[1] On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside Kev Carmody, The Dingoes, Little Pattie and John Paul Young.

Mental As Anything's music is characterised by poppy, accessible and well-crafted melodies and lyrics, and their work showcases an ironic, satirical and self-deprecating sense of humour.

Worstead chose Mental As Anything—which was how fellow artist Ken Bolton described them after one of their earlier party performances—and designed an accompanying poster featuring an image of a truck hauling a giant cabbage.

[1][2][4] Coburn left the fledgling band in 1977 and Mombassa's younger brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty joined on bass guitar completing the "classic" line-up.

[1][2][4] The first performance of the new line-up was at the National Art School's Cell Block Theatre on 17 August, the day news broke in Australia of the death of Elvis Presley.

Sydney radio station Double Jay (now Triple J), gave airplay to its most popular track, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger",[2] a drinking song written by Plaza,[15][16] which showed a stylistic debt to British new wave.

[1][2][4] With support from nationwide TV pop show Countdown, "The Nips Are Getting Bigger" became the group's first Australian Kent Music Report top 20 hit,[5] and also made No.

[5] It was accompanied by a music video shot on a building block in a Sydney seaside suburb and brought Mental As Anything international exposure by becoming a top 40 hit in Canada in July 1982,[6] when they toured North America in support of Men at Work.

[1] The next single, "Berserk Warriors" (December 1981), was a satirical tribute to ABBA, although the concurrent release of the pop hit "Swords of a Thousand Men" by British band Tenpole Tudor prevented Mental As Anything from realising their plan to make a Viking-themed music video to promote it, although they did eventually make the clip as planned and included it on their subsequent video album compilation.

[23] A compilation album, If You Leave Me, was released in September 1982 in the United States and Men at Work, then at the peak of their popularity, had included Mental As Anything as a support act on their US tour.

[1][2] Peter O'Doherty wrote the band's next single, the sentimental "Close Again"[24] (November), from their fourth album, Creatures of Leisure, released in April 1983 and produced by Brown and Dunlop,[4] which peaked at No. 8.

[4] It was another year before their next single, Mombassa and Plaza's blackly humorous Christmas release, "Apocalypso (Wiping the Smile off Santa's Face)"[28] appeared in December 1984,[4] which was one of the first Australian recordings to be remixed as a 12" 'disco' version.

[5] In December 1986, they performed under the pseudonym, The Death Barrels, in a competition sponsored by Mambo, Battle of the Surf Bands at Selina's Coogee Bay Hotel.

"Sloppy Croc", an instrumental that featured on the Crocodile Dundee Soundtrack alongside "Live It Up", was released as a single in Australia but with little promotion, failed to chart.

From late in 1986 to early 1987, Mental As Anything were the opening act on the multi-group Australian Made concert tour where they were joined by former Dynamic Hepnotics keyboardist Mike Gubb.

[12][36][38] The tour ended in acrimony with two managers, Chris Murphy (for INXS) and Jeremy Fabinyi (for Mental As Anything), arguing backstage in Sydney and coming to blows.

In late 1988, a cover of the Chuck Berry chestnut "Rock and Roll Music"—recorded for the Yahoo Serious movie Young Einstein—went top 5 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Singles Charts.

Two further singles, "Baby You're Wild" and "Overwhelmed" did not peak into the top 50,[5] and promotion of the album was hindered after Smith injured his arm in a horse riding accident, and was hospitalised, which forced tour concerts to be postponed or cancelled.

[1] Another collaboration with Freud occurred in 1996 and resulted in the Hawaiian inspired Moondog project, with Plaza appearing on some tracks of the album Postcard from Hawaii.

[40] Studio musicians were Mike Gubb on keyboards (ex-Dynamic Hepnotics, Mental as Anything), John Bliss on drums (ex-The Reels) and Mark Honeybrook on bass guitar.

[1] During the sabbatical, Mental As Anything still played short tours and one-off gigs, but by 1993 they were back on record, providing the song "Ride", produced by Tim Farriss, for the soundtrack to the Yahoo Serious film Reckless Kelly.

Radio station Triple J received a copy of the Bicycle EP on Christmas Day 1994 and put the lead track "Mr Natural" on immediate heavy rotation.

[5] December 1999 saw the release of Best of Mental As Anything which was accredited by ARIA with a gold certificate by 2001, and a seasonal single "White Christmas", that was given away at their "Yule Party" gig at Sydney's Metro Theatre.

Brothers Peter O'Doherty and Reg Mombassa left to pursue their own musical projects, including their band Dog Trumpet, and their art careers.

At the hearing, he said he had "no inkling" that his bandmates were dissatisfied with his performances and his attitude,[45] whereas Plaza advised that the band had been discussing Twohill's future for some time and had issued the drummer with a warning after alleged unprofessional behaviour during a gig at Ettalong, north of Sydney, in December 2003.

[45][46] Twohill was replaced by Robbie Souter, a veteran of Dynamic Hepnotics, Slim Dusty band and other country and roots music combos.

[51] On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside Kev Carmody, The Dingoes, Little Pattie and John Paul Young.

In 2010, children's entertainers The Wiggles, released their "Let's Eat" album with the lead track being a collaboration with Smith, Plaza, Mombassa and O'Doherty on a re-recording of "Let's Cook".

Mental As Anything, now consisting of Greedy Smith (vocals/keyboards), Martin Cilia (guitars), Jacob Cook (drums), Craig Gordon (vocals/guitars) and Peter Gray (vocals/bass), played a special 40th anniversary show at Surfersaurus in Sydney, during October 2018.

In addition to being sold in both stores and online, copies of the book (autographed by Mombassa, O'Doherty, Twohill and Lloyd) are available for sale at various Dog Trumpet shows.