The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout its existence. Drummer Lindy Morrison joined the band in 1980, and its lineup would later expand to include bass guitarist Robert Vickers and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown. Vickers was replaced by John Willsteed in 1987, and the quintet lineup remained in place until the band split two years later.
In 1988, “Streets of Your Town”, the first single from 16 Lovers Lane, entered the Top 100 on both the Kent Music Records chart in Australia and the singles chart in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single “Was There Anything I Could Do?” was a No. 16 hit on US alternative Modern Rock radio stations, and Beggars Banquet, trying to encourage the band’s commercial momentum re-released “Streets of Your Town” in the UK in early 1989, where it charted low once again. These minimal successes were hardly the hoped-for commercial breakthrough for the band.
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. After recording six albums, Forster and McLennan decided in December 1989 to disband The Go-Betweens. There were tentative plans to form an acoustic duo together. When McLennan told Brown, she ended their relationship. Forster and McLennan pursued solo careers. Brown and Morrison formed Cleopatra Wong in 1991.
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 in May 1996 in Paris. For this performance the band comprised Forster, McLennan, Adele Pickvance on bass guitar and Glenn Thompson on drums.
The 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 an ARIA award for ‘Best Adult Contemporary Album’. Grant McLennan died in May 2006 of a heart attack, and Robert Forster subsequently announced that The Go-Betweens were no more. Forster has continued to perform and records as a solo artist and has also written well-received music criticism.
