Moving Pictures: Австралийская рок-группа 1980-х годов

Australian rock band

Moving Pictures are an Australian rock music band formed in 1980. Their debut album, Days of Innocence, was issued in October 1981 and eventually peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart in February the following year. In January 1982, they released their single, "What About Me", which reached No. 1 on the Kent Singles Chart. Later that year, Elektra Records issued Days of Innocence and "What About Me" in North America. The single reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appeared on the associated year end Hot 100 list for 1983. A proposed series of United States performances supporting REO Speedwagon, Tom Petty, and Hall & Oates fell through when Elektra was substantially reorganised. In November 1982, another single, "Winners", peaked at No. 12 in Australia. In October 1983, their second album, Matinee, was released. It reached No. 16 and, of its four singles, only the lead single, "Back to the Streets", reached the Top 40. Their non album single "Never" was used for two film soundtracks, Footloose (1984) and Hot Rod (2007). By the end of 1987, the group had disbanded. The band reformed in 2011 with annual tours.

Moving Pictures were formed in Sydney in 1980 with Charlie Cole on keyboards and trumpet; Paul Freeland on drums; Garry Frost on guitar, keyboards, and vocals; Ian Lees on bass guitar (ex This Side Up); Alex Smith on vocals and guitar (Bilgola Bop Band, This Side Up); and Andrew Thompson on saxophone (Bilgola Bop Band). Initially they performed as a "hard working, R&B inspired pub rock outfit", playing up to 250 shows a year, with their early influences being Bruce Springsteen, Graham Parker and Van Morrison. In early 1981 Moving Pictures were signed to the Wheatley management team – run by former Masters Apprentices' bass guitarist Glenn Wheatley – and the allied Wheatley Records label. Their debut album, Days of Innocence, also appeared in October 1981 and initially failed to reach the Top 40 on the Kent Albums Chart. The band's live show was all about their rock leanings but the album featured strong ballads that belied that live rock act. The album's third single, "Sweet Cherie", from Days of Innocence peaked at 51, while the fourth and final single, "Winners", reached No. 12 in November. spending 26 weeks inside the Billboard Hot 100. It made Billboards year end Hot 100 list for 1983, at No. 88 – a rare feat for a single with such a low peak position. The song made an unusual comeback in 1989, peaking at No. 46. Whilst with 1927, Frost also worked with Gyan co writing her 1989 hit "Wait". "Wait" was the first single from her self titled debut album, which won an ARIA award and was certified platinum. In 1990 Frost left 1927, and became co partner in a Sydney post production studio, he continued writing, performing and producing. Some of Frost's work in the early 2000s was with Sydney singer songwriter, Djamel

In 2005 Moving Pictures reformed as an acoustic trio, with Smith and Cole joined by Dave Carter (ex Alex Smith and DBM), for 26 performances throughout New South Wales and Queensland. In July 2011, to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the initial release of Days of Innocence, Moving Pictures reformed with the line up of Cole, Frost, Lees, Meyer, Smith and Thompson. They performed in Melbourne and Sydney, including an appearance on breakfast TV show, Sunrise, performing their signature song.

In February 2004 Moving Pictures' hit single, "What About Me", was covered by Australian Idol (2003) runner up Shannon Noll, which peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart – for four weeks. Noll liked the original, "it's just a great song about average people, and there are a lot of us out there I didn't mess around with it heaps, I just sang it as honest as possible". "What About Me" is the first Australian single to achieve No. 1 on two separate occasions by two different artists. In both cases the song accompanied the film's star doing a punchdance routine. The punchdance routine was also parodied in the Family Guy season 12 episode "Baby Got Black". The band have indicated that due to the bankruptcy of their U. S. record company, and unfortunate timing of the release of "Never", they had not received any royalties whatsoever for the track.