Forever Five: Ross Wilson

Ever wondered what albums sit atop your favourite artists’ turntables? Forever Five is a Waxx Lyrical series spotlighting the five records that shaped the artists we love most. No rankings, no essays — just the albums that live closest to their hearts. Come for the choices, stay for the typically remarkable playlist that follows — woven from their picks and their own catalogue — culminating in a fascinating little mini music lesson every time.

Explore more in the Media Centre and on Instagram via #waxxlyricalforeverfive.

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ROSS WILSON

🎶 The godfather behind the riffs.

⚡️ Songwriter, hitmaker, frontman, producer, architect of Australian rock.

🔥 A six-decade shapeshifter and the guy who left fingerprints on, well, everybody.

Photo: Tania Jovanovic

He fronted Daddy Cool. He wrote ‘Eagle Rock’. He led Mondo Rock into the stratosphere.He produced Skyhooks’ Living in the 70’s. He penned Farnsey’s ‘A Touch of Paradise’.

Ross Wilson isn’t just part of Australian music history — he’s one of the architects who cemented the foundations, wired the walls, and installed the skylights.

Across more than sixty years, he has been the frontman, the producer, the songwriter, the mentor — the creative spark behind some of the most enduring songs, scenes, and cultural shifts this country has ever known.

From the swagger of ‘Eagle Rock’ to the neon glide of ‘Cool World’; from reshaping Skyhooks into a technicolour force to shaping generations who followed; from blues-drenched club stages to radio-dominating pop sophistication — Wilson’s instincts have always been ahead of the curve, and everyone else has spent decades catching up.

His catalogue isn’t just celebrated — it’s studied. His influence isn’t just felt — it’s embedded in the language, chords, harmonies, and attitude of Australian rock. He’s a one-man map of where we’ve been and a compass for where we went next.

Forever Five: Ross Wilson

And his Forever Five? Exactly what you’d expect from a master builder: deep roots, impeccable taste, and the clearest breadcrumb trail imaginable — pointing straight to the blues muscle, rock ’n’ roll bedrock, and boundary-pushing curiosity that shaped one of the greatest creative minds this country has produced. Below are the records that shaped Ross Wilson — and in their own way, they indirectly shaped us too.

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Forever Five Kris Sch

LISTEN — ROSS WILSON'S FOREVER FIVE

A trio of tracks from each of his choices, plus an essential five tracks of his own.

The resulting playlist flows like a mini music history lesson.

LIGHTIN' SLIM — Rooster Blues  (1960)

A swampy, hypnotic blues cornerstone — all grit, groove, and attitude. Lightnin’ Slim’s rawness was a revelation to a young Wilson, showing him where the real electricity lived: in the spaces between the notes, in the tension, in the swagger. This is the DNA of ‘Eagle Rock’ and the early Daddy Cool looseness — the blues not as a genre, but as a temperature.

For fans of: Bar-room grit, snarl, and Louisiana humidity

Key track: ‘Rooster Blues’

THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION — Freak Out! (1966)

Frank Zappa’s debut — unruly, surreal, satirical, visionary. A record that told Wilson (and the world): you can break every rule, and then break the idea of rules altogether. You can feel its fingerprints in the theatricality of Skyhooks, the left-brain twists inside Mondo Rock, and Wilson’s lifelong affection for music that dares.

For fans of: Controlled chaos and brilliant madness

Key track: ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’

MILES DAVIS — Kind of Blue (1959)

The greatest jazz album ever made — not through complexity, but through clarity.Miles taught Wilson the power of space, atmosphere, understatement, and musicians who listen as much as they play.It’s the template for sophistication in rock — the same elegance and restraint you hear in Mondo Rock’s most refined moments.

For fans of: Air, mood, and music that feels like it’s floatingKey track: ‘So What’

HOWLIN' WOLF — Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959)

The blues at its most human: booming, haunted, guttural. Howlin’ Wolf showed Wilson the voice as a weapon — not just tuned singing, but character, myth, emotional weight. You can draw a straight line from Wolf’s presence to the commanding centre-stage aura Wilson carried for decades.

For fans of: Voices that shake walls

Key track: ‘Moanin’ at Midnight’

JOHN LEE HOOKER — Folk Blues — John Lee Hooker (1962)

A rhythmic hypnotist, a trance-maker, a minimalist genius .Hooker taught Wilson the power of feel over finesse, of groove over polish, of repetition as a spiritual act. There’s Hooker deep in Wilson’s phrasing, his rhythmic instincts, his commitment to anchoring every song in the pocket.

For fans of: Groove that gets in your bones

Key track: ‘Tupelo Blues’

Forever Five is a continuing Waxx Lyrical series exploring the records that shape the artists who shape us.

Explore more in the Media Centre and on Instagram via #waxxlyricalforeverfive.