Angry Anderson: Rose Tattoo, Bad Boy for Love and Suddenly | Ultimate Aussie Pub Rock Reunion

Why fans still care

ANGRY ANDERSON gave Rose Tattoo a voice as tough as Pete Wells’s slide guitar. Guns N’ Roses covered Nice Boys in 1986, and his ballad Suddenly later reached number 3 in the UK, The Guardian records.

Early life

Angry Anderson was born Gary Anderson in Melbourne in 1947 and grew up in Coburg, ABC News and Louder both record. At tech school he was pointed toward fitting and turning, and he told Louder he did two years of the apprenticeship, but he loved English and books. The nickname came from “Angry Ant”, ABC News says.

Career chapters

1. 1971forms Peace, Power and Purity
2. 1973Buster Brown, with Phil Rudd on drums
3. 1976joins Pete Wells’s new band, Rose Tattoo
4. 1977signed to Albert Productions; Bad Boy for Love
5. 1978debut album
6. 1981Reading Festival
7. 1985Ironbar in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
8. 1987Suddenly
9. 1993Rose Tattoo re-form to support Guns N’ Roses
10. 2006ARIA Hall of Fame
11. 2007Blood Brothers
12. 2018new line-up with Mark Evans and Bob Spencer
13. 2025Hard Road single

Before the Tatts 1971 to 1975

He started Peace, Power and Purity in 1971 and then Buster Brown in 1973, ABC News says. Buster Brown made one album for Mushroom, and Phil Rudd, Highway to Hell, Highway to Hell number 15, played drums in it before he joined AC/DC.

Rose Tattoo 1976 onward

He joined guitarist Pete Wells’s new band in Sydney in 1976. George Young invited them to demo, and Ted Albert signed them to Albert Productions in 1977, Alberts says. Bad Boy for Love, written by Ian Rilen, was an early hit in 1977, and the debut album came out late in 1978. In 1981 they played the Reading Festival in England.

Suddenly and the screen 1985 to 1990s

He played Ironbar in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985, Louder and the National Portrait Gallery note. In 1987 Suddenly became the wedding song on Neighbours, and ABC records that he co-wrote it with Andy Cichon and Kevin Beamish. Bound for Glory followed in 1990. On TV he became a youth affairs reporter on Midday and A Current Affair, and he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for that youth work.

Back with the Tatts 1993 onward

Rose Tattoo re-formed in 1993 to support Guns N’ Roses. In 2018 he rebuilt the band with Mark Evans, Highway to Hell number 20, Bob Spencer, Dai Pritchard and Jackie Barnes, Louder says, and in February 2025 they released Hard Road, a cover of Hard Road, written by Harry Vanda and George Young and first recorded by Stevie Wright, Who’s Who number 27, as Noise11 reported.

Craft, sound and style

A blues band

“We were a blues band,” he said in Long Way to the Top, as ABC quotes it. People had called them punk. ARIA described “a gritty, slide guitar-heavy sound”.

Stories people still tell

1. Bon on the mic.

   In Anderson’s telling to Louder, AC/DC jammed with the early Tatts and recommended them to Alberts. Alberts adds that Bon Scott, Who’s Who number 3, was the only singer Angry ever invited to sing with the band.

2. The Neighbours wedding.

   Suddenly played as Scott and Charlene married on Neighbours in 1987, and the NFSA puts the audience across Australia and the UK at more than 20 million, ABC reports.

3. Jimmy’s cover.

   Jimmy Barnes, Who’s Who number 14, released a cover of Rock ’n’ Roll Is King in 2026, with proceeds to Support Act, Tone Deaf reported.

Legacy

Angry Anderson died in 2026. Rose Tattoo went into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. The National Portrait Gallery holds a 2006 portrait of him by Sally Robinson.