[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/men_at_work_1983.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:The best-known lineup of the band. Top: John Rees. Middle, left to right: Jerry Speiser, Ron Strykert, Colin Hay. Bottom: Greg Ham.]]
->''Do you come from a land down under?\\
Where women glow and men plunder?\\
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?\\
You better run, you better take cover!''
-->-- "Down Under"

Men at Work were a five piece Australian {{rock}} band from Melbourne who came to prominence in the Eighties. The lineup of the band during its years of fame featured Colin Hay (vocals, rhythm guitar), Ron Strykert (lead guitar, bass, vocals), Jerry Speiser (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Greg Ham (keyboards, vocals, saxophone, harmonica, flute) and John Rees (bass, backing vocals). All was well for the first few years. They are best known for their hit "Down Under", which is better known overseas than the Australian national anthem, as well as the opening line for their first single "Who Can It Be Now?" on their first album.

However, from 1984 onwards, the band would suffer a number of lineup changes (mostly due to good old infighting brought by sudden rise to fame) - 16 other musicians were members of the band, with Hay and Ham the only constants. After Greg Ham's untimely death in 2012, the band was done for good. On a somewhat more optimistic note, Colin Hay managed to start a fairly successful solo career which is still going well.
----
!!Discography:
* ''Business as Usual'' (1981) (has an UpdatedRerelease)
* ''Cargo'' (1983) (same as above)
* ''Two Hearts'' (1985)
* ''Brazil''[[note]]originally titled ''Brazil '96''[[/note]] (1998) (live album with a new track, "The Longest Night")
----
!!Men at Work contains examples of the following tropes:
* CapsLockNumLockMissilesLock: Toward the end of the music video for "It's a Mistake", some military officer has an ashtray sitting on the control console right next to a BigRedButton, which he unwittingly presses while fumbling around.
* EpicInstrumentalOpener: "Overkill"
* EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop: A long sequence in the video for ''Down Under'' has the band members doing repetitive motions, including dancing and pantomiming digging for several seconds before turning from the camera and hopping away.
* TheFourChordsOfPop: The chorus of "Down Under".
* GenreMashup: Much like Music/ThePolice, their main style combined NewWaveMusic and {{Rock}} with {{Reggae}}, though their style was pop rock instead of punk rock.
* MickeyMousing: Near the beginning of the music video for "Who Can It Be Now?", the stranger's knocking on the apartment door sync up with the drumbeats.
* LargeHam: Colin Hay. Just watch the clips for "Who Can It Be Now?" or "Overkill". Or his appearances on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''.
** Greg Ham (no pun intended) had his moments as well; the video for "Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive" might be the best example.
* LineOfSightName: The band managed to book their first gig without even having a name yet. When they were pressed for one, they took inspiration from a sign out the front of the pub - which was being renovated at the time.
* LyricalDissonance: Their music is very cheery reggae, but some of the lyrics are dark, such as the paranoia of "Overkill" or the anti-war dirge of "It's a Mistake".
* OldManConversationSong: "Settle Down My Boy"
* TheParanoiac: "Who Can It Be Now?" is about someone driven to paranoia by repeated unexpected visits to his home. The music video has {{imagine spot}}s where he pictures that the people on the other side of the door are government agents, mobsters, or ''space aliens''.
* QuestioningTitle: "Who Can It Be Now?"
* ProtestSong: "It's a Mistake", and "Down Under"
* RevolvingDoorBand: Between 1979 and 2012 (including ten years of being entirely broken up), the band had a total of 22 different members. Only Hay and Ham (until Ham's death in 2012) featured in all of them.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: ''Helpless Automaton''. Nobody seeme to believe the title character is a robot.
* ShoutOut:
** The front of the van in the clip to "Down Under" bears the name "[[Literature/TheElricSaga Tanelorn]]".
** "Be Good Johnny" is one to "Johnny Be Goode"
* SmallTownBigHell: Hay made precisely a song called "Small Town Big Hell", part of his 2002 album ''Company of Strangers''. The song is about a man who turns the page after all the suffering he had in the past.
-->''Small Town Big Hell, for me for you''
-->''Superstitious minds can kill the truth''
* StockRhymes: {{Averted|Trope}} by "Down Under". No one else has ever rhymed "chunder" with either plunder or thunder. (Note for non-Aussies: to chunder means to vomit.)
* TitleOnlyChorus: "Who Can It Be Now?"
----