charles in 1977, Molly — dressed in a suit rather than his usual jeans and colourful jumper – was visibly nervous, telling the royal, “I’m sweating like a pig”, fidgeting and swearing profusely as he flubbed take after take. While the clip that went to air was edited, it was awkward enough to raise hilarious comments.
“There is an old showbusiness saying that warns never to work with animals or children,” the now King jokingly said on the eve of the episode’s 40th anniversary in 2014. “But nobody prepared me for Molly Meldrum. I certainly learned some interesting new Australian words from Mr Meldrum. And if he could have read my mind, he would have learned some interesting new English words from me.”
But while he may have had trouble learning — and sticking to — a script, Molly’s powers of persuasion would see extraordinary events come to pass. “He has a take no prisoners attitude,” says Grant of how Molly would land huge international names as well as charm locals into what might have seemed like the impossible.
“Once I went on a trip with him and we made up a lot of nonsense about what we were going to do every minute we were away. But when he landed overseas, he just hit the phones and it was extraordinary to watch his drive to find out what was happening, what was next, staying ahead. We were making a TV show about rock and roll and he was living rock and roll.”
Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney… these were just a few of the huge names who would answer Molly’s personal call to appear on Countdown.
And for Australian rock royalty, it would be something of a home away from home — a place to catch up with friends before heading off once more to play across the country.
“It was a great time because, back in the day, we used to tour so heavily that we didn’t ever catch up except in that green room,” Marcia recalls with a chuckle. “Actually, there was no green room — we used to catch up in the cafeteria and hang out, tell our road stories and what was going on.”
It was also more than just an hourly TV show. In 1980, TV WEEK and Countdown collaborated for a music and video awards ceremony. Hosted by Little River Band’s Glenn Shorrock, John Farnham was among the presenters while Australian Crawl and Split Enz performed live. The following year, TV WEEK withdrew after Cold Chisel trashed their instruments at the end of their performance. Countdown — which launched a magazine of its own in 1982 — ran the show alone until the final ceremony on July 19, 1987.
That fateful date would also be the final episode of Countdown. By the mid-1980s the popularity of music videos would ironically be the downfall of the show. Record labels would “pay for play”, and commercial networks eagerly took up the offer, putting on what felt like a radio playlist for the eyes and taking the shine away from Countdown, which had blazed a trail by championing new acts live and judiciously choosing which videos to play. Add in the fact that it was far more expensive to have music artists appear in the studio and the writing, as they say, was on the wall.
Grant recalls co-creator Michael Shrimpton breaking the news. “I knew for over a year that the show was coming to an end,” he says. “Michael rang me and said, ‘Listen, this is going to happen, but keep it to yourself’. And I knew he meant it because the emotional strain on everybody as it was coming to an end would have been a major distraction … But credit to the ABC, they let us go out on our own terms, they let us go out there live.” And that they did, with Molly handling it “like a pro” until the final minutes, taking off his trademark Stetson to reveal a shaved head beneath.
“A lot of people said, ‘Oh, it’s a tribute to Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil’,” says Grant. “And I have a sense it was a typically wonderful Molly moment where he went, ‘Here’s a headline.’ He was a consummate headline grabber right to the very end.” AWW
Watch Countdown 50 Years On on ABC iView.
This feature was originally published in the December 2024 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly Magazine. Pick up the latest issue from your local newsagents or subscribe now.
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