A newly uploaded performance of Skyhooks playing their 1990 hit Jukebox In Siberia on Hey Hey It’s Saturday has revived interest in one of the band’s final chart triumphs and its enduring connection to Australian television history.
by Paul Cashmere
A newly uploaded video from Skyhooks’ historian Peter Green of the band performing Jukebox In Siberia on Hey Hey It’s Saturday has brought renewed attention to a defining late period moment for the Australian rock band. The footage captures the classic line-up performing the song that became Skyhooks’ only number one hit on the ARIA Singles Chart and marked the group’s first new recording in almost a decade.
The resurfaced television appearance highlights a significant chapter in the history of both Skyhooks and Hey Hey It’s Saturday. By 1990, Skyhooks had already cemented their place in Australian rock history through a string of hits in the 1970s before disbanding in 1984. Their return with Jukebox In Siberia demonstrated that the band could still connect with contemporary audiences and introduced their music to a younger generation who knew them more through television than from their original chart run.
Written by bassist Greg Macainsh, Jukebox In Siberia was released on 1 October 1990 as the lead single from the compilation album The Latest And Greatest. The song was produced by Ross Fraser and examined Russia during the era of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost, meaning openness, and perestroika, or restructuring. The title and lyrical concept reflected dramatic geopolitical change occurring at the end of the Cold War, giving the song an international perspective that differed from many Australian pop releases of the period.
The single spent time at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart, becoming Skyhooks’ only chart topper under the ARIA system. The achievement followed the band’s earlier success with Horror Movie, which reached number one on the Kent Music Report in 1975.
The return of the classic line-up was central to the song’s success. By the middle of 1974, Skyhooks had settled into the celebrated configuration of Greg Macainsh on bass, Bob Starkie on guitar, Shirley Strachan on lead vocals, Imants “Freddie” Strauks on drums and Red Symons on guitar. Although the band had split in 1984, Macainsh began writing new material in 1988, eventually producing two new songs, Jukebox In Siberia and Tall Timber.
The commercial success of Jukebox In Siberia prompted Mushroom Records to issue The Latest And Greatest in November 1990. The compilation combined classic recordings with the new material and led to a national tour in December of that year. Tall Timber followed as a second single and reached the Australian Top 100, although the reunion proved relatively short lived and the band disbanded again soon afterwards.
The newly uploaded Hey Hey It’s Saturday footage also serves as a reminder of the close relationship between Skyhooks and one of Australia’s most influential television programs. The band had previously featured on the show in October 1984 when the reformed line-up appeared live from a concert at Melbourne’s Olympic Park attended by 26,000 people, interacting with the program via a giant screen.
The connection became even stronger through Red Symons, who joined Hey Hey It’s Saturday as a member of the house band and became one of the program’s defining personalities as the sharp-tongued judge on the Red Faces talent segment. His famously harsh scoring and use of the gong became part of Australian television folklore. Former Skyhooks saxophonist Wilbur Wilde also became a familiar face on the program through his regular appearances.
Three decades after Jukebox In Siberia topped the charts, the newly surfaced performance stands as a document of a rare moment when one of Australia’s most important rock bands successfully returned to the summit of the singles chart. The footage captures Skyhooks in a late career renaissance and preserves an intersection between Australian music and television that continues to resonate with audiences.
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