I'm a retired guitarist and I got to meet Billy backstage at an Alice Cooper gig not long b4 he passed and I got to tell Him how "mama" made me say yes to guitar no to drums. That song n groove changed everything 4 me. RIP Mr Thorpe as I called him. Respect. 😎🤘
Before AC/DC, there was Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs! One of the loudest bands ever still to this day over 50 years later. Besides having one of the most powerful voices worldwide, Billy was a very inclusive performer, he wanted everyone at his gigs to have a great time, and we all did. First class.
As a kid growing up in Australia these classic Aussie sounds made the world seem a very exciting place, now looking back is it really brilliant that their is that distinct Australian rock sound, which certaily shaped the way we all danced!
When television was television and music was music, bloody brilliant. Miss you, talented, amazing musician Mr Billy Thorpe and his Aztecs. I have watched this so many times always blown away.
Beautiful to the ears! Gibson through Mashall, no pedals. Love this! Thanks Billy! If this was the only song you ever did, it would have been more than enough!
that 9mins would have taken up the whole segment.. from memory gtk went for 10 mins .. bloody unreal how this still beats the shit out of most bands since
I may not have learned about Billy Thorpe through my dad, but most of the music I love and listen to regularly I learned about from my dad who I lost earlier this year.
Long live Billy Thorpe, and long live Aussie Pub Rock. If it wasn't for Billy, I doubt there would've been any Pub Rock and I totally love Aussie Pub Rock. Even if I was born in 1981, still love the Aussie rock.
I was born in 1963 and I think I got the best of it all from 60's to the 80's. saw ACDC at the local town hall, Chisel at the beginning in the Largs Pier hotel, INXS, The Models at the botanical gardens. and then all the touring Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's. great time to be young
Thorpie was the loudest because he found that he could piggyback his amps, thus The Aztecs were the loudest band in the country at time. The large Marshal Stacks that say Led Zeppelin used were just too expensive to buy at the time. My mum worked at The Whitehorse so she saw him twice a week there for a few years. Good times in rock for Melbourne. RIP Thorpie
During my angst driven teenage years Billy showed me the way to evolve through Sex & Drugs & Hard Rock - thank you Billy ! Billy Thorpe had more balls than a billiard table-& his energy & attitude on stage was phenomenal ! How cool (and a thing unknown now) for a band to do a 10 minute song & have it on air (thanks GTK) Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs= Legend
Possibly one of the best voices around, live and really nailing it while playing guitar, he became quite an accomplished guitarist this night using a cranked distorted amp but without a great deal of sustain, not so great for soloing. No signs on voice degradation at all even toward the end.
This song is sensational. Billy was a great showman and could really belt out a song I used to watch GTK on the ABC when it was on Fridays nights I was only about eight years old, my sister had a huge crush on Billy Thorpe. The band members used to live near Sydney University. I was only a kid and I met the band members and Billy a few times my stepsister used to hang out with them in the old Terrace the band members shared. I remember my Dad blowing he’s top and placing a curfew on my stepsister when Dad found out she was doing dope with them, they where doing more then weed. However I love this performance by them. Such stamina. Billy really felt the music. Great song too. 🌟⭐️😇🇦🇺
Awesome riff. Great voice. What year was this? I'm guessing '71. Hard to think this was the same guy who was doing Merseybeat pop a few years previously.
used to go and see the Aztecs in some huge pub in Melbourne (Matthew Flinders maybe) on a Sunday afternoon, you had to buy a meal to get a ticket otherwise no alcohol, Lobby used to turn up drunk and jam with the boys, those were the days...
Loudest band! I may have been a very young kid when these guys were around, but they are legendary to the power behind them and that of Billy Thorpes voice. My HERO to this day!
I remember so vividly when he turned and asked me ..how do we sound..I was like..yeah..good...sittin on the floor..few feet away from him suckin on my beer n smoke. .he's like good. So cranked it up a notch.let loose a bit..before we called it a night.
Knew about BT but wasn't aware of his stint as a blues-rocker. Love this. Totally primal and all the better for it. He sure knows how to wring the neck of a Les Paul. The tone is wicked! Thanks for posting.
@Badge290 He was the greatest I had the pleasure of having a drink with him at the Village green in 1971-72 I think and those days were the greatest as He never forgot me and always said hello I feel priveliged one of the all time grats
Cool to see Billy Thorpe playing. this was long before I'd heard of him, or his influence on Oz rock. All I'd heard was Children of the Sun, which was the only Thorpe track played in the US. From vids like these one can tell automatically that Thorpe was quite the player. It also sounds quite loud -- I mean, the stage volume must have been blistering. Elsewhere I've read the amps Thorpe used were 300W or something like that. Thanks for posting this.
@MichaelKingsfordGray As far as I remember the Australian Govt. didn't ban any records. It was the radio stations who arked up against the mainly British owned record companies who demanded extra payment or royalties for playing mostly British records on the radio. So the radio stations refused to play them for 6 months until the record companies came to their senses. This gave some local bands a chance to cover some of the British songs and to have hit records here in Oz in their own right.
This is balls out awesome. Australian blues / rock had it bang on in the 70's. Just listen to the drive you get in this & Coloured Balls "Working Mans Boogie". Not subtle, just a pounding guitar pushing the song forward.
So good. I can FEEL how loud it was. Another 10 pound POM done good! Same as Brod Smith, Jon English, John Farnham and those Scottish boys, the Youngs. Fuck knows where Oz Rock would be without them
The best voice in Aus. rock music. What was even better, you could understand what he was singing. Jimmy Barnes and Angry Anderson are rank amateur fucking screechers in comparison. He may be gone but certainly not forgotten by those from that era.
Brad Collier Lucky man. I hadn't seen him in concert since he first went to the U.S. in the latish 70's. Still sounded pretty bloody good from what I see on the Tube. Will always be part of my life story.
Billy had so many careers The child star The screaming girls pop star The hard rocking loud rock star you see here And of course the latter day mature icon Australian Legend
when I was fifteen around time of this vid, used to go to Electric Circus, club in Brisbane, see Billy, he would be on a stage only about 10 inches high, all the audience would sit on the floor and listen to Billy blast the hell out of the place, each song was like this, more of a jam really, would last for 8 - 10 mins, he looked just like this then...great memories
Billy Thorpe was remarkable and sad that the world was not able to witness him and the Aztecs in their later years. They were the best,by far, the best rock band in Aust at that time.
Alan Pope Just heard (17/08/2018) Aztec drummer Gil "Rat" Matthews on radio ABC Melbourne being interviewed about his company Aztec records releasing the complete set of Go! recordings. He said that in 1958 aged 11, he did a tour of the US with Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich! Gil said he could read drum music at the age of 5, must have a child prodidgy. He was greeted at Disneyland by Walt Disney himself, introduced to the Mouseketeers and made an honorary member. His nickname "Rats" came from Thorpe . Billy called he that because he said that when a mouse grows up it becomes a Rat.
Only the best, listened to Billy and the Aztecs many times at Berties and Village Green, etched in my memory for ever, will catchup one day and do it all again R.I.P
I first saw this early one morning on RAGE, about 20 years ago. I just finished reading 'Thorpies Time On Earth' fanstic!!! RIP legend, The best in Australia
I grew up in Mitcham next suburb up the highway from the Whitehorse and we could hear him when we went for a burger at the George A cafe.....Ahhh those were the days.
I'm a retired guitarist and I got to meet Billy backstage at an Alice Cooper gig not long b4 he passed and I got to tell Him how "mama" made me say yes to guitar no to drums. That song n groove changed everything 4 me. RIP Mr Thorpe as I called him. Respect. 😎🤘
Before AC/DC, there was Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs! One of the loudest bands ever still to this day over 50 years later. Besides having one of the most powerful voices worldwide, Billy was a very inclusive performer, he wanted everyone at his gigs to have a great time, and we all did. First class.
The Aussie scene is one untapped goldmine. so freakishly underrated and overlooked.
Yeah man! It's certainly refreshing, that there is no "this sound like AC/DC" on the comments xD
So very well said
Taman shud compAny Caine Wendy s , legends, Billy Thorpe.
Masters, Aussie rock man
As a kid growing up in Australia these classic Aussie sounds made the world seem a very exciting place, now looking back is it really brilliant that their is that distinct Australian rock sound, which certaily shaped the way we all danced!
Shivers down the spine everytime I hear it...just timeless ... and Thorpey's voice was one of the few that could match the playing
Its basically Robert Plant's voice (not saying it is common though)
@@anneonyme3544 he sounds more like Steve Marriott in my opinion
Billy Thorpe was an icon in Australian rock music.
Wasn't he a Pom?
@@dennisbrinckley4474
He was an Australian citizen
When television was television and music was music, bloody brilliant. Miss you, talented, amazing musician Mr Billy Thorpe and his Aztecs. I have watched this so many times always blown away.
Such a powerful tune.
The same man that sung Over The Rainbow lol
wow the aztecs were even louder than buffalo live apparently!!! now that is volcanic oz rock!!!!!
Billy's guitar is so loud its blistering, its amazing he doesn't blow his mind completely
Best ever Aussie song ever made. 400 watts of Oz brilliance
I think 400 watts was just in billy's foldback ..at least .. Aztec energy
what a great band. Nothing fake in this music.
Beautiful to the ears! Gibson through Mashall, no pedals. Love this!
Thanks Billy! If this was the only song you ever did, it would have been more than enough!
that 9mins would have taken up the whole segment.. from memory gtk went for 10 mins .. bloody unreal how this still beats the shit out of most bands since
Correct - after Bellbird, before the ABC News at 7:00pm. I was lucky to see "Thorpey" twice - Rosebud, 1972; and Darwin, about 1992.
@@peterthomas4647 Doctor who was between GTK and the news
Wow. Excellent sound. ❤❤❤ This is truly a knockout classic song.
What a great loss to Aussie music. Nothing beats the raw intensity of BT and the Aztecs. Saw them in the 70's and still get a chill.
This clip got me hooked on Billy Thorpe, Good thing my Dad was a fan. I learnt heaps off him.
True Aussie legend for sure!! R.I.P Billy n Dad
I may not have learned about Billy Thorpe through my dad, but most of the music I love and listen to regularly I learned about from my dad who I lost earlier this year.
@@RoryGFan-39 very sorry for you're loss.
Thank you
Heaps, lol
Long live Billy Thorpe, and long live Aussie Pub Rock. If it wasn't for Billy, I doubt there would've been any Pub Rock and I totally love Aussie Pub Rock. Even if I was born in 1981, still love the Aussie rock.
I was born in 1963 and I think I got the best of it all from 60's to the 80's. saw ACDC at the local town hall, Chisel at the beginning in the Largs Pier hotel, INXS, The Models at the botanical gardens. and then all the touring Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's. great time to be young
Some Where, Over The Rainbow ! Billy turned the corner Loved all his music .GTK . what a little gem that was .
Thorpie was the loudest because he found that he could piggyback his amps, thus The Aztecs were the loudest band in the country at time. The large Marshal Stacks that say Led Zeppelin used were just too expensive to buy at the time. My mum worked at The Whitehorse so she saw him twice a week there for a few years. Good times in rock for Melbourne. RIP Thorpie
Darren Allen AZTEC ENERGY .. SUK MORE PISS !! .. i guess 😎
Those were the days! I believe the Whitehorse is no longer, gone in the name of "progress".
WHAT? I can't hear you!
hows her hearing?
@@philipjones6641 Pretty sure the site is now occupied by a hardware shop that sells sausages.
I saw Billy for the last time a couple of years before he died and every time I go to bed to the sound of my Tinnitus I think of him.
Wonder I still have my hearing, saw The Aztecs so many times. Ears used to ring for days after!
Man, I have to say that this is my kind of music and these guys know how to deliver!
During my angst driven teenage years Billy showed me the way to evolve through Sex & Drugs & Hard Rock - thank you Billy !
Billy Thorpe had more balls than a billiard table-& his energy & attitude on stage was phenomenal !
How cool (and a thing unknown now) for a band to do a 10 minute song & have it on air (thanks GTK)
Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs= Legend
Total Legend give me right arm for a voice like that
How many of us in our teens came home (usually on a Saturday night early Sunday) drunk to watch Rage and see Billy and the Aztecs
Billys kicks some serious ass in this.Can feel the hair raising my neck!
Man this can never date,this is a priceless clip.
When music really had a pair !!!
I've never heard this until now, and oh man, this is amazing. I thought I was well versed in the classics and I guess I was wrong. What a voice!
+nitrameable Welcome to the world of Billy Thorpe.The greatest.
This is Billy doing what Billy always did best..... being Billy. Larger than life and fkn awesome.
Damn, what a set of pipes! Great track.
Poder Azteca! A powerful song, good oldie. Bien pacheco ese!
This song is so epic... I wish it would be a 80 minutes long version of it !!
Dec 4 2020: listening to "unknown" to me Aussie pop and rock. This guy is awesome.
This bloke is a genius. Everyone in heaven will go deaf. Keep on rockin Thorpie.
The Aztecs are on fire!! Classic from ABCs Get To Know (GTK) show
Truly one Assie legend Rip Billy luv 🖤 this song 😎👍
Incredible. Reminds me of Humble Pie.
His voice really is similar to Steve Marriott's
The early 70’s..when rock got louder and heavier
brilliant, just amazing
RIP billy
Possibly one of the best voices around, live and really nailing it while playing guitar, he became quite an accomplished guitarist this night using a cranked distorted amp but without a great deal of sustain, not so great for soloing. No signs on voice degradation at all even toward the end.
We used to have such a strong local Australianb music scene.
Love you forever Billy, classic Australian Rock Legend, sorely missed.
This song is sensational. Billy was a great showman and could really belt out a song I used to watch GTK on the ABC when it was on Fridays nights I was only about eight years old, my sister had a huge crush on Billy Thorpe. The band members used to live near Sydney University. I was only a kid and I met the band members and Billy a few times my stepsister used to hang out with them in the old Terrace the band members shared. I remember my Dad blowing he’s top and placing a curfew on my stepsister when Dad found out she was doing dope with them, they where doing more then weed. However I love this performance by them. Such stamina. Billy really felt the music. Great song too. 🌟⭐️😇🇦🇺
Thorpie you rocked our sox off for years, my kids went to the same high school as you, they've never forgotten you there. RIP x
I'll never get tired of this headbanging brilliance. Billy was a beast on the axe!
Awesome riff. Great voice. What year was this? I'm guessing '71. Hard to think this was the same guy who was doing Merseybeat pop a few years previously.
used to go and see the Aztecs in some huge pub in Melbourne (Matthew Flinders maybe) on a Sunday afternoon, you had to buy a meal to get a ticket otherwise no alcohol, Lobby used to turn up drunk and jam with the boys, those were the days...
Billy knew how 2 rock.
Loudest band! I may have been a very young kid when these guys were around, but they are legendary to the power behind them and that of Billy Thorpes voice. My HERO to this day!
The legend will live on and on, and on...the most prolific rocker this country will ever see.
R.I.P. Billy Thorpe, you've earnt it!
Fuck yeah!I even live in his home town,and even spent some time in his home suburb.RIP.Rock In Peace Billy.A true wildman of Aussie rock!!
I remember so vividly when he turned and asked me ..how do we sound..I was like..yeah..good...sittin on the floor..few feet away from him suckin on my beer n smoke. .he's like good. So cranked it up a notch.let loose a bit..before we called it a night.
1971..returned 18 years in 93..don't get this on tele no more do we...Wayne use to take care of him n many people..ya know..yeah under Abe
A direct influence on AC/DC and it shows
THE BEST Aussie pub band ever............................RIP Billy...you will live forever.
Billy Thorpe,best R/R singer ever,in the world.
i watch this many times,every week.Thanks Bill.Miss you Bill.
Knew about BT but wasn't aware of his stint as a blues-rocker. Love this. Totally primal and all the better for it. He sure knows how to wring the neck of a Les Paul. The tone is wicked! Thanks for posting.
You must have been living under an actual rock to not notice Billy's hard rock band?
@Badge290 He was the greatest I had the pleasure of having a drink with him at the Village green in 1971-72 I think and those days were the greatest as He never forgot me and always said hello I feel priveliged one of the all time grats
Raw, loud, AWESOME.
The best 2 aussie gigs I ever saw was Sunbury 75 & Thorpie on the "Lock Up Your Mothers" Tour in the late 90's.
R.I.P. Thorpie
GTK, CLASSIC, BILLY THORPE
Thorpe and The Aztecs, raw power and exceptional chemistry. Gone too soon.
damn it , i love that bluesy raunchy sound !!!
My Idol , just brilliant especially the rare album Thumpin Pig and Puffin Billy. My opinion was his very best work (RIP CHAMP )🎸🎸👍👍👍☮️
Sent here by Warren552011!....Thank you Warren! This is pure 1960-1970's badass bitchin' raw rock and roll. Favorited.
Cool to see Billy Thorpe playing. this was long before I'd heard of him, or his influence on Oz rock. All I'd heard was Children of the Sun, which was the only Thorpe track played in the US. From vids like these one can tell automatically that Thorpe was quite the player. It also sounds quite loud -- I mean, the stage volume must have been blistering. Elsewhere I've read the amps Thorpe used were 300W or something like that. Thanks for posting this.
Listen to Rose Tattoo and Billy Thorpe performing Going Down
@@petermcculloch4933 I love the Tatts. I'll try to find that vid. Thanks for the suggestion.
@MichaelKingsfordGray
As far as I remember the Australian Govt. didn't ban any records.
It was the radio stations who arked up against the mainly British owned record companies who demanded extra payment or royalties for playing mostly British records on the radio. So the radio stations refused to play them for 6 months until the record companies came to their senses. This gave some local bands a chance to cover some of the British songs and to have hit records here in Oz in their own right.
R.I.P billy! you were the legend of rock. Sunbury 1972 was a great moment etched in our hearts forever. so sad of his passing this morning at 2am
They had the loudest set in Australia at the time. We're all deaf now!
Pharking beautiful ........
missed by many Thorpey. This song is genius
+sr197877 absolutely agree
+sr197877 absolutely agree
Playing this now, again . Sweet guitars, epic
Gone, but never forgotten. Love Ya Thorpie, Lynne XXX
This is balls out awesome. Australian blues / rock had it bang on in the 70's.
Just listen to the drive you get in this & Coloured Balls "Working Mans Boogie".
Not subtle, just a pounding guitar pushing the song forward.
Airdate 7th Dec 1971
wow what a talent this guy had and what a loss to the music industry will be sadly missed .
Thank you ABC ... gotta love ya.
So good. I can FEEL how loud it was. Another 10 pound POM done good! Same as Brod Smith, Jon English, John Farnham and those Scottish boys, the Youngs. Fuck knows where Oz Rock would be without them
And Ronald Bedford Scott!
The best voice in Aus. rock music. What was even better, you could understand what he was singing. Jimmy Barnes and Angry Anderson are rank amateur fucking screechers in comparison. He may be gone but certainly not forgotten by those from that era.
+Steve Rambo Jesus.For the first time in my life ,i am thinking i could not have said it any better.Well said.
my sentiment too...
I was very lucky to see him play live at an intimate gig in my home town before his passing.
Brad Collier Lucky man. I hadn't seen him in concert since he first went to the U.S. in the latish 70's. Still sounded pretty bloody good from what I see on the Tube. Will always be part of my life story.
paul cleary Ta, mate. A special breed of singer and man.
I saw Billy and Aztecs at la trobe uni
Loudest most exciting group I ever saw
you lucky bastard
Billy had so many careers The child star The screaming girls pop star The hard rocking loud rock star you see here And of course the latter day mature icon
Australian Legend
miss ya Billy :(
Oh Keeerist thats good! The power, the power!
A Gem
when I was fifteen around time of this vid, used to go to Electric Circus, club in Brisbane, see Billy, he would be on a stage only about 10 inches high, all the audience would sit on the floor and listen to Billy blast the hell out of the place, each song was like this, more of a jam really, would last for 8 - 10 mins, he looked just like this then...great memories
RIP Billy. Wake em up, and shake em up in heaven!
We all loved ya Billy and your music will live on forever
2020 Billy. Still listenin.
Awesome! One of the first groups I saw live, when they played in our little theatre at Melbourne uni about the time this was recorded. Thanks!
Billy Thorpe was remarkable and sad that the world was not able to witness him and the Aztecs in their later years.
They were the best,by far, the best rock band in Aust at that time.
The Boggo Road Jail DVD is brilliant! This guy was one talented dude!! Grab a copy and watch it if you can you won't be dissappointed!!
Cheers. Fun putting that gig together.
brings back good memories
This is something special indeed!!
they were the loudest band i ever heard..one night at La trobe uni it was incredible..one of 5 best australian bands..thorpie was the real deal
his music will never age
Gil Matthews. Aztecs new drummer at the time. Brilliant song!!! RIP Billy
Alan Pope
Just heard (17/08/2018) Aztec drummer Gil "Rat" Matthews on radio ABC Melbourne being interviewed about his company Aztec records releasing the complete set of Go! recordings.
He said that in 1958 aged 11, he did a tour of the US with Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich!
Gil said he could read drum music at the age of 5, must have a child prodidgy.
He was greeted at Disneyland by Walt Disney himself, introduced to the Mouseketeers and made an honorary member.
His nickname "Rats" came from Thorpe . Billy called he that because he said that when a mouse grows up it becomes a Rat.
@Warren552011 and don't forget that he could also fart in perfect time to the beat
Only the best, listened to Billy and the Aztecs many times at Berties and Village Green, etched in my memory for ever, will catchup one day and do it all again R.I.P
miss that voice!
I first saw this early one morning on RAGE, about 20 years ago. I just finished reading 'Thorpies Time On Earth' fanstic!!!
RIP legend, The best in Australia
I grew up in Mitcham next suburb up the highway from the Whitehorse and we could hear him when we went for a burger at the George A cafe.....Ahhh those were the days.
Donvale boy myself.
Man if yuh never got on with your neighbors just blast em out with Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
This is just pure bad-assness! Good heavy rock and roll ain't dead yet...
Hello sara
Hell Yeah! My kind of blues. Never heard of this guy before now
eyeprod do you still listen to this song 11 years later?
It is awesome btw...