Jimmy Barnes: The story behind Working Class Man and his American dream
Jimmy Barnes released his second solo album For The Working Class Man 40 years ago. (Supplied: Mushroom Music)
Jimmy Barnes was lost and terrified.
It's early in 1983, Cold Chisel had imploded, and Australia's most iconic frontman was staring down that awful question we all face at times of upheaval: what now?
Barnes wanted his music career to keep soaring, but needed to prove he had something to offer outside of his legendary band.
"The longer I left it, I thought the more I'd be compared to Chisel," he says. "I didn't want to be compared to Cold Chisel.
"I remember thinking, 'What am I going to do? How am I going to write songs the quality of Don Walker's songs?' I was a bit terrified, and I was looking to find my feet."
He put together a rock band to tour relentlessly, before hitting the studio to rush out his first solo album Bodyswerve, released in 1984.
"As raw and as wild as it was, it sort of captured a part of my soul," Barnes says.
After Bodyswerve proved he could stand alone, Barnes set his sights on a bigger challenge: America.
There was good reason to believe a rock'n'roll singer as good as Jimmy Barnes would thrive among the male rockers dominating US charts in the mid-80s.
For The Working Class Man was Jimmy Barnes's second album. (Supplied: Mushroom Music)
He just needed an album the American public could fall in love with.
"Michael Gudinski got me a deal with Geffen Records," Barnes says.
"I went there and they suddenly put me with all these incredible writers and musicians."
The plan was to make a new album featuring the best parts of Bodyswerve, and new songs from Barnes and high-profile songwriters like Bruce Springsteen's right-hand man Stevie Van Zandt, and Journey's Chas Sandord, who had just co-written John Waite's smash hit Missing You.
"This record was going to be the make-or-break record for me," Barnes says.
"This was going to show if I had the goods to make a career as a solo performer. I was really looking forward to making it, but at the same time terrified."
Keeping an Australian heartbeat
The American music industry was a ruthless machine, packed with hungry artists and hard-nosed executives.
"I'd come from being a big fish in a small pond to going to America where, you know, I'm not saying singers like me were a dime a dozen, but there were a lot of great rock'n'roll singers there," he recalls.
While it may have been a perfect fit musically, there were cultural barriers that proved far harder to navigate.
"I mean, they didn't get us at all," Barnes reflects.
"I was singing songs about Australian people that lived down the road from me. About people I knew, about people who worked hard for a living. I knew that I felt connected to these songs."
There's one song on For The Working Class Man that contradicts Barnes's take on his work: the patriotically titled American Heartbeat.
While perhaps not a highlight of the album, it's a very important song in the context of Barnes's career.
"When I heard that song, I thought, 'It's an OK song, it's not my favourite'. This is where I learnt that if I folded and buckled and was more flexible, I could work in America."
Barnes's American label insisted he record it because of its writer: Jonathan Cain, the hitmaker behind Journey's stadium-sized anthems like Don't Stop Believin'.
Working Class Man songwriter Jonathan Cain was also a member of the bands Journey and the Babys. (Getty: Ed Perlstein/Redferns)
"I begrudgingly said I'd come and meet him. He had the same love of music as I had, he was passionate about it. He worked his arse off over the years to perfect his art.
"So, I said, 'OK, I'll do your song'.
"A week later he rang me and said, 'I've written another song for you' and sent me Working Class Man.
"Taking that step out of my comfort zone and broadening my horizons a bit opened up the song that broke my solo career."
Working Class Man is an indisputable anthem with a long-term impact that belies its chart peak of number five.
It's a timeless ode to the everyman that never condescends. It transcends its era to become part of Australia's cultural fabric – a song that speaks to resilience and pride across generations.
Barnes performed it at the closing ceremony for the Sydney Olympics, it's inspired plenty of tributes, and this year, it was voted in at number 56 in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.
No regrets
But neither the song, the album, nor Barnes cracked the American market.
For The Working Class Man — renamed Jimmy Barnes for the US — peaked at number 109 on the Billboard albums chart.
"I haven't lost any sleep about it," he says. "To tell you the truth, I don't particularly like America that much.
"My art was about expression. It was about freedom. It wasn't really about business.
"I went to America and we realised how big a business it was. I didn't like that aspect of it."
Barnes had other priorities.
"Look at AC/DC, look at INXS, they went there and they worked their butts off for years and broke into new markets. I just wasn't prepared to do that.
"At that point in my career, I had a family, I was very comfortable. I didn't really want to move to America."
Jimmy Barnes plays For The Working Class Man in full at concerts around the country through April. The 40th anniversary edition of For The Working Class Man is out now.