Sherbet - A Quintessential Australian Pop Band Quiz

Answer: Shakespeare

Dennis Loughlin on vocals, Doug Rea on bass guitar, Sammy See on keyboards/guitars, Clive Shakespeare on lead guitar, and Danny Taylor on drums formed the first version of Sherbet when they formed in Sydney in 1969. Alan Sandow soon replaced Taylor as the drummer.

In March, 1970 Darryl Braithwaite joined as an additional vocalist but Loughlin left the band a few months later leaving Braithwaite as the lead vocalist. Garth Porter replaced See in October. The band's "classic" lineup was not complete until 1972 when Tony Mitchell became the bass players replacing Rea.

Answer: Soul

What eventually turned out to be Sherbet's characteristic sophisticated pop sound was honed on a residency at Jonathon's Disco, playing seven hours a night, four days a week for eight months. Hence the soul based music used in the early part of their development which turned 'rockier' in time, but was always considered pop.

In 1971, Sherbet entered a national rock band contest, "Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds", winning the New South Wales final but the national final to was won by Fraternity fronted by by Bon Scott of AC/DC fame in his prior band. In 1972 they went a step beyond and won the national final.

Sherbet also became known for massive regional tours which included may towns that other bands considered too small to play in.

The band also increased its national profile with support slots on tours by visiting international acts. These included The Jackson 5 and Gary Glitter (before he lost public favour).

Answer: Cassandra

The band's lack of musical direction can be seen in their early single releases yielding a diverse range, musically: a cover version of Badfinger's "Crimson Ships" was their first single (which did not chart) followed by covers of Blue Mink's "Can You Feel It Baby?" (1971), Delaney and Bonnie's "Free the People" (1972) and Ted Mulry's "You're All Woman" (1972). Sherbet released their debut album, "Time Change... A Natural Progression", in 1972 on Infinity Records. The album's debut single, "You've Got the Gun", was written by written by Shakespeare, Porter and Braithwaite and this song was their first self-penned hit reaching top 30. Shakespeare and Porter became a formidable song writing team. Their next self-penned single "Cassandra" was the group's first top ten hit. A string of hits followed:"Slipstream"; "Silvery Moon", and "So Glad You're Mine" before "Summer Love" became their first national number one in 1975.

Answer: A cricketing term asking the umpire to give the batsman out

"Howzat" is a contraction of "How is That", a cricketing term yelled at the the umpire by the bowler who must ask for the batsman to be given out. In this context it was a sherbet song about a guy who had just caught his girlfriend doing something she should not have been doing:
"But I've been looking at you
Looking closely at the things you do
I didn't see it the way you wanted me to
How, how, howzat!
You messed about
I caught you out
Howzat."

The song reached top four on the UK Singles Chart and even reached 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite little promotion. The Album of the same name yielded two other top ten hits in Australia: "Child's Play" and "Rock Me Gently".

Answer: Skyhooks

Sherbet's demographic comprised mainly teenage girls with their themes of love romance whereas glam rock band Skyhooks had an older demographic with darker themes of drug use, loss of girlfriends, teenage sex and gay culture. The two bands were poles apart in demographics. Any rivalry was media-driven. However these were the two most commercially successful groups of the seventies.

Answer: Countdown

"Countdown" was the most popular music program in Australian TV history. It ran from 1974-1987. It played on Sunday night and repeated the following Saturday. While it was broadcast on the ABC, it reached an audience that did not have access to the commercial TV stations.

The show was revolutionary in that it featured music clips which were still a novelty. It also included international acts who appeared live when touring the country. They lip-synched their songs. Because of local content regulations, a large percentage of acts were Australians and many acts such as INXS, Kylie Minogue, Sherbet and Skyhooks got their start on "Countdown".

Answer: Neither charted

After the success of "Howzat" in the US with little promotion, Sherbet wrote their next album specifically for the US market. It was re-titled "Magazine" but failed even though both album and single reached number three in Australia.

Answer: Highway, The Sherbs

After the failure of "Photoplay" in the US, "Sherbet" as a name was thought to be too lightweight a name and so "Highway" was chosen for the American market. It did not help. In 1979 the group disbanded but reformed in 1980. They had a new wave sound which did not win over Australian audiences but both album and single "The Skill" charted in the US

Answer: Daryl Braithwaite

Clive Shakespeare and Garth Porter went on to be successful record producers, leaving Daryl Braithwaite the only member to have a commercially successful solo career. He had two number one hits: "You're My World" (October 1974) and "The Horses" (January 1991). He also had a number one album in Australia in 1988 with "Edge".

Answer: One: AC/DC

AC/DC were the first band inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. There were inducted in its first intake in 1988. Sherbet were the second group inducted in 1990 and Skyhooks the third in 1992. Daryl Braithwaite was inducted as a solo artist in 2017.