Men At Works “Down Under” has reached one billion views

taketonews

Australia’s unofficial anthem ‘Down Under’ by Men At Work has reached one billion streams across the world’s leading streaming platforms, earning it the 17th November in Sydney with the “APRA AMCOS’ Billions Award” excellent.

Singer Colin Hay wrote on Twitter: “One billion streams! ‘Down Under’ has made it into the one billion list of “APRA AMCOS”. (…)”

An overview of the songs that made it onto the “APRA AMCOS” one billion list can be found here.

The song: A long journey, also in the lyrics

Written by Hay and Men At Work guitarist Ron Strykert, the song was the second single from the debut album Business As Usual (1981). About two years after its release, both the album and single reached No. 1 simultaneously in the US and UK – a rare feat for an Australian band, then as now. The single stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and has sold two million copies in the US, according to APRA AMCOS. Colin received the Distinguished Services Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music at the 2020 Global APRA Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Hay explained in an interview with APRA-AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston: “I think a lot of the song felt that way because I had a deep love for this country, but not in a flag-waving way, but in a very big way deep, spiritual nature. I didn’t quite understand what it was but I can still feel it, I often can’t put it into words – I love this place so much. That’s what the song is about, it’s about love and celebration in a very true way.”

The song was later the subject of a violent – and costly – copyright battle that began in 2009 and ended several years later. The band broke up in 2012 after the death of Greg Ham. Colin Hay has been touring with his own formation since 2019 and will be touring the UK and Ireland in 2023.

Men At Work’s first album “Business As Usual” (1981) including “Down Under” is available here:



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