Australian Crawl - The Boys Light Up

The Boys Light Up is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Australian Crawl, originally released in April 1980 via EMI Records.

Australian Crawl were a band that grew a loyal following on the pub circuit in the late 1970s and their debut album featured many songs that had been road tested on the local music scene.

The debut single “Beautiful People” written by James Reyne and Mark Hudson, was released in 1979 and became a huge hit for them in the Australian market and the song reflected some of the social issues the band were to write about during their career.

The second single was the title track “The Boys Light Up” written by James Reyne about his earlier school experiences lighting up cigarettes at school and then also encompassing a social commentary about people's behaviours. The explicit nature of these lyrics were especially challenging in 1980 and there were attempts to censor or ban the song.

The third single “Downhearted” was written by Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough and Bill McDonough. The song describes the car accident which resulted in Reyne breaking both wrists immediately before they recorded their first single "Beautiful People". James Reyne delivered some concerts at this time with both arms in plaster.

The album reached #4 on the Australian album charts and remained in the charts for an unbroken 101 weeks, eventually selling over 280 000 copies (five times platinum).

This album is a 2023 repress on black vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve with a printed inner sleeve, pressed in Australia via EMI Records.