After the chart topping mega-hits of "Who Can It Be Now" and "Down Under", Men At Work's 1983 sophmore LP "Cargo" did not produce any more hits of that stature, but critics recognized it as being a stronger effort than "Business As Usual". In any case, lead singer Colin Hay's effortlessly soulful voice seems especially at ease with the breezy and bittersweet rhythm track of "Overkill", the third single released from "Cargo" that became their third most popular single ever. The follow ups "It's A Mistake" peaked at #6, "Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive" became a #28 pop hit. "Cargo" was a huge success, peaking at #3 on the US Billboard 200 Albums chart and the Canadian RPM Albums Chart, #1 in Australia, #2 in New Zealand and reaching the top 10 for LP charts in many other countries. Colin was born June 29, 1953 in Scotland and moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1967. He met future fellow Men At Work member Ron Strykert in 1978, forming an acoustic duo and began writing songs together. Colin and Ron recorded a song as Men At Work, "The Ways Of The Broken Hearted" on the 1979 soundtrack for the film "Riff Raff". The following year they released their first single, "Keypunch Operator"/"Down Under" in 1980. Mind you this version is now the demo for the fully realized version that appeared on "Business As Usual". If you see a copy of this somewhere, you should snap it up as these versions of has never been officially released otherwise. A rabid MAW fan has uploaded "Keypunch Operator" from his slightly scratchy to YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFa4vnrvFrU
You can hear the new wave influence of this garage sounding tune as well as the excellent musicianship of the band. The band decided to go the indie route and they won the gamble when CBS Records picked them up based on that single and paired them with producer Peter McIan who took them all to the loftiest peaks on the world's pop charts.