Jimmy Barnes - Driving Wheels

What this video is

Released during Jimmy Barnes' commercial peak as a solo artist following his Cold Chisel years, 'Driving Wheels' sits at the intersection of Australian pub rock heritage and the global MTV arena-rock spectacle of the late 1980s. Barnes embodied a specifically working-class Australian masculine identity — raw, physically intense, emotionally direct — that resonated strongly with blue-collar audiences and…

Why it matters

A key artefact of the Australian hard rock canon. 'Driving Wheels' documents the moment Australian pub rock fully absorbed the production values of international arena rock without sacrificing its rawer, working-class energy. As a music video, it exemplifies the performance-forward format that…