Feeling funky: Triple M’s role in the global radio success of an 80s classic

Pseudo Echo lead singer Brian Canham remembers the day legendary Triple M program boss Lee Simon stopped him in the hallway of Wheatley’s, the band’s management office.

It was the mid-eighties, the Love An Adventure tour had just wrapped up and the band’s banging cover version of Funky Town – the song by American disco-funk group Lipps Inc – had sent audiences into frenzy:

“Lee said to me ‘You’ve got to release that song! It’s going to be a smash!’” Canham remembers. “Everyone was talking about it.”

“Coming from the head of the radio station, that was pretty much enough to convince me, so I just went ‘We’d better get this together, guys.’”

Forty years on – with Pseudo Echo now touring again – Canham reminisces with me about the astronomical rise of Funky Town on the Food Bytes with Sarah Patterson podcast.

Whereas some cover versions are merely insipid copies of the original, this one blew everyone out of the water.

“The song was very special to me, because it came out in 1979 in America and probably started hitting the clubs in about 1980 in Australia,” says Canham.

“I was eighteen and I used to go to this little club in the northern suburbs of Melbourne across from the Park Hotel, and Molly Meldrum used to DJ there, which we thought was incredibly novel – ‘there’s the guy from Countdown, in the flesh!’”

Canham says Molly played great music. It was cutting edge stuff.

“The sound of the eighties was happening and he was right on it.”

“I can remember him playing the original version of Funky Town and it just knocked my socks off. I couldn’t believe the bass in it, the drums and how it was so fat sounding.”

Canham absolutely loved it. Feeling heavily sentimental about it, the song stuck with him.

A few years later, when Pseudo Echo was busy promoting the Love An Adventure album, Canham caught up with an old DJ friend from the clubbing days.

“He threw on the vinyl of Funky Town and I just thought Oh, my God,” Brian remembers.

At his next soundcheck while on tour, Canham started jamming Funky Town.

“It was a pretty different version, because, firstly, I was playing it predominately on guitar rather than keyboard.”

The other band members joined in. Canham offered direction and together, they put their own very individual spin on it.

“It was an easy song. It hasn’t got many lyrics,” Canham laughs. “The first verse and the second verse are the same!”

It was a no-brainer. That night, at the show, the band played Funky Town as part of its encore performance.

“We thought we’d surprise everybody, including ourselves,” says Canham.

It brought the house down.

“We couldn’t believe how well it went over. We had no idea. We thought it would just be a bit of fun.”

They decided to keep Funky Town in the set as their encore song for the remainder of the Love An Adventure tour.

Urged to record the song, into the studio they went. The record company was puzzled, to say the least.

“The American company was mortified,” says Canham. “They’d heard we’d covered Funky Town but they hadn’t heard our version, so they just went ‘What are you doing a disco song for??’ They thought it was a crazy idea.”

But Canham took the reins and full responsibility.

“As they say, the rest is history,” he smiles.

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