Punk rock in Australia
Encyclopedia
Australian musicians played and recorded some of the earliest Punk Rock. Perhaps the most notable example were The Saints
, who released their first single in 1976. Bands playing sub-genres or offshoots of punk music, such as local hardcore acts
, still have a strong cult following throughout Australia
.
Many agree that the Saints were Australia's first Punk band. The earliest incarnation of The Saints was formed by Ed Kuepper
(guitar) and Chris Bailey (vocals) in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. They shared a background in immigrant families (Kuepper's German
and Bailey's Irish
), and an admiration for high energy 1950s and '60s music, such as the Detroit rock of The Stooges
and MC5
. Queensland
at the time was controlled by the conservative, authoritarian Country Party
democratic government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
– an environment with plenty of inspiration for creative and alienated young people. The result was a frenetic, pulsating sound, topped with Bailey's sardonic lyrics. Unable to get regular gigs, they played at a house in inner city Petrie Terrace
, where they soon attracted unwanted attention. Police arrested fans for trivial offences, often in a brutal fashion, but their approach only created more interest in the punk scene. The Saints gigs' got bigger and their fans started to form bands, both punk and dissimilar in sound, beginning a distinct Brisbane punk scene
, one of the first in the world.
During 1974, Radio Birdman
formed in Sydney
, led by another immigrant, Detroit-born medical student Deniz Tek
. They also shared an interest in The Stooges and MC5, albeit with a result arguably more akin to Hard Rock
than Punk. Their dynamic live shows soon gained a fanatical following at inner city venues.
Many Art Rock
bands, like Melbourne
's Boys Next Door
, formed by Nick Cave
and Mick Harvey
at their school in 1974, later attended gigs by The Saints and Radio Birdman, and would adopt elements of their sounds. However as The Birthday Party's their music is regarded as Post-Punk
.
In Perth
– a geographically isolated city with social and political similarities to Brisbane – young musicians like Kim Salmon
, Dave Faulkner and James Baker
were also influenced by the Detroit bands, as well as New York
Proto-Punk figures like Lou Reed
and the New York Dolls
. Salmon led the Cheap Nasties, and then The Scientists
, before embarking on a solo career (and is regarded as a pioneer of grunge
). Baker was in a short-lived act called The Geeks, before forming The Victims with Faulkner in 1977. They recorded an acclaimed single, "Television Addict
", before breaking up. Baker later joined The Scientists. Faulkner gravitated towards poppier sounds. (In 1981, he and Baker founded a highly successful Retro
Rock act, the Hoodoo Gurus
.)
In mid-1976, The Saints recorded and distributed copies of their single "(I'm) Stranded"
, which met nearly no critical or public response in Australia. In the UK, however,Sounds
magazine received a copy, and declared it: "single of this and every week". As a result, the band was signed to a three-album contract with EMI. Later the same year they recorded their first LP, which was also called (I'm) Stranded
.
Hampered by poor production and the indifference of radio stations, the LP failed commercially. In December The Saints moved to Sydney. Radio Birdman released an EP ("Burn My Eye
") and an album (Radios Appear
) with better production values, but with similar commercial results to The Saints' endeavours.
in Sydney. (They recorded their first single "Animal World/Wondering Why" in 1977.) Other Sydney bands in 1977 included the Hellcats
(featuring Ron Peno
, later lead singer of the Died Pretty
), the Psychosurgeons (later known as Lipstick Killers), Johnny Dole & The Scabs
and the Thought Criminals
(who featured Steven Phillip, later of Do-Re-Mi
and John Hoey, who was also later in Died Pretty).
These bands and other Australian and overseas Punk acts were strongly supported by public radio stations, especially 2JJ
.
Full-fledged Punk bands like The Reals (featuring Ollie Olsen
) and The Babeez (later known as The News) were also being formed in Melbourne.
In Brisbane, The Survivors
(who showed a 1960s influence), The Leftovers
(diverse influences), Razar (contemporary British punk) and the Fun Things
(Detroit rock) all followed in the wake of the Saints.
After the British Punk scene took off in 1977, both The Saints and Radio Birdman moved to the UK. This proved to be disastrous for both bands. Neither of them fit in with, or were inclined to adjust to aspects of the London scene at the time, such the now-established Punk fashion
in clothes. Radio Birdman were dumped when their record company got into financial difficulty, and soon broke up. Later recordings saw The Saints adopt Soul, Blues and Jazz influences, although their most successful single, "This Perfect Day" – which reached number 34 in the UK pop charts – was typical of the band's musical style. After another acclaimed single, "Know Your Product
", and second and third albums failed to make an impression, EMI dropped The Saints. (Kuepper left in 1979 and Bailey began to pursue a more mainstream musical direction.) Last Words later followed their predecessors to the UK and also failed to make a strong impression.
By the end of 1977, the "supergroup" Young Charlatans had formed in Melbourne out of the ashes of earlier bands. Ollie Olsen, Rowland S. Howard
(guitar, later in The Birthday Party), Jeff Wegener (drums, former member of The Saints, later in the Laughing Clowns) and Janine Hall (later in The Saints). The band recorded the first version of the Howard song "Shivers" (made famous by the Boys Next Door and hard rockers Screaming Jets
). In Sydney, a Birdman offshoot, The Hitmen
, had started to gig and Ian Rilen
formed the longevitous X
.
Entrepreneurs began to realise the potential of the growing scene and Michael Gudinski
launched the Melbourne-based Suicide Records, which in May 1978 released a compilation
, Lethal Weapons. The album included tracks by the Boys Next Door, Teenage Radio Stars (featuring future Models
members Sean Kelly
and James Freud
), JAB
(ex-experimental rock
ers from Adelaide
, featuring Bohdan X
and sythesizer player Ash Wednesday
), The Survivors and X-Ray-Z (former pub rockers from Adelaide). However the royalty
rate offered by Suicide was low and both The News and Young Charlatans decided not to get involved.
Australian chart success eluded all of these bands in the late 1970s. Radio programmers were conservative and unenthusiastic about punk. The above artists who eventually found success either did so overseas, or after a remove of several years in Australia, and/or in different bands.
, The Passengers
(featuring Angie Pepper) and The Screaming Tribesmen. Two distinctive, long-lasting Sydney bands, The Celibate Rifles
and Lime Spiders
, were formed in 1979.
In Melbourne, Post-Punk
sounds began to take over, typified by the "little band scene
".
By the early 1980s, only a handful of bands were still playing songs with a classic Punk sounds, such as the Cosmic Psychos
and the satirically
-inclined Painters and Dockers
.
The Quick and the Dead, who played in Perth during 1979–81, pioneered a sound closely related to Oi!
. They attracted media attention resulting from the behaviour of some fans, including violence and the use of Nazi regalia.
Some Brisbane Punk
bands prolonged their unique Punk direction from the Seventies, that was in part due to Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
's continued use of the Queensland Police
against perceived threats to the government.
The Boys Next Door
, renamed The Birthday Party in 1980 and featuring Nick Cave
, were pioneers in incorporating "darker" elements into their image, with connections to the genres of Gothic rock
, Horror Punk
and Deathrock
. Other prominent examples included Brisbane bands Vampire Lovers (band) and Mystery of Sixes.
A fourth generation of bands, such as the Hard-Ons
(from Sydney) and Exploding White Mice
(from Adelaide), also emerged. Former members of the The Celibate Rifles and Lime Spiders formed The Eastern Dark
, a short-lived but well-regarded act.
Australian hardcore Punk
acts also emerged, such as Massappeal, who began gigging in Sydney during 1985.
music, American Punk veterans and revivalists, as well as local bands like The Meanies
, Frenzal Rhomb
and Screamfeeder
led to the formation of Punk-influenced bands such as The Living End
, Jebediah
, Bodyjar
, 28 Days
, Align and Guttersnipes. Punk revival scenes began in various cities around Australia.
The Saints (band)
The Saints are an Australian rock band, which formed in Brisbane in 1974 as punk rockers. Founders were Chris Bailey , Ivor Hay , and Ed Kuepper . Alongside mainstay Bailey, the group has had numerous line-ups...
, who released their first single in 1976. Bands playing sub-genres or offshoots of punk music, such as local hardcore acts
Australian hardcore
Australian hardcore punk bands tend to have local fan bases, although a number have toured Australia and internationally. Recorded material by these bands is often hard to find, as many focus on the live shows...
, still have a strong cult following throughout Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Many agree that the Saints were Australia's first Punk band. The earliest incarnation of The Saints was formed by Ed Kuepper
Ed Kuepper
Ed Kuepper is an Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the seminal punk band The Saints, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns and later the grunge-like The Aints...
(guitar) and Chris Bailey (vocals) in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. They shared a background in immigrant families (Kuepper's German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Bailey's Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), and an admiration for high energy 1950s and '60s music, such as the Detroit rock of The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
and MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
. Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
at the time was controlled by the conservative, authoritarian Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
democratic government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
– an environment with plenty of inspiration for creative and alienated young people. The result was a frenetic, pulsating sound, topped with Bailey's sardonic lyrics. Unable to get regular gigs, they played at a house in inner city Petrie Terrace
Petrie Terrace, Queensland
Petrie Terrace is an inner-city suburb and major thoroughfare in Brisbane, Australia. It is located under 2 km to the west of the Brisbane General Post Office. The suburb is bordered to the west by Hale Street and to the east by Countess Street...
, where they soon attracted unwanted attention. Police arrested fans for trivial offences, often in a brutal fashion, but their approach only created more interest in the punk scene. The Saints gigs' got bigger and their fans started to form bands, both punk and dissimilar in sound, beginning a distinct Brisbane punk scene
Brisbane punk rock
The Brisbane punk rock scene between 1975 and 1984 is generally regarded as producing “some of the most anarchistic bands of the Australian punk rock era”...
, one of the first in the world.
During 1974, Radio Birdman
Radio Birdman
Radio Birdman was one of the first punk bands in Australia along with The Saints. Deniz Tek and Rob Younger formed the group in Sydney, Australia in 1974...
formed in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, led by another immigrant, Detroit-born medical student Deniz Tek
Deniz Tek
Deniz Tek is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian group Radio Birdman who broke up, for the last time, after their last European tour in 2007...
. They also shared an interest in The Stooges and MC5, albeit with a result arguably more akin to Hard Rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
than Punk. Their dynamic live shows soon gained a fanatical following at inner city venues.
Many Art Rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
bands, like Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
's Boys Next Door
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
, formed by Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
and Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey
Michael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
at their school in 1974, later attended gigs by The Saints and Radio Birdman, and would adopt elements of their sounds. However as The Birthday Party's their music is regarded as Post-Punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
.
In Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
– a geographically isolated city with social and political similarities to Brisbane – young musicians like Kim Salmon
Kim Salmon
Kim Leith Salmon is an Australian indie rock musician and songwriter, who attained fame in June 2004, when he was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall of Fame....
, Dave Faulkner and James Baker
James Baker (musician)
James Baker is a rock musician from Perth, Western Australia. He has drummed with, and was instrumental in the founding of several influential Australian bands including The Scientists, Le Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and The Dubrovniks.-Early days:Baker has named Ronnie Bond of The Troggs as...
were also influenced by the Detroit bands, as well as New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Proto-Punk figures like Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. Salmon led the Cheap Nasties, and then The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
, before embarking on a solo career (and is regarded as a pioneer of grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
). Baker was in a short-lived act called The Geeks, before forming The Victims with Faulkner in 1977. They recorded an acclaimed single, "Television Addict
Television Addict
"Television Addict" was the A-side of the debut single by The Victims, an early punk rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The song is a mainstay of compilations of Australian punk from the 1970s, and has been recorded by the Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, The Hellacopters and Teengenerate.It was...
", before breaking up. Baker later joined The Scientists. Faulkner gravitated towards poppier sounds. (In 1981, he and Baker founded a highly successful Retro
Retro
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...
Rock act, the Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
.)
In mid-1976, The Saints recorded and distributed copies of their single "(I'm) Stranded"
(I'm) Stranded (song)
" Stranded" is the first song released by pioneering Australian punk rock band The Saints. Issued in September 1976, it has been cited as "one of the iconic singles of the era", and pre-dated vinyl debuts by contemporary punk acts such as the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Clash...
, which met nearly no critical or public response in Australia. In the UK, however,Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
magazine received a copy, and declared it: "single of this and every week". As a result, the band was signed to a three-album contract with EMI. Later the same year they recorded their first LP, which was also called (I'm) Stranded
(I'm) Stranded
Stranded is the debut album by Australian punk rock group The Saints which was released by EMI on 21 February 1977. Their debut single, " Stranded", was issued ahead of the album in September 1976, which Sounds magazine's reviewer, Jonh Ingham, declared was the "Single of this and every week"...
.
Hampered by poor production and the indifference of radio stations, the LP failed commercially. In December The Saints moved to Sydney. Radio Birdman released an EP ("Burn My Eye
Burn My Eye
Burn My Eye was the debut EP recorded by Sydney punk rock band Radio Birdman, in October 1976. It was a low-budget EP recorded at Trafalgar Studios, Sydney and released on the studio's own Trafalgar label, after the band had been rejected by many other labels...
") and an album (Radios Appear
Radios Appear
Radios Appear was the first full length studio album by Sydney punk-rock band Radio Birdman. The album was recorded at Birdman's Trafalgar Studios, Sydney during 1976 and 1977. Trafalgar initially distributed the album via mail order and by sales from the backs of friend's and band members' station...
) with better production values, but with similar commercial results to The Saints' endeavours.
Punk takes off, 1977-80
By 1977, other bands were starting to form in Sydney, under the influence of local and overseas Punk acts. Among the first was The Last Words, from LiverpoolLiverpool, New South Wales
Liverpool is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool is located 32 km south-west of the Sydney central business district, and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Liverpool...
in Sydney. (They recorded their first single "Animal World/Wondering Why" in 1977.) Other Sydney bands in 1977 included the Hellcats
Hellcats
Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...
(featuring Ron Peno
Ron Peno
Ronald "Ron" Stephen Peno, who also performed as Ronnie Pop, is an Australian rock singer, he fronted Died Pretty during 1984–2002; and was a member of early Sydney punk band The Hellcats , and followed with The 31st and Screaming Tribesmen .He was born in Gosford, NSW Central Coast.After Died...
, later lead singer of the Died Pretty
Died Pretty
Died Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, were an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays, Ron Peno as lead singer and Brett Myers as lead guitarist and backing vocalist, in Sydney in 1983 – briefly as Final Solution. Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with...
), the Psychosurgeons (later known as Lipstick Killers), Johnny Dole & The Scabs
Johnny Dole & The Scabs
Johnny Dole & The Scabs were one of the first punk rock bands in Australia; they played live and recorded in Sydney, during 1977–78.The band mutated out of The Strays, a typical cover band, and were looking for a new drummer to complete the line-up...
and the Thought Criminals
Thought Criminals
The Thought Criminals were an influential and enterprising Australian punk band based in Sydney. They formed in late 1977 and disbanded in late 1981...
(who featured Steven Phillip, later of Do-Re-Mi
Do-Re-Mi (band)
Do-Re-Mi aka Do-Ré-Mi were an Australian Rock/Pop band formed in Sydney in 1981 when Deborah Conway and Dorland Bray joined Helen Carter and later recruited Stephen Philip...
and John Hoey, who was also later in Died Pretty).
These bands and other Australian and overseas Punk acts were strongly supported by public radio stations, especially 2JJ
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
.
Full-fledged Punk bands like The Reals (featuring Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
) and The Babeez (later known as The News) were also being formed in Melbourne.
In Brisbane, The Survivors
The Survivors (Australian band)
The Survivors were a Brisbane punk rock band that formed in 1976 as a party band, which attained cult status in Australia by their acknowledged popular live performances and contribution to the Lethal Weapons punk compilation album...
(who showed a 1960s influence), The Leftovers
The Leftovers (Australian band)
Brisbane punk rock band The Leftovers, formed in 1976, had acquired local cult punk hero status in Australia over the years due to their acknowledged reputation in the past for excessive anti social practices, constant harassment by the Queensland Police Force and self destructive deeds...
(diverse influences), Razar (contemporary British punk) and the Fun Things
Fun Things
The Fun Things were a high energy punk band that was formed during the heyday period of punk rock. Known for their admiration of Radio Birdman, they also have been documented as being "modeled on almost exclusively on the Radio Birdman / Stooges / Sex Pistols mould." The band released one highly...
(Detroit rock) all followed in the wake of the Saints.
After the British Punk scene took off in 1977, both The Saints and Radio Birdman moved to the UK. This proved to be disastrous for both bands. Neither of them fit in with, or were inclined to adjust to aspects of the London scene at the time, such the now-established Punk fashion
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
in clothes. Radio Birdman were dumped when their record company got into financial difficulty, and soon broke up. Later recordings saw The Saints adopt Soul, Blues and Jazz influences, although their most successful single, "This Perfect Day" – which reached number 34 in the UK pop charts – was typical of the band's musical style. After another acclaimed single, "Know Your Product
Know Your Product
"Know Your Product" is a song written by Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey of Australian rock band The Saints. Released in February 1978, it was the second single from the group's second album, Eternally Yours...
", and second and third albums failed to make an impression, EMI dropped The Saints. (Kuepper left in 1979 and Bailey began to pursue a more mainstream musical direction.) Last Words later followed their predecessors to the UK and also failed to make a strong impression.
By the end of 1977, the "supergroup" Young Charlatans had formed in Melbourne out of the ashes of earlier bands. Ollie Olsen, Rowland S. Howard
Rowland S. Howard
Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, he played electric guitar in the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Howard died of liver cancer in December 2009, aged 50 years....
(guitar, later in The Birthday Party), Jeff Wegener (drums, former member of The Saints, later in the Laughing Clowns) and Janine Hall (later in The Saints). The band recorded the first version of the Howard song "Shivers" (made famous by the Boys Next Door and hard rockers Screaming Jets
Screaming Jets
The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle in 1989 by front man Dave Gleeson on vocals, Grant Walmsley on guitar and Paul Woseen on bass guitar and backing vocals...
). In Sydney, a Birdman offshoot, The Hitmen
The Hitmen
Hitmen are an Australian Hard rock band. The group went through a large number of lineup changes in its short late 1970s and early 1980s run, then regrouped under a new name, Hitmen DTK, between 1989 and 1992. They reformed in 2007 and continue to play....
, had started to gig and Ian Rilen
Ian Rilen
Ian William Rilen was an Australian musician, he was bass guitarist and songwriter with Rock N' Roll band Rose Tattoo and led punk rock group X also providing lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals...
formed the longevitous X
X (Australian band)
X is an Australian punk rock band, formed in Sydney in 1977 and led by the late Ian Rilen. The band has split and reformed several times.Although X has had several members, its sound has been defined by two distinctive elements: Rilen's basslines and Steve Lucas's guitar...
.
Entrepreneurs began to realise the potential of the growing scene and Michael Gudinski
Michael Gudinski
Michael Solomon Gudinski, AM is an Australian entrepreneur and businessman currently based in Melbourne who is a leading figure in the Australian music industry...
launched the Melbourne-based Suicide Records, which in May 1978 released a compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Lethal Weapons. The album included tracks by the Boys Next Door, Teenage Radio Stars (featuring future Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
members Sean Kelly
Sean Kelly (Australian musician)
Sean Patrick Kelly Born 9 November 1958, is an Australian singer, guitarist and song writer best known as a founding member of the bands Models, Absent Friends and The Dukes.-Biography:...
and James Freud
James Freud
James Randall Freud was an Australian rock musician-songwriter. He was a member of Models during the 1980s and wrote their two most popular singles, "Barbados" and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight"....
), JAB
JAB
JAB was an Australian punk rock that band formed in Adelaide in 1976. The band's original lineup consisted of Bohdan X on guitar and vocals, Ash Wednesday playing bass guitar, synthesizer and tapes, and Johnny Crash on drums and vocals. The band took its name from the first initials of the...
(ex-experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
ers from Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, featuring Bohdan X
Bohdan X
Bohdan X is the stage name of British-born former punk rock singer Bohdan Kubiakowski in the Australian bands JAB and Bohdan and the Instigators, both features of the emerging punk rock scene in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1970s...
and sythesizer player Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (musician)
Ash Wednesday is an Australian musician, who played in JAB, the Models and Einstürzende Neubauten.-Biography:Wednesday formed an Australian punk rock band in Adelaide in January 1976...
), The Survivors and X-Ray-Z (former pub rockers from Adelaide). However the royalty
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
rate offered by Suicide was low and both The News and Young Charlatans decided not to get involved.
Australian chart success eluded all of these bands in the late 1970s. Radio programmers were conservative and unenthusiastic about punk. The above artists who eventually found success either did so overseas, or after a remove of several years in Australia, and/or in different bands.
1979–91
During the late 1970s, former members of Radio Birdman contributed to several new Sydney bands: The New Christs, The VisitorsThe Visitors (band)
The Visitors were an Australian rock band formed in 1978 after the breakup of popular punk band Radio Birdman. The songs were written by Deniz Tek but unlike many other Tek bands, Tek did not sing vocals in The Visitors. Instead the vocals were sung by long time friend of the band Mark Sisto...
, The Passengers
The Angie Pepper Band
The Angie Pepper Band was a band formed in Sydney, Australia, which centralised around the artist Angie Pepper. Angie Pepper first came to notice as vocalist for the post punk independent Sydney band the Passengers, who produced one single on the Phantom label...
(featuring Angie Pepper) and The Screaming Tribesmen. Two distinctive, long-lasting Sydney bands, The Celibate Rifles
The Celibate Rifles
The Celibate Rifles are a punk rock band from Sydney, Australia.The band was formed in 1979 and released their first album Sideroxylon in April 1983 on the Hot Records label...
and Lime Spiders
Lime Spiders
Lime Spiders are an Australian punk rock band, currently consisting of Mick Blood, Tom Corben, Gerard Corben, David Sparks and Tony Bambach.-Early Days :...
, were formed in 1979.
In Melbourne, Post-Punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
sounds began to take over, typified by the "little band scene
Little band scene
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic...
".
By the early 1980s, only a handful of bands were still playing songs with a classic Punk sounds, such as the Cosmic Psychos
Cosmic Psychos
The Cosmic Psychos are a punk rock band based in Melbourne and rural Victoria in Australia. An underground band that has only ever achieved limited recognition.-Description:...
and the satirically
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
-inclined Painters and Dockers
Painters and Dockers
Painters and Dockers are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1982. Their best performed album, Kiss My Art, peaked in the top 30 of the Australian Recording Industry Association albums charts in 1988. The album included two top 50 singles, "Nude School" and "Die Yuppie Die"...
.
The Quick and the Dead, who played in Perth during 1979–81, pioneered a sound closely related to Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
. They attracted media attention resulting from the behaviour of some fans, including violence and the use of Nazi regalia.
Some Brisbane Punk
Brisbane punk rock
The Brisbane punk rock scene between 1975 and 1984 is generally regarded as producing “some of the most anarchistic bands of the Australian punk rock era”...
bands prolonged their unique Punk direction from the Seventies, that was in part due to Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
's continued use of the Queensland Police
Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy" was changed to "With Honour We Serve"...
against perceived threats to the government.
The Boys Next Door
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
, renamed The Birthday Party in 1980 and featuring Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, were pioneers in incorporating "darker" elements into their image, with connections to the genres of Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, Horror Punk
Horror punk
Horror punk is a music genre that mixes Gothic and punk rock sounds with morbid imagery and lyrics, which are often influenced by horror films...
and Deathrock
Deathrock
Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...
. Other prominent examples included Brisbane bands Vampire Lovers (band) and Mystery of Sixes.
A fourth generation of bands, such as the Hard-Ons
Hard-Ons
The Hard-Ons are a punk rock band from Sydney, Australia that originally formed in 1981. They have been called Australia's most commercially successful independent band, with over 250,000 total record sales. -1980s: Early days:...
(from Sydney) and Exploding White Mice
Exploding White Mice
Exploding White Mice were a punk-pop band from Adelaide, Australia in the 1980s.Their name was taken from a scene in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School, in which a laboratory mouse spontaneously explodes upon being exposed to the music of The Ramones, the band's foremost influence...
(from Adelaide), also emerged. Former members of the The Celibate Rifles and Lime Spiders formed The Eastern Dark
The Eastern Dark
The Eastern Dark is an Australian rock band who formed in the 1980s as an offshoot from another Australian band, The Celibate Rifles.-History:...
, a short-lived but well-regarded act.
Australian hardcore Punk
Australian hardcore
Australian hardcore punk bands tend to have local fan bases, although a number have toured Australia and internationally. Recorded material by these bands is often hard to find, as many focus on the live shows...
acts also emerged, such as Massappeal, who began gigging in Sydney during 1985.
Punk revival since 1991
By the early 1990s, the success of GrungeGrunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
music, American Punk veterans and revivalists, as well as local bands like The Meanies
The Meanies
The Meanies are an indie Australian punk rock band, formed in 1989. The current band members include Link Meanie , Ringo Meanie and Wally Meanie . The Meanies had a hiatus in the mid-late 1990s, but began performing again in 1998...
, Frenzal Rhomb
Frenzal Rhomb
Frenzal Rhomb are an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1992 with mainstay Jason Whalley on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. In 1996, Lindsay McDougall joined the line-up on lead guitar and backing vocals. Two of the group's albums have peaked into the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart, A...
and Screamfeeder
Screamfeeder
Screamfeeder are a rock band from Brisbane, Australia.-Members and history:Screamfeeder began performing under that name in Brisbane, Australia in 1991. They formed out of the remains of Tim Steward and Tony Blade's band, The Madmen....
led to the formation of Punk-influenced bands such as The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
, Jebediah
Jebediah
Jebediah is an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Perth, Western Australia. The group consists of vocalist and guitarist Kevin Mitchell, guitarist Chris Daymond, bassist Vanessa Thornton, and Kevin's brother Brett Mitchell on drums...
, Bodyjar
Bodyjar
Bodyjar were an Australian punk rock/pop punk band based in Melbourne. They began performing under the name Bodyjar in 1994; their previous names included Damnation and Helium.-History:...
, 28 Days
28 Days
28 Days are a punk rock band formed in Bacchus Marsh, Australia during 1997. At their career peak, they had a #1 album on the Australian ARIAnet Albums Chart and also a #12 single on the ARIAnet Singles Chart....
, Align and Guttersnipes. Punk revival scenes began in various cities around Australia.
External links
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2003). "Misfits and Malcontents". (Retrieved on 15 December 2006.)
- Henry Weld, "Australian Punk Rock 1976-1983 Version 7 – May 2004" (Retrieved on 15 December 2006.)
- "Australian Punk and New Wave Record Cover Art"