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rage gets retro

Old Countdown episodes replayed on rage are just about the best part of summer telly.

One of the best bits of summer is when rage opens up the closet and drags out all the kitsch music telly from yesteryear, usually dominated by old Countdown episodes in their entirety. But there are also clips from other ABC pop shows including Hitscene, GTK, Flashez, Rock Arena and Recovery.

They start again tomorrow night Saturday January 3rd. It kicks off with a Countdown marathon of Christmas specials:

COUNTDOWN December 24th 1983

Hosted by Molly Meldrum & Pseudo Echo
Studio performances:
Pat Wilson ‘Bop Girl’
Dear Enemy ‘Computer One’
Real Life ‘Catch Me I’m Falling’
Kids In The Kitchen ‘Change In Mood’
Music videos:
Elton John ‘Kiss The Bride’
Irene Cara ‘Why Me’
Interviews:
John Farnham
Men At Work
Shirley Strachan
Colin Hay
Greg Ham

Followed by clips from:
PSUEDO ECHO: Listening
PSUEDO ECHO: Fooled Again

COUNTDOWN December 24th 1982
Hosted by Basia Bonkowski from SBS’ Rock Around The World, Andrew Peters from Rock Arena, and Donnie Sutherland from Sounds.
Studio performances:
Australian Crawl ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’,
Little Heroes ‘Young Hearts’, Icehouse ‘Hey Little Girl’,
Swanee ‘Lady What’s Your Name’,
Brian Cadd ‘My Baby Loves To Hurt Me’,
INXS ‘Don’t Change’,
Wendy & The Rockets ‘It’s Always Maybe’,
Goanna Band ‘Solid Rock’,
Moving Pictures ‘What About Me’,
Little River Band ‘Down On The Border’
Music videos:
Split Enz ‘Six Months In A Leaky Boat’

Followed by clips from:
AUSTRALIAN CRAWL: Erroll
AUSTRALIAN CRAWL: Reckless
AUSTRALIAN CRAWL: Two Can Play
AUSTRALIAN CRAWL: Beautiful People

COUNTDOWN December 10th 1978
Hosted by Molly Meldrum & Elton John
Studio performances:
Elton John ‘Madness’
‘Georgia’, & ‘Song For Guy’
Music videos:
Bee Gees ‘Staying Alive’
Rod Stewart ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’
Boney M ‘Rivers Of Babylon’
Olivia Newton John & John Travolta ‘One That I Want’

Followed by clips from:
ELTON JOHN: Crocodile Rock/ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
ELTON JOHN: I’m Still Standing
ELTON JOHN: The Way You Look Tonight
ELTON JOHN: Your Song

COUNTDOWN December 22nd 1985
Hosted by Molly Meldrum & Tina Turner
Studio performances:
The Hooters ‘And We Danced’ & ‘Day By Day’
Icehouse ‘No Promises’
Tina Turner ‘One Of the Living’
Music videos:
Wham ‘I’m your Man’
Fergal Sharkey ‘A Good Heart’
Elton John ‘Wrap Her Up’
Eurogliders ‘Can’t Wait To See You’
Divinyls ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Followed by clips from:
ELTON JOHN: Sacrifice
TINA TURNER: When The Heartache Is Over
TINA TURNER: (Show Some) Respect
TINA TURNER: We Don’t Need Another Hero
TINA TURNER: Silent Wings
TINA TURNER: Break Every Rule

ROCK ARENA ‘Food, Trucks & Rock N Roll’ May 17th, 1986
A very special Rock Arena documentary about the Live-Aid project headed by Bob Geldof. It follows the project from its inspiration, through the recording of the first Band-Aid song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ with Sting, Boy George, Paul Young, Bono and others, and the group’s efforts to see the funds raised reached the people in need. Also included behind-the-scenes footage from the Live Aid concert held on two continents on July 13th, 1985.

COUNTDOWN December 21st 1986
Hosted by Molly Meldrum & Greedy Smith & Kim Wilde
Studio performances:
Mental As Anything ‘Lets Go To Paradise’
OMD ‘We Love You’
Kim Wilde ‘Keeps Me Hanging On’
Yu-En ‘Little Drummer Boy’
Music videos:
Berlin ‘Like Flames’
New Order ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’
Wa Wa Nee ‘Sugar Free’
Pointer Sisters ‘Goldmine’
Crowded House ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’
Michael Hutchence ‘Rooms for The Memory’
A-Ha ‘Cry Wolf’
Pseudo Echo ‘Funky Town’

Followed by clips from:
MENTAL AS ANYTHING: Rome & Juliet
MENTAL AS ANYTHING: If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?
MENTAL AS ANYTHING: Working For The Msn
MENTAL AS ANYTHING: Spirit Got Lost

10 Responses

  1. I think it would be great to have a free-to-air channel of Aussie reruns – a bit like TV1. Notstalgia is great – and often the shows are more entertaining than the current batch!

  2. cheers Southpatt, yes I had platform shoes too.
    My worst outfit was “flared tracksuit pants” what was I thinking ?
    Saw Pat Wilson (Bop Girl),Shirl Strachan last night – good golly it was great memories.Lee Simon & Donni Sutherland interupting Molly during Humdrum..and Molly at hisbest just being Molly.
    The old hosts of music shows look even better compared to todaysuseless lot – Axle Whitehead, Fuzzy (cos Faustino too big a name for the text generation)

  3. Appreciate heads up David.
    the retro Countdown shows are good fodder for the brain late at night.
    Probably because I can half remember the era – flared pants anyone ?

  4. Now theres an idea for one of the new digital channels! Countdown episodes non-stop! This will be my 10th year of watching “Countdown Season” on rage on Saturdays in January!

    BTW – knoxsoverstreet – check the program each week as content varies – one week maybe alot of Countdown, then next more of others.

  5. Easily the summer highlight for me! I always look forward to adding more Countdown eps to my collection!

    Also I have a feeling they are not showing any extras this year except the excellent Rock Arena. So looks like no Flashez or GTK clips which I loved last year 🙁

  6. cool every year i love to watch rage repeat these old countdown shows, they are brilliant and give you a touch of nostalga! Thanks for the list David you the man!

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