One of the most eagerly anticipated TV series of the new year is Molly, a new Channel 7 venture which recounts the incredible life story of Australian music industry icon Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum.
With a killer soundtrack packed with hits from the likes of Stevie Wright, Billy Thorpe, Skyhooks, and more, Molly chronicles some of the most famous and even iconic moments in Meldrum’s career.
One story we’re definitely hoping to see brought to life is the time Molly ruined Elton John’s party, a tale recently recounted by Stuart Coupe, author of Gudinski: The Godfather of Australian Rock, for News Corp.
“It was back in the 1980s and as was fairly common in those days, major record labels seemed to have a thing for boat cruises,” Coupe, who also penned The Promoters: Inside stories from the Australian rock industry, recounted to News Corp.
“They would take the artist and the management and a bunch of media and key record label staff out on harbour cruises which were incredibly tedious, because if it wasn’t fun you couldn’t get off for hours.”
“In this particular instance with Elton John, Molly Meldrum was running late. The boat had left and was somewhere out on Sydney Harbour.” If you’re not familiar with Molly’s career, just know he’s not exactly known for his grace under pressure.
“Molly, without thinking about the implications of what he was about to do, thought that the best way for him to join Elton on the boat was to get the water police to help take him out to the boat where he would jump on board.”
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So we have a party boat filled with musicians and other music industry stakeholders out on the open waters and Molly has decided it’s a good idea to hitch a ride with a boat full of cops and bring it right on over.
“Molly was blissfully unaware that everybody on board that boat, who may or may not have been hoovering huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs, saw the police boat heading towards them at a rapid rate and immediately got rid of the pharmaceuticals they had, either by flushing them down the loo or throwing it overboard,” said Coupe.
“When Molly climbed aboard he was somewhat surprised that he wasn’t greeted with a warm hug, because it was obviously going to be a fairly dull next few hours on the harbour.”
