Radio sucks here in the US too. But I've followed the charts almost religiously since I first heard the words American Top 40. I was somewhat surprised when I saw how the same British and American acts dominate there too, even though I probably shouldn't have been.
And don't forget Normie Rowe and the Playboys, not really garage but with some tough sounding music...
for every band that you cringe at there is a band you love that somebody else cringes at. it's called subjective opinion. i don't know that the nation as a whole particularly cringes about any specific band
Most of these bands are too old to cringe at: they are in academic interest and when you look at the that way there is no possible cringe.
it is surprising me how many bands i had forgotten about. saw matt taylor and chain at the sandringham way back when (there was a little bikie trouble though lol) spectrum, particularly that song are great
chisel not breaking through overseas always blew my mind. they are in my favourite bands ever, no matter what country. i didn't know that about deniz, is that what made the link with mc5 for the new order material?
I recently found a rarity in a thrift shop, Icehouse's post Man of Colours album "Code Blue" on chrome cassette! Haven't found too many pop albums on chrome. It's good too, Yo ho ho ho Big Fun is a good song.
I was going to say Stevie earlier, but trying to keep to the thread title, and even then I have mentioned others that are famous too. Stevie Wright's Evie 45 is one of the best Aussie records of all time!
Up until early-mid 70's Australia suffered from a "cultural cringe". Our local artists (arts,music.literature,movies etc) were seen as inferior, 2nd rate in comparison to British, European & American. Australian radio broadcasting laws required a certain percentage of content to be local. This was more often than not achieved by air freighting the latest UK & US hits to Australia & having them re-recorded by a local artists/bands thus beating the real thing which was shipped by boats which took up to 3 months to arrive. Local bands & artists did not believe in the "cultural cringe" & started to play their own self written music despite the barriers put up by the labels & the radio stations. This self belief was supported by the audiences although it took a fair while for the change to be noticed by the labels & the radio stations. You have no idea of how badly Australian radio sucks. Our only widely available choice is basically AM Top 40 format ported to FM. Free form or album focused FM just did not happen here. We have of course moved on to syndicated radio with its perennial recycled "big hits". I can see your love for top 40 shining through, however, my music listening has never had nor never will have a relationship to the top 40. The top 40 reflects very little in the culture of Australian music.
ha! yeah I don't know, I was gonna post The Seekers, Frank Ifield, John Farnham but figured they had hits overseas...... who cares eh?
Believe me nobody in Australia would ever put Normie Rowe & garage in the same sentence. Think of his image along the lines of David Cassidy.
