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Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything (or Mentals to fans) are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza (real name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa (real name Chris O’Doherty) on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter “Yoga Dog” O’Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne “Bird” Delisle (real name David Twohill) on drums; and Andrew “Greedy” Smith on vocals, keyboards and harmonica. Their hit songs were generated by Mombassa, O’Doherty, Plaza and Smith, either individually or collectively.

Their top ten Australian singles are, “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?” and “Too Many Times” in 1981, “Live it Up” in 1985 and “Rock and Roll Music” in 1988. While their top ten albums are, Cats & Dogs in 1981, Creatures of Leisure in 1983, Fundamental in 1985 and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 in 1986. They had top 50 chart success with “Too Many Times” and its album, Cats & Dogs in Canada, which followed touring North America in support of Men At Work. “Live it Up” reached the top 50 in European charts including peaking at #3 in UK, #4 in Norway, and #6 in Germany, after it featured in the 1986 Australian film “Crocodile” Dundee.

Mental As Anything – Live it Up

Top Of The Pops in the U.K 1987, “Live it Up” is their biggest Australian hit to date. ‘Fundamental’ or ‘Fundamental As …

Mental As Anything – Mr Natural

By mid-1994 the band recorded an album’s worth of self-produced material but were having difficulty getting a release deal. They self released …