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One of my fondest rock’n’roll memories takes me back to 1982, when I accompanied The Mighty Guys — a rockabilly band I had signed to my Rivet Records label — to the ABC TV studios in Sydney’s Gore Hill, where they were to appear on Countdown. As we walked through the main studio, Leon Isackson, the trio’s drummer commented, “Gee, this place hasn’t changed since the last time I was here.” And when was that Leon? “When I used to do 6 O’Clock Rock.”

I can’t imagine there were too many Countdown performers who could claim to have been part of the origins of rock television in Australia. Then again I can’t imagine there are too many Australian musicians who can claim the incredible array of experiences of the genial, genuine Leon Isackson and his buddy-for-life, Jon Hayton.

As they point out themselves, they are hardly household names in Australian entertainment. Rather, they are the loyal foot soldiers, the engine-stokers who enabled innumerable stars to shine and Australian rock to climb inexorably upwards. Indeed, their vantage point was near perfect: on the edge of the spotlight without being withered by its fickle glare. Leon and Jon were present at the birth, puberty, adolescence and middle-age of Australian rock’n’roll.

This book is nothing less than a vital social document. It is one of the very few honest accounts ever published of an appallingly over-eulogised era. Notwithstanding the emergence of a rebellious new music form, the fifties and early sixties were far from the finger-poppin’, sock-hoppin’ happy days that mass media manipulation would have us believe. There was, as Leon and Jon make plain, neither sophistication nor sweet innocence about these years. It was a time of inhibition, uncertainty and soiled naivety, particularly in Australia.

Australian performers didn’t create rock’n’roll — it created them. With the sole exception of the explosive catalyst Johnny O’Keefe, local rockers really had no idea of the forces controlling their destinies. They held on to the saddle-horn, eyes closed, and tried their damnednest to stay on for the short ride; rockin’ and rootin’ for all their worth. When the initial explosion fizzled, most of the young stars were found sprawled in the dust, left behind by the dizzying pace of changing public taste.

As is often the case with clever second-level players of any game, Leon and Jon survived the cyclic rock’n’roll house-cleanings. Their good humour, adaptability and realistic expectations has enabled them to continue playing rock music in this country for almost thirty years — no small achievement, to be sure.

Behind the Rock is based upon the ‘Crazy Books’ of Leon Isackson, a set of diaries so precious that in any other country they would have been purchased by a national museum by now. Dutifully, day in and day out, Leon documented — in language half strine, half rock’n’roll — his activities in a “pop scene” that few took seriously for at least the first two decades.

These jottings, added to the extraordinarily clear memories of the nefarious duo for dialogue and colouring, have provided us with a blow-by-blow description of a fascinating lifestyle carried on during a transitional period of Australian history. Nothing is hidden from our view. The pair present the salacious adolescent sexuality on both sides of the stage, the bumbling ignorance of most of the “power brokers” of the day, and the outrageously unsophisticated behaviour of undeserved “overnight sensations” who found themselves in the right place at the right time. Yet, although there is vast evidence of the plagiarism and opportunism of the time, there is equal evidence of an endearing cunning, an instinct for survival and a latent talent which have all contributed to the internationally acclaimed “Oz Rock” of which we are so conspicuously proud today.

It is not possible to fully appreciate the array of Australian music of the nineties without having some idea of how the cottage industry evolved into a global force. Up until the publication of this book, that has been an exceedingly difficult task. As far as I am concerned, this is as valid a slice of our history as the accounts of bush settlers and ground-breaking sportsmen. Anybody who has ever hummed a tune should read it!

— Glenn A. Baker, 1990