I remember buying the ’45 of “Who Can it Be Now?” in the fall of 1982. A few weeks later I purchased the cassette of Business as Usual. I was twelve years old and this was the first album I bought, the first music that was mine and not my parents. I spent most of the winter playing the album on what was called, in those days before the winds of Political Correctness had swept over North America, a “ghetto-blaster”. For all the play that that tape got throughout the eighties, I was totally amazed that it still played this summer when I dug it out of a pile of other old cassettes. I was even more intrigued by how well some of the old songs still stand up after all these years, especially considering how dated many of the tunes from that period sound today.

When I mentioned to my friend that I might have the chance to interview Colin Hay, the first thing he said was that he still had that album on vinyl even though he has not had a record player for years. In fact, Business as Usual is really the quintessential music moment for most of us in our early thirties. It was the record that separated our taste in popular culture from those who came before us, the beginning of our journey down the road to self-discovery of what would become our musical interests for the rest of our lives.

It has always disappointed me that Men at Work never made more albums. The reggae inspired and Sax driven numbers of Business as Usual and Cargo have really made a place in the hearts of many from my generation. Years later we still know all the lyrics, the refrains, and the solos.

Three years ago when Men at Work, actually Greg Ham and Colin Hay, made their way to El Salvador, I almost didn’t buy tickets because my first response was “yet another washed up band touring Latin America to pay the bills”. It was only after a few days of recalling the role their music had played in my formative years that I called up my friend and asked her to purchase a ticket for me too.

Far from the disappointment I expected, Colin Hay and Greg Ham, along with the three younger Men at Work recruits put on a wonderful show, still playing the classics with zest after all these years and sharing some newly written material as well.

I spent three years waiting for these songs to appear on a new Men at Work album, but it never emerged. During his Medellin press conference Colin Hay confirmed the intention of incorporating these songs into a new album but confessed that the album just never came together.

Instead, Colin is back touring Latin America with his Electric Band, playing new songs alongside the old.

And some of the stuff Colin has written since the Men at Work days stands up with the best pop songs of the past twenty years. His laid back style, especially prominent in his acoustic album, fills a niche that has been empty for a decade. It appeals to those of us who don’t want to listen to heavy guitar songs or Britney Spears/Backstreet Boys drivel; those of us who just never fell into the hip hop sound and outgrew the college scene after 1993.

His lyrics celebrate life, even in those songs that deal with serious issues. Solid depictions of moments in time without preaching about the media, politics, or current crises around the world. They are short, easy listening pieces, without pretension, whose choruses and rhythms stay with you when the song is done. The kind of music that you feel yourself humming on your way to work.

After twenty years of listening to pop music, starting with Business as Usual and moving through periods where the message was the most important thing, or the complexity of the composition was what determined a masterpiece, I have come full circle back to the kid who bought his first ’45 and just want to listen to something that felt good, something that the artist has taken seriously in the production, but not something that is going to bash one over the head with its socio-political preaching or blow one's ear drums with five minutes racing guitar solos. And Colin Hay has become one of those artists.

For those of you who have not enjoyed any of his post-Men at Work material, I recommend his acoustic album, Going Somewhere for starters. It has a nice retrospective of his solo career redone in a simple guitar/voice format. His new album, recorded with his Electric Band, Company of Strangers also has some great tracks and will be on sale from his website, September 9. Check out www.colinhay.com for more information about the man and his music, as well as selections of lyrics and samples from his albums.

Part II of this article deals with the Colin Hay press conference in Medellin and the Men at Work concert at La Macarena, La Plaza de Toros.

Ted Langlais currently resides in Medellin, Colombia where he teaches high school and writes about his experiences in Latin America.