Australian Crawl (often called The Crawl by fans) was an iconic Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass guitar), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David Reyne (drums) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.
The Crawl "appeared initially to be little more than hedonistic surfers" but their music was a defining feature of Australian surf culture during the 1980s. They handled broader issues by attacking shallow materialism, recounting car accidents, smoking cigarettes at school, lauding a popular actor and telling cautionary tales of romance.
Australian Crawl had three successive #1 albums, The Boys Light Up (1980), Sirocco (1981) and Sons of Beaches (1982). These albums produced their early singles, "Beautiful People" (1979), "The Boys Light Up" (1980) "Downhearted" (1980), "Errol" (1981), "Oh No Not You Again" (1981) and "Shut Down (1982) which charted well, all reached the top 25, but none broke into the Top Ten. Their best performed single was #1 hit "Reckless" (1983) which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits.
Upheaval within the Crawl occurred from 1983 onwards, first Bill McDonough left, then his brother Guy McDonough died in 1984, various other members left and their 1985 release Between a Rock and a Hard Place was expensive but sales were disappointing. Australian Crawl disbanded in 1986 and their status as an icon on the Australian music scene was acknowledged by induction into the 1996 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
