Although America served as the epicenter for The Big Bang of Rock & Roll in the 1950s, the reverberations quickly spread outward, felt far and wide across the world. Each country soon produced its very own homegrown rock star — in England, it was Cliff Richard & The Shadows; in France, Johnny Hallyday; and in Australia, the man who became known as J.O’K.

Johnny O’Keefe performed occasionally at dances and parties during his high school years, but upon graduating he briefly studied economics, worked at his father’s furniture business, and joined the Australian Air Force. But none of those occupations felt right — singing had already gotten into his blood. After leaving military service, O’Keefe spent two years as the lead singer for a jazz accordionist and his band, but then, to borrow a phrase from Lou Reed, his “life was changed by rock & roll.”

Bill Haley and The Comets released “Rock Around The Clock” and suddenly there would be no more accordions for O’Keefe. He found himself some like-minded musicians who also wanted to play this raucous new style of music, but it was very much a cult genre in Australia at the time, looked upon with disdain at best and pure hatred at worst.

At one of O’Keefe’s gigs in 1957, a huge fight broke out between the rock & roll audience upstairs and the members of a wedding party downstairs. The brawl escalated out into the street, and eventually both the police and the Naval Shore Patrol were called to quell the violence. The incident would inspire O’Keefe to write a song called “Wild One,” a rebellious statement of purpose.

“Wild One” became O’Keefe’s signature song when featured on an ersatz live EP in 1958 and inspired a generation of Australian kids to pick up instruments and learn the ways of rock & roll. Even non-Australians felt the aftereffects, as Iggy Pop covered the song under the title “Real Wild Child” in 1986 (probably the version most people would know), and Christopher Otcasek recorded the song for the Pretty Woman soundtrack.

Let ‘er rip, Johnny.