30 Best Australian Songs Ever

[gjw100]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Hiatus Kaiyote - Nakamarra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozr4KsZBTvQ

A quite sublime song and possibly the most Australian video ever

[delicatemoth]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

6. The Go-Betweens – Streets of Your Town

When I saw this I thought I could name 30 better Go-Betweens songs without needing to look any up. I actually managed 20, and I definitely missed some. 'Streets Of Your Town' is used brilliantly in the film 'Jindabyne', where it plays quietly in the background during a vicious assault at a barbecue, but in itself it's pretty average by their standards.

Very puzzled that anyone would think 'Down Under' isn't Men At Work's best record, it's an absolute pop classic from top to toe. 'Who Can It Be Now' just sounds like a less objectionable version of The Police.

For some inexplicable reason they missed out the unique sound of R.A.E.D.

[Bored Of Education]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Jah Womble wrote: This thread was also before my time - on this board, at least. However, there seems to be a policy of 'one artist/one song' in this chart which skews it horribly.

Given that this apparently means The Saints can't feature a second time with the fabby This Perfect Day, well, it's wrong, basically.

It's got to be like that otherwise it would be all AC/DC songs with the odd Hoodoo Gurus and Rose Tattoo song in.

[Jah Womble]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Hmm, not if it's done properly. I mean, great live act and all, but I doubt if AC/DC themselves would make that bold a claim of their work.

[Giggler]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

I've always been very fond of Waiting For a Train by Flash and the Pan, which, like a lot of songs about trains that I like, has an element of melancholia to it.

[Stumpy Pepys]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Whither A Pub With No Beer by Slim Dusty?

[3 Colours Red]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

I completely get the OP's dissatisfaction that Silverchair are on the list but I do have to say that The Greatest View is alright.

[Fussbudget]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

delicatemoth wrote: 6. The Go-Betweens – Streets of Your Town

When I saw this I thought I could name 30 better Go-Betweens songs without needing to look any up. I actually managed 20, and I definitely missed some. 'Streets Of Your Town' is used brilliantly in the film 'Jindabyne', where it plays quietly in the background during a vicious assault at a barbecue, but in itself it's pretty average by their standards.

I agree, Spring Rain would be my choice.

[jameswba]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Darlinghurst Nights for me.

[danielmak]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

I can't stand Midnight Oil, but I love The Saints, so having The Saints near the top is good.

In the early 1980s I would listen to a show on KPFK in Los Angeles called 12 O'Clock Rock. When I'd get too tired, I would start my cassette recorder and then have 45 minutes (this was pre-dual side recorder for me) that I could listen to during the week. One week Andrea Enthal (the show's host) did a special on Australian music. It really opened my ears to a whole world of punk/post-punk that I never knew existed since I was so focused on the US and UK up until that point. The only band I remember was Hunters and Collectors since that was the only one I could find at my local record store that had imports. This would have been the first EP or LP (maybe the second): 82 or 83. I can't remember what she played or what I bought (LPs are still in Los Angeles) but here's something from their first album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmfd2x1k80U

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Jah Womble wrote: Given that this apparently means The Saints can't feature a second time with the fabby This Perfect Day, well, it's wrong, basically.

No, I'll tell you what's wrong. Saying 'fabby' is.

[Come along, Min]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

A bit cheesy but also quite lush. Worth it to dance it up a bit though.

Ground Level - Dreams Of Heaven

[Jah Womble]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Vulgarian Visigoth wrote:

Given that this apparently means The Saints can't feature a second time with the fabby This Perfect Day, well, it's wrong, basically.

No, I'll tell you what's wrong. Saying 'fabby' is.

Though strangely not as wrong as being painfully irony-free.

[evilC]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Single Gun Theory - 'Angels Over Teheran'

Maybe not their most catchy tune from this era, but a track worth highlighting from perhaps the most unheralded of the bands who helped 'invent' Trip Hop.

(edit: Incidentally, one small point in their favour in what might seem a fairly formulaic sound for the early 90s is that they (allegedly) recorded all the 'ethnic' and 'ambient' samples on this album themselves, on a prolonged trip through the Indian subcontinent ad the Middle East - they didn't just grab them from a CD of samples they found in the bargain bin of the nearest music shop. Although, conversely, it was precisely that approach which drew Andrew Weatherall's Two Lone Swordsmen widespread plaudits for their 'The Fifth Mission' album.)

[Patrick Thistle]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

I used to really like Midnight Oil but Beds Are Burning isn't even the best song off Diesel and Dust.

Two of their finest are Kosciusko and Hercules. Short Memory is good as well.

[The Inner Light]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Sherbet. Howzat

[Jah Womble]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

The Inner Light wrote:

Sherbet. Howzat

File under: 'Huge Aus Acts That Had Just the One Hit in the UK'.

Also qualifying: John Farnham, Air Supply, Icehouse, Mental As Anything, Flash & The Pan and the aforementioned [strike]Midnight Oil[/strike].

(Edit: Actually, scrub Midnight Oil - they managed to sneak back into the Top 40 with Truganini in 1993.)

[Patrick Thistle]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Wasn't really a hit though. Barely troubled the nation's consciousness I imagine.

[3 Colours Red]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

The meaning of "one-hit wonder" has got more relaxed as time passes. I remember Men At Work being featured on a Channel 4 programme about OHWs a good few years ago even though Overkill just barely missed the top 20 and is still fairly well remembered.

[Jah Womble]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Well, if I were to create a 'second tier', Midnight Oil (who made #29 with Truganini) and Men At Work (who also went Top 40 with the massively-airplayed It's a Mistake) might well feature. But I shouldn't think I will.

[treibeis]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Trois Fois Un Rouge wrote: I remember Men At Work being featured on a Channel 4 programme about OHWs a good few years ago even though Overkill just barely missed the top 20 and is still fairly well remembered.

Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive was played quite a few times on the radio as well.

(I can't remember which station; it may well have been Radio West, whose choice of music probably wasn't really all that relevant to the national charts.)

[Jah Womble]

30 Best Australian Songs Ever

Yes, they did also chart with Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive - a rather irritating title that had already been used by both England Dan/John Ford Coley and also Pigbag (just a year previously). (I mean, do the homework.)

MAW's UK successes were pretty much limited to 1983, after which the record-buying public finally seemed to realise that they weren't 'all that'.