Australian pop music awards

1966–1972:Go-Set pop poll results

Teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll during 1966 to 1972 of its readers to determine the most popular personalities. Readers were provided with coupons to vote for their choice, with initial categories of 'Male Vocal', 'Female Vocal' and 'Group' for both Australian and International acts – in later years new categories were introduced and old categories renamed or retired.

1966

Printed in Go-Set on 5 October 1966, pages 12 & 13.

1967

Printed in Go-Set on 9 August 1967, pages 12 & 13. Categories were renamed, e.g. Male Vocal became Top Male Singer.

1968

Printed in Go-Set on 19 June 1968, pages 12 & 13.

1969

Printed in Go-Set on 28 June 1969, pages 10 & 12. Categories back to original names, e.g. Top Male Singer returns to Male Vocal.

1970

Printed in Go-Set on 11 July 1970, pages 6 & 7. New categories introduced: Guitarist, Drummer, Composer. Ceremony for the Australian acts was held at Dallas Brooks Hall, East Melbourne, and was broadcast on 30 June by Seven Network.

1971

Printed in Go-Set on 10 July 1971, pages 2 & 3. New categories introduced: Best Album, Best Single, Best Bass Guitarist.

1972

Printed in Go-Set on 30 December 1972, pages 5 & 6. New category introduced: Newcomer; with old categories retired: Best Guitarist, Best Drummer, Best Bass Guitarist.

1967–1978: King of Pop Awards

Teen-oriented pop music newspaper, Go-Set was established in February 1966 and conducted an annual poll of its readers to determine the most popular personalities. In 1967 the most popular performer was Normie Rowe and when the results were televised on the unrelated The Go!! Show there was a crowning of Rowe as 'King of Pop'. In the following years, TV Week provided coupons for readers to vote for their choice, a similar system had been in use for TV's Logie Awards since 1960. The 'King of Pop' awards ceremony was broadcast by the 0–10 Network from 1967 to 1975, and from 1976 to 1978 by the Nine Network. On the 0–10 Network, from 1972, it was run by Johnny Young's production company (Lewis-Young Productions) which also provided Young Talent Time.

1967

1968

1969

Durbin is often referred to as the 'Queen of Pop', however:

I never in fact won a queen of pop award. the award was called The King of Pop awards, so that's when it was the Go Set [awards]. And it continued on to TV week.

1970

1971

Guest presenter: Liberace
Award winners:

1972

Award winners:

1973

Guest presenter: Davy Jones (ex-The Monkees)
Award winners:

1974

Ceremony details: Held on 25 October 1974, guest presenters: David Cassidy, Gary Glitter. A compilation album titled King of Pop '74–'75 was released with tracks supplied by previous winners and guest presenters. Next to the list of various artists, the cover depicts the trophy that was presented to award winners.
Award winners:

1975

Ceremony details: Held October 1975, live performance: AC/DC "High Voltage"
Award winners:

1976

Award winners:

1977

Performer: Mark Holden
Award winners:

1978

Ceremony details: Held on 13 October 1978, hosted by Glen Shorrock, guest presenters: Kate Bush, Leif Garrett
Award winners:

1979–1980: TV Week/Countdown Music Awards

Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week which had sponsored the previously existing 'King of Pop' Awards. The TV Week/Countdown Rock Music Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.

The award year below relates to the year of achievement and not the year they were presented.

1979

Ceremony details: Held on 13 April 1980, broadcast on Countdown by ABC-TV, the TV Week Rock Music Awards for 1979 presented a revamped awards ceremony with 'King of Pop' title replaced by 'Most Popular Male' and 'Queen of Pop' replaced by 'Most Popular Female'. Hosted by Glen Shorrock of Little River Band, there were three live performances: Christie Allen "He's My Number 1", Australian Crawl "Beautiful People" and Split Enz "I Got You". Various music industry personalities explained the categories, announced nominees and presented the 1979 awards. 'Most Popular' awards were voted for by readers of TV Week sending in printed coupons, with the three highest reader responses read out as nominations. Industry awards were voted for by radio programme directors, rock magazine editors and journalists. Presenters included Darryl Cotton, Richard Gower (Racey), John O'Keefe (son of Johnny O'Keefe), John Farnham, Colleen Hewett, Graeme Strachan, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, and Harry Casey (KC & the Sunshine Band).

Award winners and nominees:

1980

Ceremony details: Held on 16 March 1981 at Regent Theatre Sydney, and broadcast on 22 March, it was hosted by Countdown host Ian "Molly" Meldrum and international guests Suzi Quatro and Jermaine Jackson. Presenters included: Lee Simons, Donnie Sutherland, Marc Hunter, James Freud, Graham Russell, Russell Hitchcock and David Tickle. Performers were: Split Enz "History Never Repeats", Flowers "Icehouse", The Swingers "Counting the Beat", Air Supply "Lost in Love", "Every Woman in the World" and "All Out of Love", Australian Crawl "The Boys Light Up". Cold Chisel performed the last live number, "My Turn to Cry", to close the show and then trashed their instruments and the set. Sponsors TV Week withdrew their support for the awards and Countdown held its own awards ceremonies thereafter.

Award winners and nominees:

1981–1986: Countdown Music and Video Awards

Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week which had sponsored the previously existing 'King of Pop' Awards. After Cold Chisel performed at the 1980 awards ceremony, and then trashed their instruments and the set, sponsors TV Week withdrew their support and Countdown held its own awards ceremonies until the 1986 awards which were broadcast in 1987. The awards ceremony was co-produced by Carolyn James (a.k.a. Carolyn Bailey) during 1981–1984 in collaboration with the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which provided peer voting for some awards. Countdown provided coupons in the related Countdown Magazine for viewers to vote for some awards including 'Most Popular Male Performer', 'Most Popular Female Performer', 'Most Popular Group' and 'Most Popular International Act'. From 1987 ARIA instituted its own entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards.

The award year below relates to the year of achievement and not the year they were presented.

1981

Ceremony details: Broadcast on 18 April 1982, hosted by Ian "Molly" Meldrum with presenters: Greedy Smith, Ross Wilson, Michael Hutchence, Duran Duran, Sharon O'Neill, Renée Geyer, John Swan, John Paul Young, Daryl Braithwaite, Alex Smith and Angry Anderson. Performers were: Men at Work, Sharon O'Neill, Renée Geyer, Mental As Anything, Billy Field, Mondo Rock and the Divinyls.

Award winners and nominees:

1982

Ceremony details: Held on 19 April 1983.

Award winners and nominees:

Nominees included: The Angels, Moving Pictures, Goanna, Jo Kennedy, Divinyls, Eurogliders, Rose Tattoo, Split Enz, The Reels, Icehouse, Men at Work, Skyhooks.

1983

Ceremony details: Held on 15 April 1984 at the Palais Theatre, presenters included: Ross Wilson, Glen Shorrock, Pat Wilson, Graeme "Shirley" Strachan, Greg Ham, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Jon Farriss, Michael Hutchence, Marc Hunter, Billy Idol. Live performers: Kids in the Kitchen "Bitter Desire", Models "I Hear Motion", Ross Wilson and Pat Wilson "Strong Love", Pseudo Echo "A Beat for You", Billy Idol "Rebel Yell", Tim Finn "In a Minor Key". The closing live performance was by an ensemble including Shorrock, Lynne Randell, Jim Keays, Darryl Cotton, Debbie Byrne, Strachan, Keith Lamb, John Paul Young, Daryl Braithwaite, and Hunter to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Johnny O'Keefe's version of "Shout!".

Award winners and nominees:

1984

Ceremony details: Held on 19 May 1985 at Sydney Entertainment Centre, and broadcast on 25 May, it was hosted by Greedy Smith, presenters included: Brian Mannix, Meat Loaf, Vicki O'Keefe, Sharon O'Neill, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Nik Kershaw, Grace Knight and Bernie Lynch (Eurogliders), Julian Lennon, Jenny Morris, Sean Kelly and James Freud (Models), Alan Johnson and Danny Simcic (Real Life), Suzanne Dowling (Rock Arena TV show host). INXS won seven awards and closed with a live performance of "Burn for You", dressed in Akubras (hats) and Drizabones (outdoor coats/oilskin jackets).

Award winners and nominees:

1985

Ceremony details: Held on 14 April 1986 at Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre, and broadcast on 20 April, it was hosted by Ian "Molly" Meldrum and presenters included: Grace Knight and Bernie Lynch (Eurogliders), Rick Mayall and Ben Elton (The Young Ones), Sting, Vince Sorrenti, Brad Robinson, Zan Abeyratne, Richard Page, Iva Davies, Brian Canham, Brian Mannix, Tim Finn, Dee C Lee, Suzanne Dowling and Bob Geldof. Performers were: Pseudo Echo "Living in a Dream", Eurogliders "Absolutely", Do-Ré-Mi "Theme from Jungle Jim", Kids in the Kitchen "Current Stand", Mr. Mister "Kyrie", Models "Let's Build it Up", I'm Talking "Do You Wanna Be?". At the awards ceremony fans of INXS and Uncanny X-Men scuffled and as a result ARIA decided to hold their own awards, which were the entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards first held in 1987.

1986

Ceremony details: Held on 19 July 1987 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre & it followed the last regular Countdown show. It was hosted by Ian "Molly" Meldrum who revealed his bald head in imitation of Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil. Performers included: Icehouse "Crazy", Angry Anderson "Suddenly", Mental As Anything "He's Just No Good". and Boom Crash Opera "City Flat".

By the time of the last Countdown award ceremony, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) had already instituted its own entirely peer-voted ARIA Music Awards, with its first ceremony held on 2 March 1987 at the Sheraton Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. Elton John was the host but the ARIAs were not televised with presenters including Basia Bonkowski, Slim Dusty and Donnie Sutherland.