Three Make History At #1 With #4

Rock trio You Am I have made history by becoming the first Australian band to have three consecutive albums debut at number one on the Australian charts. Yesterday's achievement comes on top of winning eight national ARIA Awards last year for their previous album, Hourly Daily.

The trio has a reputation as one of the country's most electrifying live bands. Now they join the upper echelons of Australian music; only Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Split Enz and INXS have had three consecutive albums reach number one. Their latest offering, #4 Record, is rockier and less poppy than their two previous albums, and some critics have said it does not live up to the high expectations of the Sydney-based band.

"I don't take credence from critics," said lead singer Tim Rogers, who recently moved from Sydney to Melbourne.

"We're in the position where we are being set up to be compared to what we've done before. You know - 'If this band's so great, why is this just a rock'n'roll album?'

"Maybe everyone got it wrong first off, and we are just the best paid pub band in the land.

"We're just a rock'n'roll band making a rock'n'roll record . . . We'll just keep on doing what we do, and little titilating things like getting number one is really just an excuse to get up to Sydney to have a drink with (bassist and drummer) Andy and Rust."

A modest Rogers thinks that a number one record has more to do with timing than anything else.

"It's a very tactical kind of record company thing. Most records that go to number one are absolute shit. It wouldn't have gone to number one next week because the Smashing Pumpkins record comes out," he
said.

You Am I's last three albums and live performances have received rave reviews around the globe.

"You Am I are the most swinging R&B-infused rock trip since The Jam," claimed the respected Seattle Weekly.

And Paris' Telerama described Hourly Daily as the "best rock record since rock died".

The band recorded #4 Record after a solid year of touring Europe, America and Australia. Mr Peter Prescott, the managing director of the band's label, BMG, said the achievement was testament to their relentless touring and recording schedule.

"You Am I are unique. Once thought of as an alternative, 'inner city' band, they have developed into one of our greatest rock acts with major appeal right across the country, as this record-breaking debut confirms," Mr Prescott said.

"This is testament to their hard work and stunning music as well as the ongoing support the band have received from various sectors of the media and their fans."

You Am I tour will Australia next month.