Zoot

Zoot launched their debut single "You Better Get Going Now" by swathing both the group and the garish Berties discotheque in vivid pink hues while promoting the catchphrase "Think Pink -- Think Zoot." In a later act of rebellion the musicians incinerated those pink outfits and mooned photographers, yet the stunt could not salvage careers permanently tainted by the color.

The Adelaide, South Australia outfit began in 1966 under the name "Down the Line," quickly rebranded as Zoot, and built a local dance-hall following before relocating to Melbourne in 1968. Their follow-up release "One Times, Two Times, Three Times, Four" reached number 32 on the Melbourne charts and secured regular appearances on the television program Uptight. The subsequent track "Monty and Me" topped the Brisbane listings, allowing Zoot, alongside the Valentines, the Flying Circus, and New Dream, to cultivate a fervent teen audience through lightweight pop. Substituting guitarist Roger Hicks with Rick Springfield allowed the ensemble's style to evolve; the refreshed lineup joined the national Operation Starlift Tour in September 1969 and finished the year atop Go-Set magazine's Pop Poll as Australia's leading group.

Although the band torched their earlier pink garments on film and repeated the backside-baring gesture for Go-Set, the April 1970 single "Hey Pinky" made no chart impression. They nevertheless finished runner-up to the Flying Circus at the Hoadley's National Battle of the Sounds final in July 1970 and issued their first long-player, Just Zoot, the next month. National breakthrough arrived with the Beatles cover "Eleanor Rigby," which climbed to number four in March 1971; reissued by EMI in 1979, the recording earned gold certification. Zoot earned further notice for delivering muscular renditions of familiar material, yet the follow-up "The Freak" stalled commercially. Burdened by their earlier teen-idol image, the group dissolved in May. Several alumni sustained prominent careers in music and film, most notably Rick Springfield, who later attained international acclaim as both a singer and an actor in the United States.