Colin Hay Talks Men at Work's Rise, the 'Down Under' Lawsuit & Starting Over

07-09-2026

Colin Hay Reflects on Men at Work, songwriting, and starting over on the latest episode of the Rock & Roll High School hosted by Pete Ganbarg. The show sent over these details:

Colin Hay is one of those rare artists whose career has unfolded in two remarkable acts. As the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter of Men at Work, Hay helped create some of the defining songs of the early MTV era, including "Who Can It Be Now?," "Down Under," "Overkill," "It's a Mistake," and "Be Good Johnny." The band's landmark debut album, Business As Usual, spent an extraordinary fifteen consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart before finally giving way to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Along the way, the group won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and became one of Australia's most successful musical exports.

Rather than living in the past, Hay embarked on one of rock's most remarkable second acts. Through an acclaimed series of solo albums, appearances on Scrubs, the inclusion of his music in Zach Braff's Garden State, and years of unforgettable performances at Los Angeles' legendary Cafe Largo, he reinvented himself as a deeply respected singer-songwriter with a devoted worldwide following. He also continues to tour internationally and perform as a longtime member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

In this conversation, Colin reflects on his upbringing in Scotland and Australia, the meteoric rise of Men at Work, the stories behind some of the band's biggest hits, and the evolution of his extraordinary solo career. We also discuss the years-long "Kookaburra"/"Down Under" copyright lawsuit-and the personal toll it took on the Men at Work family and Colin's own family-as well as songwriting, resilience, and why some of life's greatest setbacks can ultimately lead to unexpected new beginnings.

On their rise to fame happening too fast...

You always think that you're handling things really well but of course you're not. We made a couple of classic blunders but I think more than anything else it just wasn't a band that was destined to go the distance really in terms of the personnel. This is also in hindsight really, we may have had another couple of albums in us but 5 musicians and one manager. The manager was my friend and a couple of the guys in the band wanted to sack the manager and he wasn't gonna get sacked cause he was my friend. It very much turned into an episode of Survivor, who's gonna get voted off the island. That really just soured me on the whole thing. I thought, well what is the point of conquering the world together if you can't enjoy it together. It should be enjoyed and honored together by all the people who did that and there were 6 of us who did it. I'll never understand why they wanted to get rid of him. It was just stupid. Even to this day I still think it was stupid, so it was over pretty much.

On figuring out what's next after Men At Work:

I must say I was happy to be on my own. I just didn't have to deal with anything else that had gone on. I still had a record deal with Columbia and then New York so I felt ok about that. So I made this solo record called 'Looking for Jack.'

Overcoming alcoholism:
When I finally really thought ok I gotta really do something about this was towards the end of the 80s. I finally stopped in January '91 which coincided with me really committing to coming to live in California, in Los Angeles so that really was the start of my new life.

On Zach Braff coming to see his solo show and his songs getting a second life on the TV show Scrubs:

That was a big thing for me... it was a very important thing for me and helped me a lot when I was out there on the road, still til this day.

On his music affecting so many other artists including Serj Tankian (System of A Down):
That was a shock for me, it was a very pleasant shock I must say and he said some very nice things. I think I agree with him too, there was something ecstatic about our music in a strange way. It wasn't like anything else and I think a lot of people recognized that or recognized something in the music that resonated with them.

On the lawsuit for 'Down Under' having a big affect on people in his life:

It was horrible and it went for so long as well. It went for six years or something. There was nothing really I could do about it but defend it... At the end of the day the sadness for me was the fact that Greg, who wasn't in great shape anyway at that particular time, felt a sense of guilt about the fact that he played the line and yet he wasn't sued. I was the one that was sued as the songwriter and EMI music publishing was sued also. And it had a great effect on my father, who had come to Australia as an immigrant and was so proud of what we'd done and I would play him the songs all the time before they were records so he knew the song was clean in terms of composition so smoke would come out of his ears...I'll never forgive them for that.

Funny, thoughtful, and profoundly insightful, Colin Hay has never stopped evolving, and his music continues to resonate more deeply each year. Stream the full episode here