Known for their flamboyant costumes and makeup,[1] their music addressed a variety of issues including drugs, sex, and the gay scene while frequently referencing Australian places and culture.

The classic lineup reunited four times in the ensuing years, with reunions in 1990 and 1994 producing new material, including the number-one song "Jukebox in Siberia" in 1990.

Music historian Ian McFarlane stated that the band "made an enormous impact on Australian social life".

[4][5][6] Spare Parts was followed by Sound Pump in 1968,[7] Macainsh formed Reuben Tice in Eltham, with Tony Williams on vocals.

[5] At a later gig, former Daddy Cool frontman, Ross Wilson was playing in his group Mighty Kong with Skyhooks as a support act.

[2][5] Skyhooks gained a cult following around Melbourne including university intelligentsia and pub rockers,[5] but a poorly received show at the January 1974 Sunbury Pop Festival saw the group booed off stage.

[5] To replace Hill, in March, Macainsh recruited occasional singer, surfer and carpenter Strachan from his Frame era.

[5][13] Six of the ten tracks on their debut album, Living in the 70's, were banned by the Federation of Australian Commercial Broadcasters for their sex and drug references:[2] "Toorak Cowboy", "Whatever Happened to the Revolution?

[5] Much of the group's success derived from its distinctive repertoire, mostly penned by bass guitarist Macainsh,[2][5] with an occasional additional song from Symons—who wrote "Smut" and performed its lead vocals.

[2][5] Skyhooks songs addressed teenage issues including buying drugs ("Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)"), suburban sex ("Balwyn Calling"), the gay scene ("Toorak Cowboy") and loss of girlfriends ("Somewhere in Sydney") by namechecking Australian locales.

[2][5] Radio personality, Billy Pinnell described the importance of their lyrics in tackling Australia's cultural cringe: [Macainsh] broke down all the barriers [...] opening the door for Australian rock 'n' roll songwriters to write about local places and events.

[5] Despite the radio ban, the ABC's newly established 24-hour rock music station Double Jay chose the album's fifth track, the provocatively titled "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good in Bed", as its first ever broadcast on 19 January.

Skyhooks' 1975 national tour promoting Living in the 70's finished at Melbourne's Festival Hall with their ANZAC Day (25 April) performance.

[13] Strachan then took two weeks off and considered leaving the band, but he returned – newly married – and they continued recording the follow-up album, Ego Is Not a Dirty Word.

[17] Ego Is Not a Dirty Word spent 11 weeks at the top of the Australian album chart from 21 July 1975,[16] and sold 210,000 copies.

Gudinski announced a $1.5 million deal with Mercury Records/Phonogram Records,[2] which released a modified international version of Ego Is Not a Dirty Word with "Horror Movie" and "You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good in Bed" from their first Australian album replacing two tracks.

[2][4][5] A US tour followed in March–April 1976, but critics described them as imitators of Kiss due to the similarity of Symons' make-up and stage act to that of Gene Simmons,[20] and despite limited success in Boston, Massachusetts and Jacksonville, Florida they failed to make inroads into the general US market.

[2][16][15] By October, Strachan provided his debut solo single, "Every Little Bit Hurts" (a cover of Brenda Holloway's 1964 hit).

[2][16][15] Strachan released his second solo single, a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of My Tears", which reached the top 20 in July.

[16] Strachan told band members he intended to leave—but it was not officially announced for six months—he continued regular shows until his final gig with Skyhooks on 29 July 1978.

Ian "Molly" Meldrum, usually a supporter of Skyhooks, savaged Hot for the Orient on his "Humdrum" segment of Countdown—viewers demanded that the band appear on a following show to defend it.

[5] Poor reception of the album both by the public and reviewers led the band to take out a page-sized ad in the local music press declaring "Why Don't You All Get Fu**ed" (title of one of their songs) and they played their last performance on 8 June, not in their hometown of Melbourne, but in the mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

[16] Demands for the "classic" line-up of the band—Macainsh, Bob Starkie, Strachan, Strauks and Symons—to reform were successful and on 23 April 1983, they started the Living in the 80's Tour.

[2][20] Support acts for the first concert included The Church, Mental as Anything, The Party Boys, The Sunnyboys, and Midnight Oil—who acknowledged, "Hooks were the only Australian band they would let top the bill above them".

A one-off reunion concert took place in October 1984, and in 1990 the band finally recorded new material, including "Jukebox in Siberia", released in September,[15] which peaked at the top of the ARIA Singles Charts for two weeks.

A memorial concert was held on 11 September 2001 at the Palais Theatre, tributes were paid and some remaining members—Strauks, Macainsh, Starkie, Symons and Spencer—performed with guest vocalists Daryl Braithwaite and Wilson.

Braithwaite performed "All My Friends Are Getting Married" with the band while Wilson sang the rare Skyhooks track "Warm Wind in the City".