Entertainment For Lively Minds
A Contribution From The Word Magazine Intern
Our antipodean intern David Craddock has run out of coffees to make and the filing cabinet is immaculately alphabetised, so we set him the task of compiling the Official Top 10 Australian Acts Of All Time List. In no particular order, this is what he decrees:
The Triffids - Beautifully eerie west coast purveyors of heartbreak
Rose Tattoo - Flannelette-shirt wearing pioneers of Aussie pub-rock. A drinking mans AC/DC
The Easybeats - Beat-pop rascals turned AC/DC producers (Vanda and Young)
The Sleepy Jackson - Off-beat melodic Harrison-pop. Currently filling dance floors as part of Empire Of The Sun
You Am I / Tim Rogers - Perennially pitch-perfect postcards from Australian suburbia
The Avalanches - Painfully non-prolific but brilliant cut-n-paste sonic collage artists
Nick Cave - Verbally dexterous king of misery
Crowded House - Melodic master songsmiths. Australian in the Russell Crowe sense.
Paul Kelly - Timeless and quintessentially Australian every-man folk
The Stems - Cult purveyors of fuzzy garage and power pop
Feel free to disagree (personally, I'm aghast at the absence of The Go-Betweens and AC/DC, although I'm very pleased to see the Stems' greatness acknowledged).
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Crowded House?
I know there's the caveat but has Australia produced so few bands that they have to nick New Zealand's?
How about Men At Work or Midnight Oil? Actually, on that basis, stick with Crowded House
Ignorance is not a shield
Just because YOU don't know anything about a subject does not mean there is nothing to know about that subject.
I am reminded of Lucy from Peanuts who said categorically that there was no life on other planets. When asked what made her think that she replied, "If they did exist they would have contacted me by now."
The Seekers!
A string of golden hits, and international success. How can they not figure.
And let's not forget Rolf Harris, Olivia Newton-John, Helen Reddy and Master's Apprentices.
and, er, INXS? They certainly had their moments.
That Avalanches record...
...from a few years ago, was one of the biggest examples of musical emperor's new clothes of recent years.(the one with the blue-ish cover)
I tried really, really hard to like it, until I realised that it was futile, as it was simply ultimately unsatisfying, but no-one ever seemed to want to admit that.
it's alright Oscar...
I agree with you. I loved Frontier thingy and reckoned that an album like that would be a lot of fun. It wasn't. It needed songs, not just samples.
The Go Team, they ain't!
curiously
I have friend who only has one cd and it's this one. When we visit it's quite odd a house without music. Really nice people though.
what about Kylie?
and
Jason?
A pedant writes ...
"has ran out of coffees ..."?
Whither also ...
Frente?
The Lucksmiths?
The Black Sorrows?
Ran
Forgive me. It was typed in an Australian accent.
WHAT?
No Hoodoo Gurus or Limespiders?
Mental As Anything?
Men At Work?
Rolf?
Rose Tattoo are brilliant but who could forget Angry Anderson's classic solo turn?
Surely..
...Rolf has to be in there.
..and I'm being serious. I quote "Top 10 Australian Acts" which clearly could include Rolf.
No doubt I leave myself open to ridicule - but Rolf is a class act and I won't be persuaded otherwise.
Did you think I would leave you crying
when there's room in the vote for two?
Seriously
he's right. Rolf is a quality act. And has lasted the test of time because he can turn his hand to most things. Plus, he seems like he is genuinely surprised at the warmth the public have for him.
Anyway, Jake the Peg is a marvel!
The Saints.
'Perfect Day' - what a song!
Some More...
The Waifs are rather lovely.
The Drones aren't lovely in any sense, but I like 'em.
Even As We Speak probably don't quite make a top ten, but their cover of "Bizarre Love Triangle" is well worth a listen.
You Am I ........
Abso-bloody-lutely!
I got into their stuff after seeing them in Oz around the time that the brilliant Hourly Daily album. Poptastic!
However, Master Craddock should be allowed nowhere near the office biscuit-tin for his shameful omission of the legend that is Ed Kuepper.
Is there no room
for Kasey Chambers, Oz's No 1 country chantoosie.
I agree with the Triffids, but as Fraser points out no Go-Betweens who could also qualify on the basis of Grant Mclennan and Robert Forster's solo careers.
The Church
Brilliant and consistently so since the early 80s, the thinking man's best band in Australia and probably the world.
You people know NOTHING!
Could we do this the other way round?
If you were working in Oz and were asked to list the top 10 UK acts - could you do it? Could you narrow it down to ten? Could we achieve any sort of consensus? I don't think I could even manage to agree with myself for more than half an hour. Beatles, Stones, Sham 69 obv, but the other seven?
The Church
Come ON! Thirty years, give or take, 23 albums, the best Aussie lyricist ever - still touring the world, despite only ever really having one 'hit'. Great band.
Edit: Mr Jung beat me to it by three minutes. Hello fellow Chuch fan!
The Blurred Crusade
Neil ! Captain ! 2 more Church fans ! This is one of the most tremendous guitar bands EVER . Heyday is the perfect summertime l.p. and every record they've released just gets better with time .
Does this make 3 of us or are there more out there ?
Should have been called..
"The Byrd Crusade"
I'm IN!
One of my favourite bands from anywhere ever. Untitled #23 is also magnificent!
Tantalised
Put me down for a vote for The Church. Does Marty Willson-Piper being in All About Eve allow them to qualify? And, on a different subject, whither The Birthday Party?
Shouldn't they
stick to cricket and let us do the music?
Go Betweens
I would rate them just behind the Triffids in terms of Aussie greatness!
Wot no...
John Farnham!
And seriously, why has no-one mentioned INXS?
And surely The Bee Gees could qualify as well?
You guys need a new intern
And I'm volunteering my services in advance of the expiry of Mr. Craddock's visa!
David. You sir, have the most enviable job in all of London. Bloody Aussies.
A Go Betweens ultra
The absence of the Go Betweens is bewildering, sort that work experience oik out, Fraser. He needs a Maoist red booking on his own culture.
On so many levels the Go Bewteens are the best band that any country produced. Together and solo, McLennan and Forster produced so much intelligent music.
Solo, Grant produced four remarkable albums, I'm not so sure of all of Robert's. They were (and still are) brilliant people to interview and meet post gig. Gracious, funny and bright.
And surely, a candidate for the best ever comeback?
Another ultra writes...
The Go-Betweens are easily the greatest band ever. They quite nicely dovetail into familiar Word topics too:
Best comeback? Answer - The Go-Betweens
Best covers album? Answer - 'I Had a New York Girlfriend', Robert Forster
Best album ruined by over-compression? Answer - 'Oceans Apart', The Go-Betweens
Biggest musical leap? Answer - First to second Go-Betweens LP's
Best compilation? Answer - '1978 - 1990', The Go-Betweens
Saddest song ever? Answer - 'From Ghost Town', Robert Forster
Whose first six albums all have two L's in the title?
It's a shame they gave up on that.
Another vote here....
If you don't like this then you're just a big grump.
The Black Sorrows
Surely Joe Camilleri is disqualified for the latent Van Morrison 'overtones'? He was an excellent Morrisonian tribute circa 1988, but only have one album and 12".
a third vote for The Church
Consistently great.
And seriously, I'm surprised someone has mentioned Inxs, can we add Kylie then?
Church / Go Betweens
Kilbey and Mclennan did a couple of albums as Jack Frost - a sort of Aussie supergroup for me.
Jack Frost
Jack Frost was also brilliant, a spotters' badge to the Captain.
Sorry for posting youtubes, it's terribly teenage and gauche, but in a sad sack way, I want everyone to love these songs.
Good call
Both Jack Frost albums were marvellous; shame there won't be any more after the sad death of Grant McLennan.
Did you get Refo;mation - that was wonderful too. I could go on.
Is it just me, or is Steve Kilbey the coolest, most talented man in the world?
but what about
kylie?
and
Stefan Dennis?
Here is my List
The Saints
The Scientists
The Triffids
The Go-Betweens
Custard
Reguritator
Chain
Australian Crawl
Darren Hanlon
Beasts of Burborn
Dave Granney
The Reels
Frenzal Rhomb
TISM
The Atlantics
Itchie and Scratchie
Jimmy Little
(and I'd like to plug the John Steel Singers as well while I'm here)
I'd also throw in Falling Joys:
although never big in sales, a lovely line in great songs with good solid guitar work behind them. Always a personal favourite.
It's agreed here the lack of the Go-Betweens is flirting with treason, and it should be considered that without the existence of AC/DC, Rose Tattoo would be nothing. The inclusion of You Am I, The Triffids and Paul Kelly provide redeeming features. Make him clean Fraser's kitchen as a punishment.
From the folk roots silo...
I for one quite liked Weddings, Parties, Anything.
Pugwall
I cannot believe you've missed out the Orange Organics!
(may mean nothing to anyone over 35)
Just me
who's happy with seeing the Sleepy Jackson in there then? (Just on the basis of their first album, Lovers)
Honorable mentions for
The Whitlams
Daddy Cool
The Grates
Big Pig
I played Bonk! by Melbourne's Big Pig to death in my last year at university. I must dig it out again and see how much it has dated...
I'd put a shout in for
INXS
Kylie - at last
My point is probably moot, but
no Rick Springfield? Where's the love?
Dang. Tough audience.
some alternative thoughts
Good to see that You Am I and Nick Cave did make the Craddock top 10....seminal Aussie influential acts for sure
Worthy mentions of the Go Betweens, the Saints, the Lime Spiders and AC/DC of course......and please can we lose Crowded House and leave them to the Kiwis!
A few other Aussie acts who have done, or are doing great things without gaining a mention to date:
The Vines
The Baby Animals
Karnivool
Southern Sons
Electric Mary
Gyroscope
Grinspoon
Jet
Little Birdy
So much great music happening here at the moment!
No-one has mentioned
The Mixtures (unless my eyes have deceived me).
The Reels
Their album 'Beautiful' is great from start to finish.
The Moodists
Always had a soft spot for this track
They did a great Peel session in the early 80's too.
unbelievable!
He's missed out The Saints AND Radio Birdman (even though Radio Birdman were pretty poor in Tufnell Park a couple of years back, the albums are still fantastic.)
Another vote for the Go-betweens and the Triffids, and for Nick Cave
And I think Crowded House would identify as being from New Zealand as opposed to Australia, too.
Yeah those two are the most glaring omissions
Loved the Saints, never cared much for Radio Birdman myself, I probably could never get past Iggy Pop's reaction on hearing them, "They're ripping me off man." Also they had an American in their line-up so I guess that cancels their citizenship out the same way Crowded House are cancelled out for having a Kiwi in the band.
Crowded House lived in Melbourne, formed in Melbourne, played their first gigs in Melbourne and two thirds of the band were born in Melbourne. Why on earth would anyone consider them an Australian band?
What irritates me most about blogs such as this is the kneejerk reaction to the word Australia. It seems to be a cue for endless utterly lame references to soapie stars. It's meant to be belittling and always feels like a way to put us "in our place."
Australia in all respects is far more diverse than anyone seems to grasp. Yes musically we produced (sort of)a string of identikit soapie/pop stars but we also produced a lot of bands like Venom P Stinger.
One of my fondest musical memories ever is walking down Flinders Lane in Melbourne and stumbling across Venom P Stinger playing on the footpath. I stood and listened for half an hour from a safe 20 metre range and watched in delight as utterly confused shoppers RAN past the band as though they posed a physical danger.
Some of these blokes became the Dirty Three.
Hey, don't be so defensive
Kylie has transformed herself from being a 'soapie star' into a significant cultural icon and (inter)national treasure. Seriously, you should cherish her.
Actually
It was the reference to Stefan Dennis that made me crack it. That was just one step too far.
Sorry
about that :-)
Promise I won't mention Holly Valance - oh, bugger...
To be fair though, we're not short of ex-soap chancers in Blighty neither.
Also you forgot this bloke
I'm not a Crowded House expert
I'm not an expert but I am sure that when they played King Tut's in Glasgow, (a small venue, capacity 300 so early in their career), Tim Finn was in the band (and left that night) which made them 50/50 Kiwis. That is why I thought of them as from there, rather than Australia.
EDIT : that and most of the articles I remember reading about them leaned heavily on them being "back home in New Zealand".
But if they're more Australian than NZ, you'd know better than me.
I'm no expert either
but they're hometown boys and I'm old enough to remember small articles in the music press like "Neil Finn's new band The Mullanes (seriously that's what they were originally called) make their debut this week at the blah blah blah hotel in Albert Park"
So I've always thought of them as being locals. I never considered Tim and Neil's previous band Split Enz that way.
I sit corrected
But did they not accept gongs
from New Zealand? I didn't see them saying, sorry, we're australian?
I don't know!
I also don't understand the interest, or why it's such a bone of contention. I personally was just defending/explaining the choice of the "Word intern." I can understand why a Kiwi would want to clarify things in this instance but why anyone else cares at all is truly mystifying to me.
Poms. And big place / little place.
I have found there is always comedy to be had where a small chippy country is overshadowed (in any sense) by a larger neighbour. It has always amused me to ask Australians here in Britain if they are from the North Island or the South Island and watch them struggle to compute.
I'm Scottish but when I went to Australia I was called a Pom by everyone, in a very friendly and welcoming way. This was rather a surprise to me - until then, I had always thought that only English people were Poms. Obviously I was wrong.
As a Scot who has travelled a bit, I am inured to people from far away not knowing much about Scotland beyond Sean Connery / Highlander / whisky / golf. Some people think that Scotland is an island, or that it's like Norway, or are surprised that it's still a country nowadays. This has happened to friends and colleagues from New Zealand, too.
So as all this discussion is about a part of the world where people are competitive, proud of where they are from, and vocal about it, of course we're going to sit here on the other side of the world and pick away at a thread for comedy value.
Thanks for the clarification
I was genuinely stunned and more than a bit annoyed that anyone would bother pointing it out repeatedly. I was thinking, "I don't get it. What do they care?"
The Australian habit of claiming successful New Zealanders as our own is the source of quite some mirth on this side of the Tasman. Kiwi's I've spoken to about it also find it funny. What's interesting is we've never claimed a genuine great such as Sir Edmund Hillary as "ours."
There's a superb scene in the movie Phar Lap (about the NZ bred "Australian" racehorse) where just before he runs in some big race in Mexico a couple of Aussie reporters are discussing tomorrow's headlines. They had two front pages ready just in case, one was "Aussie horse wins" the other was "New Zealand horse flops."
We're under the same misapprehension. I too thought only the English qualifed as Poms. No, I'm sure that's right, you'd never hear of a Scottish sporting team being referred to as "the Poms." I don't know who you were talking to. Pom isn't actually an insult it's roughly equivalent to calling an American a Yank. No harm is meant it's just what we call them.
By the way, Kiwi's have been known to refer to Australia as "The West Island"
Watch this, I hunted it out for the sentiment behind it rather than the quality of it, I haven't heard it in a very long time. It dates back to before the Australian government decided the easiest way for us to make our mark on the world stage was via sport.
Then, like now, losing to our Trans-Tasman brothers at anything was and is a national disgrace.
Speaking as a lapsed Kiwi...
There's a plotline in the new series of Flight Of The Conchords where Jemaine gets an Australian girlfriend. Of course she's a disgrace - she's loose, she lives in a pig-sty, her accent is ocker, etc, and at one point she proudly claims, "I'm 100% Australian! My grandfather was a rapist!". You can imagine Jermaine and Bret snickering as they write these lines, New Zealanders taking a rare chance to mock their neighbours and have it broadcast to millions.
Not hard to picture them writing that scene at all
"Her grandfather was...a highwayman? Nah, a pickpocket? Nah"
"I've got it! A rapist! Her grandad was a rapist!"
"That's it! Brilliant! Start typing"
Incidentally the first time I can remember swearing at my mother and geting away with it was in 1976 when I was about 13. I'm very certain of the year. Australia had almost completed an entire Olympics without winning a single Gold Medal.
Australia was playing in the final of the Field Hockey against the Kiwis. It was our last chance. I watched the game in the spare room, it did not go well. I re-joined the family. My mother asked, "What is it love? You don't look well. How do you feel?" I said, "How do you think I feel? We just got beaten by fucking New Zealand."
It was one bloody nil!
Happy to help
We were mainly called Poms in Melbourne - they knew of Scotland, but they were resolute in their belief that we were Poms. There was no edge or malice in it, at all, and they evaluated calling us "Jocks" but that didn't work for them.
I did have to work on a project a singularly obnoxious chap from Canberra, who endlessly banged on about how great Canberra was : of course he lived in Surrey, hadn't been back to the old country in 10 years. The rest of the project team agreed quietly that we would pretend to know almost nothing about Australasia apart from it being 4 islands of roughly similar size (and importance) : Australia, Tasmania, North Island, South Island. And Sydney was the capital. We drove him up the wall. "You must be proud of those All Blacks" was one that he took a while to recover from. "Don't be silly, if Australia was a big island we'd have heard. You'll be telling us about drop bears and kangaroos next".
The transfer of national epithet - there have been many instances of English football hooligans being identified as British, where Scottish hooligans stay Scottish, and Andy Murray is identified as British in general now he's doing well. I'm not that bothered, but many of my fellow Picts are.
Being from Canberra would explain a lot
I have never heard anyone, ever, say a good word about Canberra, or the people unlucky enough to come from there. Read Bill Bryson's book, he spends pages trying to impart how dull it is.
The best line about Canberra was one of the first. I wish I knew who said it so I could attribute it properly. In words worthy of Mark Twain someone observed that it was, "A good sheep-run ruined."
Telling a Canberran that you thought Sydney was the Capital of Australia would drive them to apoplexy. Being Capital is ALL Canberra is noted for and if you take that away from them then it's back to being a sheep-run.
Perhaps I'm particularly acutely aware of the difference between Scots and the English because I grew up in the same street as some Scottish immigrants and you could enrage them just by referring to them as "Scotch." Even the ones born in Australia would tell you, "It's Scot! Scotch is a drink!"
For a brief moment in time...
...it had to be Leonardo's Bride. Still mesmorised by this one:
Amazing Oversight
Wot - no Cold Chisel, No Barnesy?
I'm sure there are a raft of Aussies out there who would jump on the table and start singing along with 'Khe San','You've Got Nothing I Want', 'Bow River' or 'Cheap Wine'.
Surely the classic Australian Pub-Rock Band?
The Panics
- I don't know how these guys have slipped under the radar. Catch their 2007 album "Cruel Guards", just released here - it proves that excellent music sometimes doesn't get the exposure it deserves.
The Word needs to get a track (any!) from this album on the free cd asap.
Unless I'm very much mistaken...
...and I usually am, you've all missed out 'The Cruel Sea'
A great band. Check out 'This Is Not The Way Home'
Not bad for a bunch of lads who have to play upside down. You see? Because they're in Australia. Which is on the other side of...
God. We're going to get tonked in the Ashes, aren't we?
Skyhooks, Sherbert
Both dreadful
my 2 bobs worth
although he barracks for my football team Tim rogers of You am i is vastly overrated
I love the Triffids though I have some sympathy with Robert Forster's view that they lifted some of their sound and got the success that the recognition that the Go Betweens tended to not get when in UK.
My list includes quantity as well as quality so avalanches ,Luke steel variants are excluded
so from the top
Easybeats - without them no Acca Dacca- British emigrants largely
Bee Gees - see above re British origins
Paul Kelly - remarkable output, wionderful lyrics wonderful melody a national treasure
Nick Cave -'nuff sed
Ed Kuepper the more creative, productive talent from the Saints
Go Betweens 'nuff sed
Triffids 'nuff sed
Midnight Oil - for some reason their name always elicits snide references whenevermentioned on this site. A towering rhythm section , Jim Moginie a great guitarist and a unique individual front man and stunning live.Dig up some you tube or even better the live on cockatoo Island DVD -great location middle of sydney harbour at sunset Hmm 2 more
Masters Apprentices -had a shot at the uk and never made it but excellent pop songs - rio de camero is worth googling
and for close
Lisa Gerard - stunning soundscapes- you'd be amazed at the soundtracks she is credited with
if you want jazz look up Graeme Bell - came to UK in I think the forties and showed people you can dance to jazz - a pathbreaker but overlooked by the jazz encyclopedias I have
forgot cold chisel and the dingoes
the latter 70's pioneers of country rock in australia
Little River Band
Almost forgot - one of the best. Saw them at Birmingham Odeon in 1983 - everything I expected and more.
Produced some classic songs - 'Night Owl', 'Ballerina', 'Man On Your Mind', 'Lady','Help Is On Its Way', 'Easy Money' etc.
The Triffids
This may have been raised before but is it just me that listens to Arcade Fire and thinks "ah yes, these people own Triffids albums"?
Another vote for The Church
The Church, unfairly maligned as a failed mainstream band by a lot of Aussies, are one of my fave artists in the world - their latest album Untitled #23 is brilliant. The Go-Betweens, The Triffids and Nick Cave go without saying.
The Dirty Three are a phenomenal live band and I'd say Augie March, if only based on Strange Bird and Moo! You Bloody Choir are worth a mention.
As for Crowded House, any band where Neil Finn is the main songwriter is a Kiwi band.