Made In Australia (90's)

Looking back at my early musical tastes, I was surprised to find that despite being horribly limited, they were also very Australian. Why this happened I have no idea, especially seeing as 90% of the music I listen to these days is international. Thankfully the Australian music scene in the late 90’s contained some rather big names and I don’t need to be ashamed of my first interests. I’m proud and impressed that I was taping Silverchair off the radio at the age of 9. The list goes beyond these 5 including the likes of Eskimo Joe, The Whitlams and The Living End however for various reasons they had to be cut. One distressing note I should make about many of these bands is that they have gone astray. For many of them, their turning sour (in my eyes) came at the same time they became popular, not because they were no longer cool to like but simply because they’re style changed, for the worse. Why the Australian public decides to like them when they’re music goes bad is beyond me. However this doesn’t subtract from the beauty of their early material which will always bring me a pleasant sense of nostalgia.

The Door - Silverchair
Silverchair were one of, if not the first ‘band’ that I ever liked. As I mentioned earlier I came across them on the radio and would listen to their current song habitually however due to the somewhat darker nature of they’re lyrics, I was unable to convince my parents to let me get their cds and alas they weren’t my first. These days I’m still a fan of Silverchair and while I like songs from both their earliest and latest offerings, I find them a bit heavy and soft respectively and so have picked a song from ‘Freak Show’, a nice in between for me. It’s also because this song was one of the first songs of theirs I got to know.

Mr Charisma - Frenzal Rhomb
Jay and The Doctor have made themselves rather (in)famous since taking a spot on Triple J radio with their rude and outrageous antics. I can perfectly understand why some people hate them, but me, I love them. They have the ability to effortlessly insert their humour into their songs and at the same time make great music. I can’t remember when I came across this song, it wouldn’t be their best however it was one of my first and I’ve always liked it.

Harpoon - Jebediah
With all the fast paced music in this I figured I better mix it up a bit. Jebediah’s first album, ‘Slightly Odway’ would have to be one of my favourite albums ever. Unlike their future albums, which usually contained one or two great songs, this was top quality the whole way through. They’re an awesome band to see live, though I think this may be a bit late as I’m pretty sure they’ve given up. This song is a nice slower piece, great to sing along to

Buy Me A Pony - Spiderbait
Seeing Spiderbait live recently was a bit of a disappointment. Most of the other fans were only hanging out for ‘Black Betty’ and most of what they played was off that album, which to me sounds boringly repetitive. What I like is a mix of Kram’s fast paced rock ballads (such as this), Janet’s delicious, highly glossed pop songs and the electronic/dance in-betweens, the likes of which found mostly on ‘Ivy and the Big Apples’ and ‘Grand Slam’. This song was actually voted first in Triple J’s Hottest 100 one year, about the only time I’ve liked the winner, so much so I somehow know all the lyrics off by heart.

Just Ace - Grinspoon
I have mixed feelings towards Grinspoon, from both the fat and skinny era. However overall I think I like them, especially this song, a short and sweet, early childhood favourite.

This was written February 22, 2006. What? Why?