• Countdown was a long-running popular weekly Australian music television show broadcast by the ABC during the 70’s / 80’s.
• Official home of Teen Pop with lots of mullets, legwarmers, lycra and very odd shaped guitars. Of course everything was lip synched to vary degrees of success ....
• Crucial to the success of many leading Australian acts, including AC/DC, John Paul Young, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Marcia Hines, The Angels, INXS, Mondo Rock, Men at Work, Icehouse, Little River Band, Renée Geyer, Wa Wa Nee and Jon English.
• International artists including Madonna, Blondie, ABBA, John Mellencamp, Meat Loaf, Boz Scaggs and Cyndi Lauper achieved their first hits in Australia, thanks to their video clips being aired on Countdown, and this in turn led to their records being picked up and becoming hits in America and/or Europe.
• Hosted by Ian “Molly” Meldrum it was one of the first TV shows in the world to promote the regular use of the music video as a major part of its programming.