𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐮𝐭 - 𝐈 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 - 𝟒𝐊 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 - 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔

"I Like It Both Ways" is a song by Australian glam rock band Supernaut. The song was released in May 1976 as the debut single from the band's debut studio album, Supernaut (1976). Musically, "I Like It Both Ways" is a tough glam number, with heavy riffing throughout while the lyrics became a theme of bisexuality.
#supernaut
#ilikeitbothways

[Austech]

Supernaut were an Australian glam rock band from Perth. Formed as a pub-rock group, Moby Dick, by British-born brothers Chris Burnham on guitar and Joe Burnham on drums, they were joined late in 1974 by fellow immigrant Gary Twinn on lead vocals. After Randall Murphy joined on bass guitar, they changed their name.

The group relocated to Melbourne and were signed to Polydor Records in 1976 upon recommendation from Molly Meldrum, (in turn tipped off by Paul McCartney). In May 1976 they released their debut single, "I Like It Both Ways", which was produced by Meldrum. The song was initially shunned by some commercial radio stations in Sydney because of its controversial lyrics, but promotion on Meldrum's TV pop music show, Countdown, encouraged radio stations to play the track. "I Like It Both Ways" peaked at No. 16 on the Kent Music Report singles chart.

A follow-up single, "Too Hot To Touch", was released in September 1976, reaching No. 14 on the charts. Their self-titled debut album was released in mid-November 1976 and peaked at No. 13, achieving double gold certification. The group were presented with the TV Week King of Pop Award for Best Australian TV Performer (on Countdown) and for Most Popular New Group of 1976.
By November they had supported gigs by "Lou Reed, Suzie Quatro and Sweet and wherever they play there is raging hysteria." Julie Meldrum of The Canberra Times described their performance in Narrabundah: "Trouble began when Perth rock group Supernaut, which thrives on 'bopper' appeal, came on stage. The crowd made a rush for the group and many had to be forcibly removed. After the group finished its set organisers had to appeal for the crowd to move back from the stage 'or else someone will get hurt'." That's how popular bands were in the 70's, they were mobbed.

In 1977, the band released two original singles, "Young and Innocent" (April) and "The Kids Are out Tonight" (July), and a cover version of "Let's Spend the Night Together" (November), originally by The Rolling Stones. They worked extensively on recording sessions for a proposed second album, with working titles included Exile and Test Pressing. "The Kids Are Out Tonight" came from those sessions. After more than a year, they realised their music style was out of touch and the project was abandoned. In April 1978, they released another single, "Unemployed" before leaving Polydor.
The group relocated to Sydney and were signed to Robie Porter's Wizard Records in mid-1978. They returned to their original pub rock influences and "adopted a quasi-punk/new-wave direction". With the addition of Noel Kennedy on keyboards, they released, "Spies" (December 1978) McFarlane noted that their "live repertoire included cover versions of material by David Bowie, the Stranglers, XTC, and the Doors". They shortened their name to the Nauts in April 1979 and released, "Black Market World", following that with a new album under that name in December 1979, produced by Porter. The group had disbanded by March 1980.

The above is an interesting bio that shows yet another Glam rock band struggle to adapt to the late 70's and changing tastes going in to the 80's. I have never taken much notice of them apart from this song, which received a lot of airplay in 1976 and a lot of exposure on Countdown. I have no idea as to how often they were on Countdown as almost all episodes from the 1970's were deleted by the ABC in a cost cutting drive in the 1980's. EDIT : I just read that they appeared on the show twice performing this song and this is one of the rare appearances that escaped deletion.

It's interesting looking at the stats for their album. It was released in November 1976 and peaked at number 13 on the Australian Kent Music Report. It sold 8, 000 copied on the day of release and sold over 50, 000 by the end of 1976 and was certified gold in Australia. Compare that to these days, even with the huge population increase bands don't have that appeal. It just shows how much music was a part of life for people back then.

At about 2.05 in the video, it's interesting to listen closely when the phone ringing noise comes on. You might need headphones, but a girl rings and asks what he is doing tonight and he says "hmm, and then a guy rings and says what are you doing tonight and he says "oh wow man". Funny as. I suppose it would now be "empowering" or some other lefty term. It was a smart move in the 70's to come up with something that was controversial as everyone would talk about it, the church owned radio stations would ban it, but Countdown would play it.

This video was a bit of a turd to do. It would have to be the most heavily interlaced video I have seen for a while, it was on the Countdown legends DVD and the ABC seems to pride itself on putting music videos on DVD's in bad condition. After I finally got rid of all the lines I also brightened the video and boosted the colour in it. It was interesting to look at it in a much clearer format, I also replaced the audio for a lossless flac replacement. I Like It Both Ways peaked at #16, there second single To Hot To Touch went to #14. I cant remember it, I had better go and have a look :)


Thanks to those who supported my channel recently - Ian, Trev, Justin and Gaz. Cheers, Austech

[scottyh]

Radio banned this song from being played in Australia in 76 due to the lyrical content, but the single was available to buy it went to NO1.

[DuckReach]

I remember HG Nelson referring to this track a few times on Triple J in the 90s.

[camban]

I had never heard of this song until now! But after listening tonight I feel I understand Barack Obama just a little bit more 🍌 🍑

And wow, that multi-coloured multiplier video effect! It is what I imagine manic schizophrenia might feel like 😂