The Go-Betweens

1977–1982: early years Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met at the University of Queensland, where both were taking a theatre arts course. Forster provided vocals and guitar, while McLennan provided vocals, bass, and guitar; the pair shared songwriting duties. Together, they formed the Go-Betweens in December 1977 in Brisbane, Queensland. The name of the band reflects L. P. Hartley's classic novel The Go-Between. Forster and McLennan pursued solo careers. Brown and Morrison formed Cleopatra Wong in 1991. All official albums released in the 1980s have titles with a double L word, except 16 Lovers Lane, which has two words beginning with an L. For their first few albums, this was simply a coincidence; by the end of the decade, for their own amusement the band deliberately kept to a self-imposed 'tradition' of album titles that featured a double L. 2000–2006: reformation Forster and McLennan pursued solo careers throughout the 1990s, and McLennan also collaborated with Steve Kilbey of The Church in the studio project band Jack Frost. Forster and McLennan were inspired to work together again after they were invited by fans at French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles to perform at the magazine's 10th anniversary on 23 May 1996 in Paris. For this performance the band comprised Forster, McLennan, Adele Pickvance on bass guitar and Glenn Thompson on drums. In 2000, Forster, McLennan and Pickvance went to Jackpot! studio in Portland, Oregon, with members of Sleater-Kinney, and recorded the album The Friends of Rachel Worth (the first album to ignore their "double L" titling tradition). In 2001 Thompson rejoined the band for the Australian Big Day Out Festival. This line up of Forster, McLennan, Pickvance and Thompson went on to record Bright Yellow Bright Orange and in October 2005, the Go-Betweens finally achieved mainstream recognition, with the album Oceans Apart (produced by Mark Wallis and Dave Ruffy) winning the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. Grant McLennan died on 6 May 2006 of a heart attack, and Robert Forster subsequently announced that the Go-Betweens were no more. ==Legacy==

in Brisbane is named after the band. The focal point of the Go-Betweens was the song writing skills of Forster and McLennan, described by The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau as "the greatest songwriting partnership working today." Each developed a distinctive but complementary style: Forster's songs were angular and angst-ridden, making much use of irony and unusual lyrical imagery, while McLennan's were generally softer and more sensitive, his lyrics often based on character study and reported speech. They never secured an Australian or UK Top 50 chart single—a fact which mystified their supporters in the press, to the point where this "scandalous" lack of popular success became a cliché when writing about the band. However, there were a few very minor chart successes for the band, starting with "Spring Rain", which snuck into the lower rungs of the Australian charts in 1986 and became the band's first ever Top 100 chart hit. The following year, "Right Here" similarly rode low on the UK Top 100 Charts. Then in 1988, "Streets of Your Town", the first single from 1988's 16 Lovers Lane, reached the Top 100 in both Australia and UK. In May 2001 "Cattle and Cane", written by McLennan and Forster, Many Australian bands and artists associated with the dolewave genre cite the Go-Betweens as a major influence, including Dick Diver and singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett. ==Members==

• Robert Forster – lead vocals, guitar (1977–1989; 2000–2006) • Grant McLennan – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica (1977–1989; 2000–2006), bass (1977–1983) • Bruce Anthon – drums (1978, 1979–1980) • Dennis Cantwell – drums (1978) • Lissa Ross – drums (1978) • Tim Mustapha – drums (1978–1979) • Peter Milton Walsh – guitar, backing vocals (1978–1979) • Malcolm Kelly – piano, organ (1979) • Steven Daly – drums (1980) • Claire McKenna – drums (1980) • Dave Tyrer – guitar (1980) • Lindy Morrison – drums, backing vocals (1980–1989) • Robert Vickers – bass (1983–1987) • Amanda Brown – violin, oboe, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1986–1989) • John Willsteed – bass, guitar (1987–1989) • Michael Armiger – bass (1989) • Adele Pickvance – bass, backing vocals (2000–2006) • Matthias Strzoda – drums (2000) • Janet Weiss – drums, backing vocals (2000) • Glenn Thompson – drums, backing vocals, keyboards (2001–2006) ;Timeline ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:95 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1977 till:06/05/2006 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1977 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1977 Colors = id:lvocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:bvocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:lead value:teal legend:Lead_guitar id:rhythm value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:multi value:drabgreen legend:Violin,_oboe id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_album BarData = bar:Robert text:"Robert Forster" bar:Grant text:"Grant McLennan" bar:Peter text:"Peter Milson Walsh" bar:Rob text:"Robert Vickers" bar:John text:"John Wilsteed" bar:Michael text:"Michael Arminger" bar:Adele text:"Adele Pickvance" bar:Amanda text:"Amanda Brown" bar:Malcolm text:"Malcolm Kelly" bar:Bruce text:"Bruce Anthon" bar:Dennis text:"Dennis Cantwell" bar:Lissa text:"Lissa Ross" bar:Tim text:"Tim Mustapha" bar:Steven text:"Steven Daly" bar:Claire text:"Claire McKenna" bar:Dave text:"Dave Tyrer" bar:Lindy text:"Lindy Morrison" bar:Mathias text:"Mathias Strodler" bar:Janet text:"Janet Weiss" bar:Glenn text:"Glenn Thompson" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Robert from:01/01/1977 till:01/12/1989 color:lvocals bar:Robert from:01/01/1977 till:01/11/1983 color:rhythm width:3 bar:Robert from:01/11/1983 till:01/12/1989 color:lead width:3 bar:Grant from:01/01/1977 till:01/12/1989 color:lvocals bar:Grant from:01/11/1983 till:01/12/1989 color:rhythm width:3 bar:Grant from:01/01/1977 till:01/11/1983 color:lead width:7 bar:Grant from:01/01/1977 till:01/11/1983 color:bass width:3 bar:Robert from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:lvocals bar:Robert from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:rhythm width:3 bar:Grant from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:lvocals bar:Grant from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:lead width:3 bar:Bruce from:01/01/1978 till:01/04/1978 color:drums bar:Bruce from:01/06/1979 till:01/03/1980 color:drums bar:Dennis from:01/04/1978 till:01/07/1978 color:drums bar:Lissa from:01/07/1978 till:01/10/1978 color:drums bar:Tim from:01/10/1978 till:01/06/1979 color:drums bar:Peter from:01/06/1978 till:01/06/1979 color:rhythm bar:Peter from:01/06/1978 till:01/06/1979 color:bvocals width:3 bar:Malcolm from:01/01/1979 till:01/06/1979 color:keys bar:Steven from:01/03/1980 till:01/06/1980 color:drums bar:Claire from:01/06/1980 till:01/09/1980 color:drums bar:Dave from:01/09/1980 till:01/11/1980 color:drums bar:Lindy from:01/11/1980 till:01/12/1989 color:drums bar:Lindy from:01/11/1980 till:01/12/1989 color:bvocals width:3 bar:Rob from:01/11/1983 till:01/11/1987 color:bass bar:Amanda from:01/11/1986 till:01/12/1989 color:multi bar:Amanda from:01/11/1986 till:01/12/1989 color:rhythm width:7 bar:Amanda from:01/11/1986 till:01/12/1989 color:keys width:5 bar:Amanda from:01/11/1986 till:01/12/1989 color:bvocals width:3 bar:John from:01/11/1987 till:01/06/1989 color:bass bar:John from:01/11/1987 till:01/06/1989 color:rhythm width:3 bar:Michael from:01/06/1989 till:01/12/1989 color:bass bar:Adele from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:bass bar:Adele from:01/01/2000 till:06/05/2006 color:bvocals width:3 bar:Mathias from:01/01/2000 till:01/06/2000 color:drums bar:Janet from:01/06/2000 till:31/12/2000 color:drums bar:Janet from:01/06/2000 till:31/12/2000 color:bvocals width:3 bar:Glenn from:01/01/2001 till:06/05/2006 color:drums bar:Glenn from:01/01/2001 till:06/05/2006 color:bvocals width:3 bar:Glenn from:01/01/2001 till:06/05/2006 color:keys width:7 LineData = at:01/11/1981 color:black layer:back at:01/05/1983 color:black layer:back at:01/09/1984 color:black layer:back at:01/03/1986 color:black layer:back at:01/06/1987 color:black layer:back at:01/08/1988 color:black layer:back at:01/09/2000 color:black layer:back at:24/02/2003 color:black layer:back at:03/05/2005 color:black layer:back ==Discography==

Albums Studio albums Charting compilations Live albums Extended plays Singles ==Awards and nominations==

ARIA Music Awards The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. The Go-Betweens won one award. Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. They commenced in 2005. ==References==