Lead singer Keith Lamb wiggled his satin flares-encased bum, thrust out his crotch and leered at the camera with a mischievous look in his eyes (and all the little girls understood). Guitarist Les Gock dashed around the set in stack-heeled boots and glam threads, with peroxided streaks in his flowing, jet-black hair. Bassist Rick Lum hammed it up in a serious kind of way. Drummer Chris `Smiley' Pailthorpe cheerfully revealed his goofy, gap-toothed grin whenever the camera panned across his face.

These guys loved to put on a show. It was all a little contrived, but glorious entertainment just the same. Hush was Australia's answer to Slade, T-Rex or The Sweet. They had the sound (basic, sassy glam-pop and refurbished 12-bar boogie), the looks and the songs to make a grab for stardom. For three years (1974–76) Hush were genuine scream-dream pop sensations. In the pantheon of 1970s pop, only Skyhooks, Sherbet, Supernaut and John Paul Young rivalled Hush for the attention of hordes of howling, weeping teenyboppers.

English-born Lamb formed the first version of Hush in 1971 as a light pop band. The band issued one unsuccessful single on Phonogram's Philips label, `Over You'/`Rainy Day Bells'. In April 1972, Gock (ex-Chariot) and Pailthorpe joined Lamb and Lum for the classic Hush line-up. Gock gave the band a tougher sound in the guitar department. His influences included the likes of Rory Gallagher, John Mayall and The Rolling Stones. Hush made the finals in the New South Wales heats of the 1972 Hoadley's National Battle of the Sounds, and then issued a reggae version of `White Christmas' as a single (December 1972).

The first evidence of the hard-rocking Hush style came with the singles `Get the Feeling'/`Take Us Home' (#11 in Sydney, October 1973) and `Man Eater'/`Black Skinned, Blue-Eyed Boys' (February 1974) and the live-in-the-studio album Aloud'n' Live!. The album reached #20 on the national chart, attained gold status and from that point on, the Hush machine just exploded. Concert supports to overseas visitors like The Jackson Five and Status Quo during 1973 brought the band to larger audiences.

`Get Rocked'/`Linda Lee' (May 1974), `Walking'/`Exit' (#10 in August), `C'Mon We're Taking Over'/`Paradise' (September), `Boney Moroney'/ `Rocking Gypsy King' (#1 in September 1975), the Dave Clark Five's `Glad All Over'/`Get What?' (#9 in October), `You Really Gotta Hold on Me'/`Rough, Tough'n'Ready' (February 1976), `Too Young to Know'/`Lies' (#21 in October 1976) and `Sunday'/`How Do You Feel? Alright!' (December 1976) were classic pop singles. Likewise, album titles like Get Rocked, C'mon We're Taking Over, Rough Tough'n'Ready and Nothing Stays the Same Forever were statements of intent. In August 1976, Jacques De Jongh (ex-Redhouse) joined on rhythm guitar. Three months later Lum left so De Jongh moved to bass. The band's next break came with the support slot to Alice Cooper on his March 1977 Australian tour. By that stage, however, Hush's popularity had begun to slide.

When the band tried to make a serious affirmation of its abilities (the July 1977 album Touché featured a rock side, A Touch of Decadence, and a slow side, A Touch of Class) prospects were grim. The singles `Nothing Stays the Same Forever'/`Sunday' (June 1977) and `Messin' Around'/`Only Love' (August) were not successful. Around that time, Gock issued a solo single on Wizard, `Everywhere I Go'/`(I Think I'm) Falling in Love' (August), as did Lamb with Cole Porter's `Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'/`9 to 5er' (September). `Everywhere I Go' was actually a track from Touché.

Pailthorpe left Hush at the end of 1977, followed by Gock a few months later. Lamb and De Jongh attempted to keep the flame alight with The New Hush, but by then the screaming had faded. In April 1978, De Jongh left to join John Paul Young and the All Stars. The New Hush line-up became Lamb, Con Gallin (guitar; ex-Fingerprint), Paul Grant (guitar; ex-Buster Brown, Hollywood), Criston Barker (bass; ex-Ash, Freeway, Hollywood) and Nat De Palma (drums; ex-20th Century). That line-up only lasted two months, and Lamb continued with the Keith Lamb Band which comprised Alex O'Hara (lead guitar; ex-Chook), John Kaling (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Graeme Sayers (bass) and Shane Dorrington (drums). Keith Lamb Band issued the single `In the City'/`Didyava Goodweekend' (July 1978), after which the band became known as Larry. The Larry line-up of Lamb, Kaling, Tony Harvey (lead guitar; ex-James Freud's Radio Stars), Kerry Bennett (bass) and Canadian Brian Pitcher (drums; ex-Jim Keays Band) issued one single, a cover of The Rolling Stones/ Chris Farlowe hit `Out of Time'/`Lay Down'(June 1979).

By the end of 1979, the band was known as Airport, with a line-up of Lamb, Harvey, Pitcher and Robin Jackson (bass, vocals, ex-Hush, Punkz). Airport issued three singles, `Short Skirts'/`Parlez Vous' (1981), `Sure Means Something'/`People's Rock'n'Roll' (1981) and `Gimme Rock'n'Roll'/`In Love' (1982) on Festival/Infinity, but none was successful. Airport broke up in 1982, and Lamb disappeared from view. In 1987 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after being found unfit to face a $4 million fraud charge (he had written out a cheque for $4 million when he only had $200 in his bank account). He was later diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia.

It would be too easy to heap derision on to the memory of Hush. They were simply the right band in the right place at the right time. After all, it was all pop music (as in popular) and Keith, Les and the boys probably had the ride of their lives. Underneath it all, Les Gock really did know how to handle his white Stratocaster and, besides, his business acumen has come to the fore. In the lucrative world of advertising, Les has established himself as one of the country's foremost music and sound designers. He has also produced the soundtracks for the film Puberty Blues and the television drama Water Rats.