Bands in the "Australasia" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for $2 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewalk of St Marks

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written by aussies, apparently, so they should know:

la femme
cold chisel
the hitmen
jimmy and the boys
flash and the pan
split enz
the breakers
australian crawl
the sports
jo jo zep and the falcons
the angels
the thought criminals
inxs
outline
the reels
midnight oil
mi-sex
mental as anything
the dugites
the numbers
delaney venn
the aliens
flowers
rose tattoo

an appendix in the back also mentions an aussie indie new wave EP by "the pelaco brothers" in 1975, a year before "i'm stranded" by the saints. never heard of 'em. did anybody else, i wonder?

(and oh yeah, same appendix says australia's first 'beat' single was "poison ivy" by billy thorpe and the aztecs, in 1964. intriguing!)

― xhuxk, Monday, 19 September 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

Did you know I was a DANGER?!
Did you know I was a THREAT?!
BRANDED! BRANDED! BRANDED!

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Monday, 19 September 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

were Cold Chisel really new wave?

― sffd, Monday, 19 September 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

nah, neither were rose tattoo (not to mention bruce springsteen and tom petty, who show up elsewhere in the book. apparently the authors defined their terms rather broadly. though they prefer the genre title "new music" to "new wave" anyway, it should be noted.)

― xhuxk, Monday, 19 September 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

The Thought Criminals just got a big reissue.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

none of these bands were new wave and the only one that didnt suck shit through a straw from a shit meat pie was split enz coz they are new zealanders (OOOOH LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN)

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Monday, 19 September 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

wrong! the sports, rose tattoo, and mi-sex were all excellent and never sucked even a single turd through a straw as far as i know!

― xhuxk, Monday, 19 September 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

oh yeah? well i was hangin and bangin around the 7-Eleven one day and i saw angry anderson drinking a shit slurpee WITH A STRAW

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Monday, 19 September 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

the reels deserve a massive remastered box set

― phil turnbull (philT), Monday, 19 September 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

people should talk about flash and the pan more than they do. they'd work just fine on mtv2 right about now.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:21 (twenty years ago)

jo jo zep and the falcons
I remember seeing and hearing this name but I don't remember hearing them. Now I am trying to remember what group was reincarnated as Jo Jo Gunne.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

Jo Jo Gunne included Mark Andes from Spirit, maybe other Spirit guys as well? I like the Jo Jo Zep LP I own a lot, sorta Graham Parker-like.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

Chuck, you are aware of the compilation of Australian New Wave from the early 80's that jim made? It really is definitive.

Outline: I have their album! It's not great. BUT they had a classic single, 'The Cicada that Ate Five Dock'.

― moley, Monday, 19 September 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Flowers was Iva Davies' Icehouse... before they became Icehouse. They were definitely new wave. A cross between David Bowie and Gary Numan, perhaps.

― moley, Monday, 19 September 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

That's not the same Flowers who are on the first Earcom compilation, is it? With the female singer?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Oh, "Australasia" thread. Yeah, probably different band.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

haha "australasia" - the only nz bands on that list are the ones who relocated to aussie, pretty much! where are the swingers, the screaming mee mees, blam blam blam, &c&c&c?

― etc, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

it's bigger than both of us is a pretty fantastic nz new wave primer (tho no "counting the beat")

― etc, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Cicada That Ate Five Dock should be kept in print forever. On seven-inch.

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

jo jo zep had three absolute killers ('state i'm in', 'hit and run', and the unbelievably amazing 'taxi mary').. the numbers' debut 45 'govt boy' is a true classic but i don't know much about their pop stardom years. la femme had only one 45 that is overrated. 'in your car' by the dugites kicks your ass but i've never heard any other songs by them

― jimmy glass (electricsound), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

flash and the pan are vanda & young trying to be 80s pop

― jimmy glass (electricsound), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

That's not the same Flowers who are on the first Earcom compilation, is it? With the female singer?

-- Tim Ellison (thefriendlyfriendlybubbl...), September 20th, 2005 8:07 AM. (later)

No. That's why the Australian Flowers had to change their name to Icehouse (which was the name of their first album). The (Edinburgh) Flowers don't have a female singer on the 'Mutant Pop' comp though, but they do have on on Earcom, which came out a year later...

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

OK I WAS WRONG

jojo zep and the ford falcons had one ok song but THATS ALL

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 02:57 (twenty years ago)

I just now bought a Dugites cassette from the Salvation Army on a whim. Maybe "In Your Car" is worth 33c and this wasn't pure folly after all!?!? I have a strange soft-spot for Australian Crawl myself, mainly due to the vaguely 'incisive' lyrics.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 07:29 (twenty years ago)

Try chapter music's 'Can't Stop It!' Comp:

http://www.corduroy.com.au/chapter/can'tstopit.html

― l, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 09:58 (twenty years ago)

>people should talk about flash and the pan more than they do.<

ha ha:

Try to guess what up-and-coming band these words were written about in 1980

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure the edinburgh Flowers always had a female singer. And the Earcom tracks are earlier then the Mutan Pop versions, which are the Pop Aural singles.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

wait, I got confused. Earcom def. came before the Pop Aural single and the mutant pop compilation, and the versions of the songs from the single to the comp are different, Life After Dark vs. After Dark. But I don't remember the Earcom tracks, so i won't definately say they had a female singler on them, so maybe you're just reversing the two comps. Mutant Pop is just a different version of the single, w/ Hilary singing on both.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

the reels deserve a massive remastered box set

Phil Turnbull OTM. And etc, thank you so for mentioning The Swingers! "It Ain't What You Dance, It's The Way You Dance It" is one of my all-time favorite songs. I LOVE singing along to that song when I listen to it while driving. It may make me look silly, but it's so fun to sing along with that I don't care. And I would love to hear more from the group; is the rest of their output similar to that song? And what would you recommend I start off with?

― (This Field Left Blank) (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

So what's Dave Mason up to? How is he? It would be great to see the Reels play again. And I'd be one to buy that box set.

― mentalist (mentalist), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

And now I have Quasimodo's Dream running through my head.

― mentalist (mentalist), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

maybe other Spirit guys [in Jo Jo Gunne] as well?

Jay Ferguson. And Jo Jo Gunne was not at all like Jo Jo Zep or even vaguely Aussie, obviously.

Mild-mannered Cali-fried boogie rock. Good single, "Run Run Run."

Where be the Skyhooks in this list? C'mon, the Hitmen were marginal, kind of a dumb hybrid of people who wanted to be the Dictators but had to settle for Radio Birdman and pre-Lime Spiders.

And where's Lobby Loyd?

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

jimmy and the boys had asong written by tim finn from split enxz called "they won't let my girlfriend talk to me".
ignatious jones ahd many groups without success including aband singing "i'm not like anybody else".ery threatrical band but i forget the name.what me0 245 "lady love" ?

i was excited by kim hart(love at first sight),kim durante(giving up on love) and christie allen.
christie allen "goosebumps" was very racy.

― retroman, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 05:58 (twenty years ago)

http://www.thethoughtcriminals.com/index1.html

― retroman, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

i still have ignatius jones' book true hip. it's very entertaining in parts.

― jimmy glass (electricsound), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

And now I have Quasimodo's Dream running through my head.

Ha. I had "Quasimodo's Dream" running through my head all day today! Which was great, actually, because I LOVE that song. "Oh I never wanted to be Quasimodo's dream...."

― (This Field Left Blank) (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

re: the swingers - it's sort've difficult to say, as "counting the beat" is, well, world famous in nz - voted 4th best nz song of all time, & drilled into everybody's branes due to use in really, really long-running ad campaigns (for l&p, local soft drink, which um haha actually came up w/the "world famous in new zealand" tagline, i believe) - the only other track i know is "one good reason", which is a lot nervier. you can get pretty much all their recorded output on this cd, which'll set you back, i dunno, US$4-6? "counting the beat" is one of the top ten catchiest songs ever, anyway, & the video is cute as fvck.

― etc, Thursday, 22 September 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

i have had quasimodos dream running thru my head for 23 years.

did i tell you about the time i took some freebased mda at a reels "we show home super8s, us" gig and it turned out to be a cap of hash oil?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 22 September 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

fuck it was a good show, thats all i remember

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 22 September 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

The Swingers' CD will end up costing me about US$15, including shipping and handling costs. Which isn't that bad, actually. I panicked when I saw that the shipping costs to the US = NZ$11 (approx.), but apparently that's not *that* much in USD. Which will be SO worth it considering. Oh! And I DID end up finding "Counting The Beat" on my computer -- I've heard it on an ep of "The Secret Life Of Us"! It was the "da da da da" song I was incredibly curious about because it sounded so fun. And it DOES sound like a barrel full of fun to listen to! Insanely catchy and fun and repeatable. In other words, you're OTM for saying "'counting the beat' is one of the top ten catchiest songs ever". And come the beginning of next month, I am SO getting me The Swingers.

Mullygrubbr! You must spill more about your live Reels concert experience!

― (This Field Left Blank) (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 23 September 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

christie allen "goosebumps" was very racy.

-- retroman

right with ya there!

― moley (moley), Friday, 23 September 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

I've got a cassette somewhere, marked the 'ers, for Swingers, cos I didn't want anybody to steal, cos they were SO FAMOUS in my cabinets in 198? It must was off TV, back when MTV actually showed this stuff (maybe on 120" ? But it was several videos, an audiotape of them, mybe a featurette on one of USA Network's Friday night shows, of a kind noboby young b'lves was on such crap channels, but true!) Rose Tattoo had such a hoodlum image, the kind of punkitude ppunks who never bothered to cut their grease-sealed manes, except Angy Anderson was bald/shaved tattooed in a way still exotic to us American plastic-sealed burbanites then, and pierced probably, and a dwarf I think, and did his own getting dragged across the desert by an onslaught of something or other in MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME, one of my faves of whenever it was. But! "I been scah-ahhhed," he sang, like yet another Paul Rodgers clone! "Scarred for loife," his grease guys answered in hoodlumese, but too late Angry Paulette:"I seen Lots! Of trouble and strife." O shutup. Read a review said the album was the same. (I liked this doc on USA, Driving On The Wrong Side Of The Road, which featured two aborigine rock bands, Us Mob, and No Fixed Address, getting in trouble but getting to perform some: one was more punk-metal, one was more fairly fast reggae, a bit like some Bad Brains, but can't remember which was which. Also got a Coloured Stone album somewhere, like a cross between best Police singles and greasy psych-era Electric Flag horns.

― don, Friday, 23 September 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

Who were The Breakers?

― moley (moley), Friday, 23 September 2005 05:32 (twenty years ago)

I got the Laughing Clowns box set (Cruel, But Fair) today. Bloody brilliant.

― mentalist (mentalist), Friday, 23 September 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Oooh! Terrific. I think mine is in the post somewhere. : (

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Friday, 23 September 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

o i need it i need it

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Friday, 23 September 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

I think the Hitmen were post-Birdman? They were pretty good.

― moley, Friday, 23 September 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

classic kiwi new wave - the screaming meemees - "see me go". takes about a minute to get going, then DROPS (haha is THIS the secret precursor to "Take Me Out"?). got to number one, I think.

― etc, Saturday, 24 September 2005 07:44 (twenty years ago)

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