I thought I would try something different this month.
November is Aus-Music month, and quite often, I don't think due respect is given to our local industry.
So for the next four weeks, I'll break it down to the 80's, 90's, 00's and now.
Shall we begin with the 1980's?
The 80's will always be the decade of my youth. I have fond memories, even though people say it was a stunted decade that time should forget - from the fashions, the films, the music...blah blah. I happen to love the decade. Call it rose-tinted glassed, I say whatever!
In the era where the A-Team, Knightrider, V, Magnum PI, ALF and Punky Brewster were all TV staples, cheesy American sitcoms were de rigeur and Esme Watson was snopping, Pat the Rat was shocking and Neighbours and Home and Away had their 'early' years, I was living a charmed life of sunnyboys, whizz fizz, Scanlens bubblegum and Star Wars action figures.
And as a kid, the top of the pops stuff was the music I mostly heard.
It's only later, as I grow older, when I speak to teens and twentysomethings of the 80's do I realise how good the era was. Pubs all had bands, fighting for your ears. No pokies, $5 entry and entertaining bands sweating it out with the punters on every corner.
I've also started digging deeper - thanks to people like Con and Rob, amongst others - to find little one off pop nuggets that when heard, are pure gold...just forgotten. I'm forever trawling Ebay and YouTube for bands. In fact, I only recently bought the best of Nick Cave and The Triffids to digest their works and 'discovered' Matt Finnish (and by way of that band, their singer-guitarist Matt Moffitt) who crafted some mighty fine tunes.
And in Australia, we've been spoilt for choice. There was pub-rock, straight pop and the moody alternatives. There's the obvious clones and trend setters. Bands like Midnight Oil struck out with a political message, copping flak but winning respect, long before it became trendy to do so. Some of our bands blazed a trail overseas for today's pop/rock groups. Others had that moment of burn and fade, or a couple of sustained hits or 7 inch singles scrapping in to the Top 100 or Top 50, and their video got a couple of whirls on the music video shows of the time.
By no means is this an exhaustive list.
But I think you will agree the BIG bands of the era sustain themselves, and are nice to listen to every once in a while. Nostalgia or not, there's some HUGE hits amongst them. Others like The Church should have had multiple hits around the globe. The Severed Heads pioneered electronica as did Icehouse in its own way, being one of the first bands to embrace the Fairlight synthesiser. INXS swaggered around the world, Guns N Roses covered Rose Tattoo and Nick Cave was a goth troubadour. Each, in their own way, brought us something exciting, something to sing along to, something to cherish.
In this digital age, you can cherry pick the best. And most bands have excellent best of sets. Delve a little deeper...there are so many gems.
As for me, I'm always listening, always learning, always liking. At the moment it's a live cut of Fade Away recorded by Matt Finish in 1981. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLE7Y2yJ7Vs To think I've only just found this song makes me sad to think they aren't all over the radio still today. That said, Triple M's hottest 500 of all time had them rank quite high, so maybe there's fans out there still.
Next week, the 1990's. What's not to like about Ratcat, Savage Garden, the Screaming Jets and You Am I.
INXS : Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979-1997) OR The Very Best (2 Disc)
(includes: Need You Tonight, Original Sin, Kiss The Dirt, New Sensation, Devil Inside, Don't Change, Need You Tonight, Mediate, Never Tear Us Apart, Mystify, Kick)
Essential: Kick
The Divinyls : Greatest Hits
(Includes: Science Fiction, Pleasure and Pain, I Touch Myself, Back to the Wall)
Midnight Oil : Essential Oils (2 CD)
(Includes: Beds Are Burning, Put Down That Weapon, Dreamworld, Kosciusko, Short Memory, Power and the Passion)
Icehouse : White Heat 30 Hits
(includes: Electric Blue, Crazy, Man of Colours, We Can Get Together, Great Southern Land, Don't Believe Anymore, Touch The Fire, )
Essential - Man of Colours
The Angels: Wasted Sleepless Nights - The Definitive Greatest Hits
(includes: Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?, Take A Long Line, Marseilles, No Secrets, Let The Night Roll On, Dogs Are Talking)
Hunters & Collectors: Natural Selection
(includes: Talking To A Stranger, Throw Your Arms Around Me, When The River Runs Dry, Holy Grail)
Hoodoo Gurus: Ampology
(includes: What's My Scene, I Want You Back, Like Wow - Wipeout!, Come Anytime)
Australian Crawl: More Wharf: Greatest Hits
(includes: The Boys Light Up, Beautiful People, Errol, Reckless, Downhearted, Oh No Not You Again)
Mental As Anything: Best Of
(hits include: The Nips Are Getting Bigger, If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?, Live It Up, Too Many Times)
Men At Work: Business As Usual
(includes: Who Can It Be Now?, Down Under, Down By The Sea, Helpless Automation)
Paul Kelly : Songs From The South Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2
(includes: From St Kilda To King's Cross, Dumb Things, To Her Door, From Little Things Big Things Grow)
The Church : Deep In The Shallows - The Classic Singles Collection
(includes: Under The Milky Way, Unguarded Moment, Reptile, Metropolis)
Boom Crash Opera: The Best Things
(includes: Onion Skin, Great Wall, Get Out Of The House, The Best Thing, Bettadaze, In The Morning, Gimme)
Essential : These Here Are Crazy Times
Mi-Sex : The Essential
(includes: Computer Games, But You Don't Care, Space Race, Falling In And Out, Missing Person, Shanghaied!)
Essential : Graffiti Crimes
The Sunnyboys: This Is Real (Singles / Live / Rare )
(includes: Alone With You, This Is Real, You Need A Friend)
The Radiators : Radiology
(includes: Coming Home, Gimme Head, No Tragedy )
Rose Tattoo : The Essential
(includes: Bad Boy For Love, We Can't Be Beaten, Rock n Roll Outlaw)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds : The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
(includes: Where The Wild Roses Grow, Stranger Than Kindness, The Mercy Seat, Into My Arms, Red Right Hand, Do You Love Me?)
Severed Heads : ComMerz
(includes: Dead Eyes Open, Petrol, Bless This House, Harold & Cindy Hospital)
The Go-Betweens : Quiet Heart - The Best of the Go-Betweens
(includes: Cattle & Cane, Streets of Your Town, Love Goes On, Bachelor Kisses)
1927: The Very Best Of
(includes: That's When I Think Of You, You'll Never Know, If I Could, Tell Me A Story, Don't Forget Me, The Other Side)
Pseudo Echo : The Essential
(includes: Funky Town, Listening, A Beat For You, Stranger In Me, Love An Adventure)
Crate digging 'honourable mention' [so go check 'em out] :
Real Life, Spy Vs Spy, Matt Finish, The Triffids, Deckchairs Overboard, The Reels, The Models, Wa Wa Nee.
FYI : Sony Essential Series is a fairly good start for some bands. Fairly comprehensive, occasionally a 'hit' or two might be left off for a random album track or b-side. But overall, the 'hits' are contained within.
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