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top ten Australian songs

(posted on 2007-12-29 00:00:00)

At this time of year everyone does their best-ofs - it reminded me that I have been meaning to compose an "all time best songs" list for years. Trying to choose ten songs is obviously impossible for anyone interested in music so I'm restricting this list to Australian indie recordings. Even so it is ridiculous to pick only 10 - watch it grow into 20 over the next few weeks.

I like to distinguish between a band's social impact (Sex Pistols) and their song-writing ability (Radiohead) and here I want to focus on the latter. The former is more about politics and publicity than sound, and while it is arguably more important, it will require a separate list-making exercise.

Some bands have one standout song but most have several, especially if they straddle genres or have multiple song-writers, so where I can't pick one I've listed two or three. I'd be interested to read your comments, alternatives and omissions. In no particular order my list is:

The argument:

Birthday Party: I have always had an interest in "loser literature". There's less of this about than you might think, perhaps because famous authors tend not to have the problem. Dostoyevsky's Notes from underground and Vonnegut's Deadeye Dick are good examples. Figure of fun is another. I include King ink for its great riff and clever autobiography. Mutiny in heaven has great lyrics and a wild multi-tracked vocal that sounds disturbing even today.

Laughing Clowns: This classic band, possibly Australia's best, were more of a sound than a set-list, which makes it hard to choose one standout song. Clown town is a good example of their "melancholy" genre while Every dog has its day exemplifies their manic jazz humour.

The Poles: This Brisbane band released this single in about 1981 or so. It got some airplay on 4ZZZ and our household acquired a copy. They didn't seem to play long before breaking up. They were older than me and I never met them. They don't get as much press as many bands of this era, though they are in the book Inner City Sounds, and there is an Australian website selling a DIY compilation with this song on it. I recently mentioned them to Mark Louttit and to my surprise he remembered them and has the single - the first person I've met outside Brisbane who does - hang on, Mark is from Brisbane ... The song is moody and rambling yet catchy. It doesn't really sound like anyone - maybe a touch of early Clowns. I sing it in my head a lot but haven't heard it for ages. Next time someone does an early 80s post-punk compilation, please include this song.

The Go-Betweens: One of those early 80s bands that no-one in commercial music paid any attention to at the time but everyone name-checks now, the GoBs most famous song Cattle and cane would be at home in this list. But their output was long and bits of it have been neglected by history. There was a time, between their very early singles and their mid-80s "semi-commercial period", where they got quite angular and weird, and some of that stuff, such as Man o' sand to girl o' sea is very good but rarely heard. During their "semi-commercial period" (I just made that term up and accept responsibility for your pain) they released the Liberty Belle album, and perhaps because it got more attention on release than most of their other albums (the clip was on tv etc) it seems to be down-played today. I don't know if I was just in the right frame of mind at the right time to receive it, but it seemed to me to be the band's coming-of-age. A few songs could be chosen, this one will do.

TISM: The binary distinction made in What are ya? suggests that genius must either be high-brow or low, yet in their long career TISM found a way to combine both. This song is three minutes of right-between-the-eyes social commentary on Australia's class system. If you're ugly, forget it is so hard-hitting it's bleak, until the "we are the world" chorus makes you fall about laughing. The catchy Greg! the stop sign is one of their big hits, a classic Ron Hitler-Barassi rant about vississitudes of life as seen through the lens of a TAC ad. I hear the hilarious Apology of the Thai drug runner as a take on "Chase the dragon", but you be the judge. Many TISM songs have outstanding videos - go to YouTube for a whole extra dimension to your TISM experience.

Minimum Chips: If I write about music I like, I have to eventually deal with the problem of mentioning people I know, which runs the risk of looking like nepotism. I have played in / recorded / mixed / mastered / driven the car for so many bands that I can't simply exclude them. Worse, my brother has played in several good bands. Often he was drumming, so I can get away with mentioning them on the basis of the old joke that a drummer is someone who hangs around musicians. Anyway Min Chips have written some of the best songs I've ever encountered. It's difficult to choose one, so three there are. Out of touch is not one of their best-known but in my opinion wins by a nose. Keith Urquhardt did a masterful remix of the stately Cold afternoon, and the original is great. Swish was an early favourite and has a nice video set around Fortitude Valley.

Coral Snakes: For a while you heard this song everywhere. It seemed to be on JJJ rotation for a year. I was sharing a house with a guy who wasn't "into" music but would stop what he was doing to listen whenever this came on the radio. About eight years after its release I was doing some live mixing for Dave and Clare's band of the day and had an interesting experience concerning this song. They were playing in a suburban pub east of St Kilda that was a popular dinner-and-music venue for families, I guess many of them former music fans with small children. Most of the audience were having dinner with their kids and only half-noticing the band. Then Dave played the opening riff of this song, and from the desk I saw every adult in this large room look up in recognition, watch the song, then go back to their families. It was eerie. I told the band about it later, because I get the impression they felt embarrassed to play this old hit, like it was their "Stairway to heaven". It was in the top forty and on that basis could be excluded from an indie list, but these guys have their feet firmly planted in the real world.

Small World Experience: There are lots of great indie song-writers - rarely do you strike one who could genuinely hit the big time if they wanted to and the right social mechanisms fell into place. Pat of SWE is one of these song-writers, yet he lives a quiet secluded life and seems to be invisible to the world of commercial pop. The fact that he doesn't record in studios may not have helped. There are several SWE classics but Leave may be the best. This song should be as well known as Galveston or God only knows.

Hunters and Collectors: Judas sheep was released by "version one" of H&C, before they underwent their mid-80s transformation into the anthem band that torments Gold 104 listeners to this day with the likes of Holy grail. The early H&C made innovative post-punk-funk that was challengingly atonal and darkly funny. This song is my favourite of that era. Talking to a stranger is a better-known example with a good video but not as funny. Their final pre-commercial album, Jaws of Life, is very good too: go to YouTube and see the great video for the lead song from this album, Betty's Worry or The Slab, which I suggest to you was the first example of "bogan chic" in an indie band.

Sleepy Township: Several of today's Australian indie stars did time in this 90s pop band. They were better known for their live shows then their records, but there are some gems and World of bees is arguably the shiniest. Simple, melancholy verses and choruses give way to a majestic instrumental section. I think there are a few different versions of this floating around - the longer one is best.

The Cannanes: "better known outside Australia than in it" - this phrase is over-used in local writing but is true in this case. This long-running group has gone through many releases and band members but their song-writing revolves around a core duo, providing continuity. Communicating at an unknown rate doesn't seem to have captured people's attention like some of their other albums, but according to my objective music-judging device it stands out for its maturity and song-writing skill, and this particular track, while deceptively simple, has a classic melody and lyric. I have usually kept this preference to myself around Cannanes members and fans as I figure most of them prefer the rockier numbers, however I fessed up to a band member recently and he agreed.

reply 1 from datakid: This is the song is my fave Cannanes track - I only have this album, but the song is gorgeous. Reminds me of B+S's Electric Renaissance, and Mirah's Recommendation - not rock at all :)

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