In 1968 an 18-year-old frontman Russell Morris left his band called Somebody's Image. He went solo and partnered with Ian Molly Meldrum as his manager and producer.

Meldrum produced Morris' first solo single, "The Real Thing”. A war protest song by composer and lyricist John Young. Young wrote the song for for Meldrum's friend Ronnie Burns. Molly heard Young playing the son backstage during a taping of the TV pop show Uptight. Molly became obsessed to record the song for Morris. Later that night Molly went Young's house with a tape recorder. He refused to leave until Young had taped a "demo" of the song for him.

Collaborating with audio engineer John Sayers. Meldrum and Syers transformed a simple acoustic chamber ballad backed by strings. They re-orchestrated The Real Thing into an uber produced pop rock masterpiece. Extending the song to an unheard-of six minutes. They overdubbed the basic track with more instruments, vocals and sound effects. 

They brought in The Groop, as backing band. Extra backing vocals from Maureen Elkner and Groop frontman Ronnie Charles. Roger Hicks, guitarist for Zoot, played the singular acoustic intro. All arranged by music arranger John Farrar. 

"The Real Thing" was scheduled to be a standard 3 minute pop single. But once 3 minutes passed in the recording session, the backing band kept playing. Meldrum and Sayers kept the tape rolling. Capturing a ten-minute jam based on chord changes of the chorus. 

Sayers and Meldrum took that recording and began creating a new arrangement. They produced an extended outro by mixing in layers of extra voices and sound effects.

Meldrum's heavily filtered voice was also in the mix. Reading aloud from a product disclaimer on an Ampex recording tape box for extra effect. The final edit was then again processed with a novel studio effect called ‘flanging’. Two identical copies of the same recording played together, but a tad out of sync. 

They mixed in a children's choir singing toward the end. An archive recording of a WWII Hitler Youth choir singing "Die Jugend Marschiert", Youth on the March. The song dramatically ends with the children's choir shouting "Seig Heil!". Suddenly closing with the sound of an atomic bomb explosion. Please note the song is a war protest against stuff like that happening again. 

The final mix became a psychedelic swirl of music, voices and sound effects. Including deliberate instrument 'dropouts' in the backing track. A forerunner to Jamaican dub experiments of the 1970s.

The single cost AU $10,000 to produce, about $129,124 in 2020. It was a typical budget for an entire album at the time, not a single. Making The Real Thing was the most expensively produced song in Australia at the time. At almost 7 minutes The Real Thing was the first long play single in Australia. "The Real Thing" became a national number one hit for Morris in mid-1969. Considered among the finest Australian pop-rock recordings of the 60’s.

By the time of the single’s release, Molly Meldrum was also working with the major TV network, ABC Australia. 

Working with a full TV crew, editing suites, studios and the latest video technology. They got to experiment with effects that nobody had done before. The Real thing was first music video that all music and other kinds of arts use today. 

It was also the first official big budget music video in the world. Dance choreography and video special effects that were also innovative for their time. The big budget paid for and music video aired on the ABC Australia network. Funded by the Australian government.

And everybody around the world rushed to copy it. Some claim that Jefferson Airplane made the first music video in 1967, but that was part of a TV show. Their other version shot on film. The Real Thing is the first standalone big budget production on high end video. 

“The first music video was The Real Thing sung by Russel Morris . The Real Thing (Russell Morris song) "The Real Thing" is the debut single by Australian singer Russell Morris, (written in 1968), and released in 1969. Written by Johnny Young and produced by Ian "Molly" Meldrum, it was a huge hit in Australia and has become an Australian rock classic. Wikipedia”.

“One of the greatest Australian original productions of all time, presented here in full and in stereo. Put on the headphones, light one up and enjoy! Ohh mow mah mow mow... NTSC 16:9 transfer” From a youtube description.

“A good video with original music engages fans and new audiences.”

The next lessons are nitty grittys of business and marketing.