Editing Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs (section)

===1971–1973: "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)", ''Sunbury'' and break up===
During 1971 they continued to win over Melbourne's audiences with their power-blues repertoire, A landmark event for the band took place on 13 June 1971. Now a four-piece following the departure of Loyde, the Aztecs (Thorpe, Morgan and Wheeler, with new drummer Gil "Rathead" Matthews) headlined a major concert at the [[Melbourne Town Hall]] before a capacity crowd of 5000. The evening's performance, including Morgan's commandeering of the town hall organ, was captured on the album ''Live at Melbourne Town Hall'', and which has since become known for the group's deafening performance, which (it was claimed) cracked the windows of neighbouring buildings.

By contrast, the pastoral-sounding "The Dawn Song" was released in 1971. A moderate hit, it displayed the musical diversity of Thorpe and his colleagues at this time.

In early 1972 the Aztecs released what became their biggest hit, and Thorpe's signature tune – "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)", a song now widely regarded as one of the classics of Australian rock. It was a huge hit for the new Aztecs, peaking in the [[Go-Set]] National Top 40 Singles Chart at number 3 in May 1972;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1972/19720513.html |title=Go-Set Australian charts - 13 May 1972 |website=Poparchives.com.au |date=1972-05-13 |access-date=2016-06-26}}</ref> propelled to the top of charts by the band's triumphant appearance at the 1972 [[Sunbury Pop Festival|Sunbury Music Festival]]. Thorpe himself claimed this as a pivotal moment in the development of Australian music, thanks to the promoters' decision to feature an all-Australian line-up, rather than relying on imported stars.

"Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)" was added to the [[National Film and Sound Archive]]'s [[Sounds of Australia]] registry in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aso.gov.au/titles/music/most-people-i-know/ |title=Overview Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy) (1972) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online |website=Aso.gov.au |access-date=2016-06-26}}</ref>

While by no means the first of Australia's outdoor rock festivals, Sunbury '72 has assumed the mantle of "Australia's Woodstock". It was held at the end of January 1972, over the [[Australia Day]] [[long weekend]]. The venue was a natural amphitheatre site on farmland near [[Sunbury, Victoria|Sunbury]], a rural town north of Melbourne, Victoria. The Aztecs shared billing with such other prominent acts as Spectrum/Murtceps, [[The La De Da's]], [[Max Merritt & the Meteors]], [[Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly|SCRA]], Pirana, Greg Quill's Country Radio and many others.

Part of the Aztecs' set was issued on the double-album recording, ''Sunbury'', and it was also captured on the film made of the event. A double-album collecting the Aztecs' full set, ''[[Aztecs Live at Sunbury]]'' was issued later in the year and this has recently been reissued on CD. In mint condition, the original LP release, with pop-up inserts, is much sought after by collectors today.

After the release of "Most People I Know" they released a follow-up single, "Believe It Just Like Me", which attacked local radio's preference for overseas material, but it failed to emulate the success of "Most People", which remains their best-known song.

The band repeated their festival success at Sunbury '73, and a record culled from this performance, ''Summer Jam'', was released later in the year. They enjoyed another triumph by selling out the [[Sidney Myer Music Bowl|Myer Music Bowl]] in Melbourne, drawing an Australian crowd record of 200,000 people.<ref name="aus76">{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1976/Cash-Box-1976-07-10.pdf|title=Let's Do It Again|magazine=[[Cash Box magazine|Cash Box]]|via=World Radio History|page=50|date=7 July 1976|access-date= 21 November 2021}}</ref>

During 1973 Thorpe collaborated on a duo album with his long-time friend and colleague Warren "Pig" Morgan, the LP ''Thumpin' Pig and Puffin' Billy''. Morgan and Thorpe also co-wrote and produced, with the Aztecs backing, a highly regarded single, "Looking Through a Window", for soul-blues singer [[Wendy Saddington]].

In August, Thorpe switched record labels from the independent Havoc to the newly opened local arm of Atlantic Records, releasing "Movie Queen" and "Don't You Know You're Changing?" as solo singles of singles, although they featured most of the Aztecs line-up.

Late in 1973 the group mounted a band's farewell concert at the newly opened [[Sydney Opera House]], becoming the first rock band to perform there. The concert was recorded and released as a double album, ''Steaming at the Opera House''. The show consisted of three one-hour sets, the first acoustic, the second, an elaborately staged concept suite called "No More War". The third set was an all-in all-star jam, reuniting Thorpe with former bandmates Lobby Loyde, Kevin Murphy and Johnny Dick.

Before disbanding, the Aztecs recorded one more album for Atlantic, ''More Arse Than Class'', after which Thorpe embarked on a solo career. He released several more solo albums in Australia before re-locating to the United States, where he embarked on a series of business ventures, including a successful toy company with his old bandmate Tony Barber.